---
name: "nvme-admin-passthru"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "nvme-cli"
version: "3.2-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/nvme-admin-passthru"
---

# nvme-admin-passthru(1)

Submit an arbitrary admin command, return results

## NAME

nvme-admin-passthru - Submit an arbitrary admin command, return results

## SYNOPSIS

```
nvme [<global-options>] admin-passthru <device>
                        [--opcode=<opcode> | -O <opcode>]
                        [--flags=<flags> | -f <flags>]
                        [-rsvd=<rsvd> | -R <rsvd>]
                        [--namespace-id=<nsid> | -n <nsid>]
                        [--cdw2=<cdw2> | -2 <cdw2>]
                        [--cdw3=<cdw3> | -3 <cdw3>]
                        [--cdw10=<cdw10> | -4 <cdw10>]
                        [--cdw11=<cdw11> | -5 <cdw11>]
                        [--cdw12=<cdw12> | -6 <cdw12>]
                        [--cdw13=<cdw13> | -7 <cdw13>]
                        [--cdw14=<cdw14> | -8 <cdw14>]
                        [--cdw15=<cdw15> | -9 <cdw15>]
                        [--data-len=<data-len> | -l <data-len>]
                        [--metadata-len=<len> | -m <len>]
                        [--input-file=<file> | -i <file>]
                        [--read | -r] [--write | -w]
                        [--show-command | -s]
                        [--dry-run | -d]
                        [--raw-binary | -b]
                        [--prefill=<prefill> | -p <prefill>]
                        [--latency | -T]
```

## DESCRIPTION

Submits an arbitrary NVMe admin command and returns the applicable results. This may be the simply the commands result and status, or may also include a buffer if the command returns one. This command does no interpretation of the opcodes or options.

The \<device\> parameter is mandatory and may be either the NVMe character device (ex: /dev/nvme0), or a namespace block device (ex: /dev/nvme0n1).

On success, the returned structure (if applicable) may be returned in one of several ways depending on the option flags; the structure may printed by the program as a hex dump, or may be returned as a raw buffer printed to stdout for another program to parse.

## OPTIONS

- \-O \<opcode\>, --opcode=\<opcode\>

  The NVMe opcode to send to the device in the command Required argument as this param is mandatory.

- \-f \<flags\>, --flags=\<flags\>

  The NVMe command flags to send to the device in the command

- \-R \<rsvd\>, --rsvd=\<rsvd\>

  The value for the reserved field in the command.

- \-n \<nsid\>, --namespace-id=\<nsid\>

  The value for the ns-id in the command. The broadcast value 0xffffffff can also be given as *all* or *-1*.

\-\[2-9\] \<cdw\>, --cdw\[2-3,10-15\]=\<cdw\>

Specifies the command dword value for that specified entry in the command

- \-r, --read, -w, --write

  Used for the data-direction for the command and required for commands sending/receiving data. Don’t use both read and write at the same time.

- \-i \<file\>, --input-file=\<file\>

  If the command is a data-out (write) command, use this file to fill the buffer sent to the device. If no file is given, assumed to use STDIN.

- \-l \<data-len\>, --data-len=\<data-len\>

  The data length for the buffer used for this command.

- \-m \<data-len\>, --metadata-len=\<data-len\>

  The metadata length for the buffer used for this command.

- \-s, --show-cmd

  Print out the command to be sent.

- \-d, --dry-run

  Do not actually send the command. If want to use --dry-run option, --show-cmd option *must* be set. Otherwise --dry-run option will be *ignored*.

- \-b, --raw-binary

  Print the raw returned buffer to stdout if the command returns a structure.

- \-p, --prefill

  Prefill the buffer with a predetermined byte value. Defaults to 0. This may be useful if the data you are writing is shorter than the required buffer, and you need to pad it with a known value. It may also be useful if you need to confirm if a device is overwriting a buffer for a data-in command.

- \-T, --latency

  Print out the latency the IOCTL took (in us).

## GLOBAL OPTIONS

The following options are defined at the top-level nvme command and are available to this subcommand:

- \--dry-run

  Print the command that would be executed, but do not actually execute it.

- \--no-ioctl-probing

  Disable probing for 64-bit IOCTL support.

- \--no-retries

  Disable retry logic on transient errors.

- \-o \<fmt\>, --output-format=\<fmt\>

  Set the reporting format to *normal*, *tabular, 'json*, or *binary*. Only one output format may be used at a time.

- \--output-format-version=\<version\>

  Select the output format version. Version *1* uses the original field naming, while version *2* (default) provides more consistent and script-friendly field names. Other versions are rejected.

- \--quiet

  Suppress informational messages. Errors are still reported, and --quiet cancels any --verbose for the library log level.

- \--set-options=\<key=value\>\[,\<key=value\>...\]

  Set libnvme library options for this invocation. Supported keys are *force-4k*, *mi-probe-enabled*, *test-base-dir* and *test-sysfs-dir*.

- \--timeout=\<ms\>

  Set the timeout for the command in milliseconds. *infinite* or *-1* waits without a time limit (0xffffffff).

- \-v, --verbose

  Increase the level of detail in the output. May be specified multiple times to further increase verbosity.

These options can also be set as machine-wide defaults in [nvme-cli.conf(5)](/nvme-cli.conf/5.md). A command-line flag always overrides the file.

## EXAMPLES

• The following will run the admin command with opcode=6 and cdw10=1, which corresponds to an identify controller command. This example requires the data-len param be 4096, which is the size of the returned structure. The -r option is used because it is a data-in command

```
# nvme admin-passthru /dev/nvme0 --opcode=0x06 --data-len=4096 --cdw10=1 -r
```

• Or if you want to save that structure to a file:

```
# nvme admin-passthru /dev/nvme0 --opcode=0x06 --data-len=4096 --cdw10=1 -r -b > id_ns.raw
```

## NVME

Part of the nvme-user suite