Question SSD not showing up in windows installation media?

[TomMustBe12]

Hello all,

I have an ASUS Z790-Plus Wifi D4 Tuf Gaming Motherboard with an Intel i9-13900KF Desktop Processor. I also have 4 M.2 slots, and I have my 1 2tb SP M.2 NVMe SSD plugged into one.

The main problem is that I know the SSD is connected, because the BiOS shows it as a storage device, but when I run the windows installation media on a 16gb sandisk cruzer glide USB, it can't recognize the SSD.

I've done diskpart. Listed all the disks multiple times. I've also checked the SSD connection (even though I'm 99% sure that's not the problem) multiple times. Even moved it to different M.2 slots. I ended up keeping it in the 1 M.2 Intel 12th and 13th gen slot.

Something I noticed that was a little odd was that the SSD showed as RAID in the BiOS load page, but then when I went into advanced mode it identified it as a non-RAID device.

Please help, as I can't load Windows onto my M.2!

 

[COLGeek]

See here: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/windows-11-clean-install-tutorial.3831442/

Pay close attention to the BIOS setup section.

 

[TomMustBe12]

Hello COLGeek,

I tried the instructions given in the tutorial. I'm trying to install Windows 10, and I don't know if the information in the tutorial is conflicting with what I'm doing, because the tutorial's directions are for Windows 11 installation. I could not find any TPM settings, and Secure Boot is set to 'Custom' with default keys.

Thank you!

 

[USAFRet]

Hello COLGeek,

I tried the instructions given in the tutorial. I'm trying to install Windows 10, and I don't know if the information in the tutorial is conflicting with what I'm doing, because the tutorial's directions are for Windows 11 installation. I could not find any TPM settings, and Secure Boot is set to 'Custom' with default keys.

Thank you!

Win 10

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

Win 11

How To - Windows 11 clean install tutorial

Windows 11 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows 11, version 23H2 or newer but can be equally applied to earlier versions which may have some basic differences in the screens you see but will largely remain similar in...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[TomMustBe12]

Hello.

I've tried the BiOS settings for disabling Secure Boot & Fast Boot. When trying to load the installation media, I still get no drives showing. Is there something else I can do?

 

[Zerk2012]

I also have 4 M.2 slots, and I have my 1 2tb SP M.2 NVMe SSD plugged into one.

What slot is it installed? Move it to the slot that is above the video card.

 

[TomMustBe12]

Yes, it is installed in the slot above the graphics/video card.

I am wondering if I need to initialize/setup the NVMe M.2 in BiOS?

 

[COLGeek]

How recently did you download the installation media from Microsoft?

In addition, you should consider installing Win 11 instead. The product key you have for 10 will work with 11. Also, Windows 10 support is scheduled to end in 2025.

 

[TomMustBe12]

I thought about that, so I reinstalled it on my USB to try again. Both times returned the same results.

 

[COLGeek]

So nothing shows when you get to the section to select where to install Windows to?

 

[TomMustBe12]

Yes. There are no drives, and I can't find any drivers for my M.2, and I couldn't find any on my SSD's page. (I'm guessing there are none needed?)

 

[COLGeek]

You shouldn't need any drivers, unless configured as a RAID (not recommended).

 

[TomMustBe12]

Yes. That's what I had thought. What's weird is that on the opening ezmode of BiOS it says it's a RAID storage device but in advanced mode it shows it as a non-raid configured device

 

[COLGeek]

You could boot the system with a bootable image of Gparted and make the entire SSD an NTFS volume and then try starting the Windows installation afterward.

GParted -- A free application for graphically managing disk device partitions

gparted.org

 

[TomMustBe12]

Ok, I'll try that and then return back with the results.

Thanks for the suggestion

 

[COLGeek]

Yes. That's what I had thought. What's weird is that on the opening ezmode of BiOS it says it's a RAID storage device but in advanced mode it shows it as a non-raid configured device

Is your motherboard BIOS fully up to date? Also, have you tried resetting your BIOS to its default state?

 

[TomMustBe12]

I don't know if my BiOS is fully up to date. How could I check?

As for the default state, I'll try that right now.

 

[COLGeek]

I don't know if my BiOS is fully up to date. How could I check?

As for the default state, I'll try that right now.

While looking at BIOS settings, you should see the installed version number.

1656 is the most recent version:

https://www.asus.com/us/motherboard..._bios?model2Name=TUF-GAMING-Z790-PLUS-WIFI-D4

 

[TomMustBe12]

Default settings yielded no successful results, just more of the same (no drives shown on the drive list, diskpart doesn't work as well)

However, I am on BiOS version 1611. How can I update my motherboard to the latest BiOS version?

 

[COLGeek]

Default settings yielded no successful results, just more of the same (no drives shown on the drive list, diskpart doesn't work as well)

However, I am on BiOS version 1611. How can I update my motherboard to the latest BiOS version?

See section 11:

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...WEB_EN.pdf?model=TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI D4

 

[TomMustBe12]

Hello.

The links provided here are taking me to an advertiser's site. Is there a way to go to the link sent?

 

[COLGeek]

Google your motherboard make and model. Look at support section. Then manuals. You want the BIOS manual.