Question M.2 SSD not showing up in Windows installer

[Jrminot]

Hello all. I'm trying to setup a computer for a family friend but the windows installer isn't detecting the harddrives.

the BIOS detects the harddrive but the installer does not. I've tried messing around with various BIOS settings, and the family friend said they updated the BIOS (not sure how to verify). I've tried reseating the M.2 drive, I've tried seeing if DISKPART saw the disk in the installation menu with no success.

Any idea what may be going on?

posting some screenshots:

<Moderator Note: Image removed due to personal information being visible (Employee ID card)>

 

[CompuGuy71]

That is odd. I see a lot of people having issues with this.

What are the full specs on this system? I see BIOS info saying that its an HP AIO and sometimes those clunkers don't take well to hardware changes.

Can you connect another drive to this system to see if it reads those? Just a regular SATA drive?

 

[Jrminot]

There's actually already a SATA SSD in there. I think my friend tried that after the m.2 didnt show up. I don't think I have another sata that size to test with, but let me look around.

 

[CompuGuy71]

Does the motherboard have a different M.2 slot you could try?

 

[Jrminot]

Does the motherboard have a different M.2 slot you could try?

Nope, just one slot in it. It's a super small board.

 

[dwd999]

Hello all. I'm trying to setup a computer for a family friend but the windows installer isn't detecting the harddrives.

the BIOS detects the harddrive but the installer does not. I've tried messing around with various BIOS settings, and the family friend said they updated the BIOS (not sure how to verify). I've tried reseating the M.2 drive, I've tried seeing if DISKPART saw the disk in the installation menu with no success.

Any idea what may be going on?

posting some screenshots:

<Moderator Note: Image removed due to personal information being visible (Employee ID card)>

Well, for starters, its just as well that the windows installer didn't start. The installer prefers that there only be 1 drive connected at installation time; others can be reconnected later. It would help to examine the new drive outside of the windows environment. You could download a drive tool like Gparted, mount it on a usb and boot from that. Then you could see if it recognizes the new drive, and if it has a GPT identifier or if you need to create one. The remainder of the drive should be unallocated space to make the installation process quicker and easier. If Gparted doesn't recognize the new drive it may just be defective and it should be returned.

 

[Jrminot]

Well, for starters, its just as well that the windows installer didn't start. The installer prefers that there only be 1 drive connected at installation time; others can be reconnected later. It would help to examine the new drive outside of the windows environment. You could download a drive tool like Gparted, mount it on a usb and boot from that. Then you could see if it recognizes the new drive, and if it has a GPT identifier or if you need to create one. The remainder of the drive should be unallocated space to make the installation process quicker and easier. If Gparted doesn't recognize the new drive it may just be defective and it should be returned.

Good idea, I'll see about getting a Gparted usb put together.

 

[Maxxify]

The 950 Pro is somewhat of a unique drive as it has an option rom (OPROM) which allows it to boot either as NVMe or in Legacy (AHCI) mode. So it's one of the few drives that rarely has issues here. You will want to make sure its firmware is updated (2B0QBXX7).

 

[rcald2000]

Hello Jrminot. Question: What storage was originally installed in this system? My guess is that it was an Intel Optane 16GB NVMe 3D Xpoint M.2 (2280) module along with a SATA HDD, which weren't disabled in the Intel Rapid Storage Technology application (in Windows) and then disabled in BIOS (in that exact order). If so, then this might explain why the Windows installer isn't aware of the new storages presence.

google query: HP all-in-one 24 turn off optane
google result: HP PCs - Installing and Using Intel Optane

HP PCs - Installing and Using Intel Optane | HP® Customer Support

Learn how to install the Intel Optane memory module and load the drivers to speed up your computer.

support.hp.com

Location on page: Last topic in Knowledge Base
How do I enable or disable the Intel Optane memory with Intel RST?

CAUTION: To avoid permanent data loss, do not disable Intel Optane in system BIOS without first disabling it in the Intel RST application.

To disable Intel Optane memory using the Intel Rapid Storage Technology application, use the instructions in this section.
Before removing the SATA storage device being accelerated by the memory or removing the memory module from the system, you must disable Intel Optane memory.

NOTE:
Do not disable Optane memory in BIOS unless you have first disabled the feature in the Intel RST application.

1. Open the Intel Rapid Storage Technology application.
2. Click the Intel Optane memory tab.
3. Click Disable.
4. Click Yes to confirm.
5. After the disable process is complete, click Reboot to restart the computer.
6. CAUTION: The computer must be restarted, not shut down. Shutdown might cause incorrect display of drive volumes.

Location on page: Second to last topic in Knowledge Base
How do I enable or disable the Intel Optane memory in system BIOS?

CAUTION: To avoid permanent data loss, do not disable Intel Optane in system BIOS without first disabling it in the Intel RST application.

Disable Intel Optane memory in the Setup Utility:

1. Open the BIOS by restarting the computer and repeatedly pressing F10 to enter Setup.
2. Select Advanced, select System Options, and click Configure Storage Controller for Intel Optane to remove the check.
3. Restart the computer.

Extra credit watching:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVMhjI3rxVU

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcEXeFbJls4

 

[rcald2000]

Any update?

Addendum: In the spirit of directly answering your original question, you'd need to download the Intel RST driver packages to a USB flash drive, in order to detect available storage drives for OS installation

google query: rst vmd controller
google result: Unable to Detect the Drive When Installing a New Windows* OS on 11th Gen Platforms

https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...4/memory-and-storage/intel-optane-memory.html

* important: The Intel core i5-1135g7 in this build is for a mobile platform, not a desktop platform.

Additional reading...

How to Configure RAID or Intel® Optane™ Memory with Intel® RST on an Intel® VMD Capable Platform
https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...7/memory-and-storage/intel-optane-memory.html