Windows 11 install process not recognizing NVMe drive

Question

Dear Support team,

I have installed a new computer with a Samsung 980PRO Nvme drive. The drive is recognized in the UEFI bios.

When I launch the Window11 installer there is no driver available to continue installation. In the Command Line

window I have set the Nvme drive with diskpart to MBR. But still the drive is not shown to the Windows installation

program.

I looked to find drivers, took those of the Intel website for Nvme/Windows 11, but they are not compatible,

the Windows 11 does not accept them. I couldn't find anything about Drivers for Samsung Nvmes on the

Samsung website.

Do you have any suggestions what I can do to get this working?

Thank you very much

Kind regards

Harald

Answer 1

Hi, I had the same issue on a brand new Asus Vivobook Pro 16x Laptop (Intel i9-13980HX Processor) that I wanted to swap out the built-in disk for a bigger NVMe drive from Western Digital and do a fresh install of Windows 11 .

It looks like the Windows 11 USB boot/install disk doesn't come with the right drivers for some newer Intel CPU models (i.e. 12th or 13th generation CPU's, so you need the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) Drivers or it won't find the NVMe. Here's what I did to fix this issue.

1. Downloaded the IRST drivers for my 13th Generation Intel CPU direct from the Intel Download Centre (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download-center/home.html)
2. As the download was only available in an executable format (SetupRST.exe), you need to extract it to get the INF driver files (you can do this by browsing to the directory in a PowerShell prompt and then using the following command to extract it to a folder (./SetupRST.exe -extractdrivers SetupRST_extracted)
3. Copy all the INF files from that SetupRST_extracted folder to the Windows 11 USB Boot drive (I created a folder called "NVMeDrivers" on it to differentiate it from the rest of Windows installation files
4. Boot your PC from the USB drive and start Windows installation in Advanced mode.
5. When it says it can't find the disk, select "Load driver" option and browse to the directory you have copied the INF files to and then select one of the drivers from the list of compatible drivers shown (in my case I just selected the first one on the list)
6. Hey presto, Windows Installer now showed up my drive with the correct size and I was able to format it and install Windows as normal :)

P.S. It's possible the same problem exists for other CPU architecture such as AMD, so if that is the case you may need to find equivalent storage drivers from AMD in order to continue with the Windows installation.

Answer 2

I finally found a solution to the above problem. Actually the drive was

not recognized because the Windows 11 installation program didn't recognize

the drive.

Solution is:

1. install Windows 10
2. once installed, then go to Microsoft software download and create

an installation media for Windows 11 or download the installer

3. install Windows 11

This worked for me.

Answer 3

Hi Ivan,

Just to be clear, I'm installing on an NVMe stick NOT an SSD drive.
I checked every setting in the UEFI BIOS, there is no where the possibility

to configure SATA in AHCI mode.

What I have in the BIOS:

NVMe configuration
VMD setup menu

SATA Configuration

In the SATA Configuration I can enable/disable SATA Controllers and configure 3 SATA

devices. The Samsung NVMe is not shown.

Kind regards

Harald

Answer 4

Hi ,

Access the motherboard bios > press f7 > Settings > IO ports > Sata Configuration > Sata Mode If it is in Intel RST, change it to AHCI.

Go back to the previous menu and go to favorite and disable Secure boot and CSM.

Here is the controller driver to recognize the M2

https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Driver/m...

Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

Independent Advisor - Community

Thanks

Answer 5

Hi ,

I am Ivan, I will help you with this.

Check if the Boot is in UEFI mode, and in the bios change the default Intel RST or AMD Raid to AHCI.

Use diskpart to switch to GPT standard

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-serve...

Remember to be careful when following the procedure if you have Windows on another partition.

Independent Advisor - Community

Thanks