We couldn't find any drives during Windows setup?

MattJosel

Hi, I'm trying to do a fresh install of Windows 11 on my laptop. I got to the screen where it asks "Where do you want to install Windows?", but the list is completely empty! We couldn't find any drives in the list!
I know I have a 512GB SSD inside because it was working fine yesterday. Did I accidentally break the hardware or unplug something? Is there a magic button I need to click to make the drive show up? Any advice would be appreciated!

Dr_J

MattJosel Classic Intel VMD/RST issue. Since the 11th gen and up, Windows installer media doesn't include the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) drivers out of the box for newer controllers.

Here is the quick fix: Go to your laptop manufacturer's website (ASUS, Dell, HP, etc.), search your model, and download the Intel RST Storage Driver (look for the .inf file, usually wrapped in a zip). Unzip it, throw it onto your Windows installation USB drive. When you hit that blank screen again, click "Load Driver," browse to that folder, and select the VMD controller driver. Boom, your drive will appear.

Alan87

MattJosel To understand why this happens: Modern Intel platforms utilize Volume Management Device (VMD) architecture. It maps the PCIe lanes of the NVMe SSD directly inside the CPU's storage controller rather than treating it as a standard pass-through NVMe device. This allows for better hardware-level RAID management, power optimization, and isolation from the OS layer for security.

Because WinPE (the Windows installation environment) lacks the specific Intel RST VMD controller miniport driver (iaStorVD.sys), it cannot communicate with the VMD endpoint. Hence, the controller returns an empty device list to the setup wizard, even though the UEFI firmware has already initialized the storage abstraction layer during POST.

99_Encsadgv

Dr_J "Boom, your drive will appear." Sure, if you enjoy injecting proprietary, closed-source bloatware into your installation environment.

Why are we normalizing downloading random zip files from OEMs just to recognize basic NVMe storage? Microsoft should have updated the generic NVMe driver stack in the WinPE image years ago. It's ridiculous that a consumer has to deal with storage controller abstraction layers just to boot an OS. If the BIOS can read the block device via standard ACPI/NVMe protocols, Windows has no excuse.

JamesK

Dr_J forgot to mention that navigating OEM support sites in 2026 is like playing Minesweeper in a minefield of "Support Assistants" that try to scan your hardware before letting you download a 2MB driver.

Windows 11: "The most advanced OS yet." Also Windows 11: "What is an SSD? Is it edible?"

Alan87

Dr_J There is an alternative "dirty" fix if OP doesn't have a second PC to download the driver. You can enter the UEFI setup (BIOS) by spamming F2/Delete at boot, navigate to the Storage Configuration menu, and look for VMD Setup Menu or Intel RST CM. Change it from "Enabled" to "Disabled" (or switch from RAID to AHCI mode depending on the OEM firmware wrapper).

This forces the controller to expose the NVMe drive via standard NVMe pass-through protocols, allowing the native Windows inbox NVMe driver to handle it. However, note that you lose VMD-specific power states and features.

Dr_J

99_Encsadgv Relax, Linus. The guy just wants to play games on his new laptop, not compile a custom Linux kernel. While you are busy crusading against proprietary drivers, OP's laptop is acting as an expensive paperweight.

Yes, MS should update the ISO media more frequently, but until they do, loading the F6 driver during setup is the standard operational procedure.

6Davidmca

Alan87 iaStorVD.sys... Got it. Saved this comment to my personal wiki. I always thought it was just a regular driver mismatch, didn't know about the CPU PCIe lane mapping part. Thanks!

99_Encsadgv

Alan87 Finally, some sanity. Disabling VMD is the correct architectural choice anyway if you ever plan to dual-boot Linux, as the open-source kernel support for Intel VMD handles power management poorly on certain consumer-grade firmware implementations. Relying on basic NVMe block devices avoids the entire vendor lock-in mess.

JamesK

Alan87 Warning to OP: If you disable VMD in the BIOS after you somehow manage to install Windows with it enabled, prepare yourself for the glorious INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE Blue Screen of Death. Windows loves a good surprise cardiac arrest.

JamesK

Alan87 "Disabling VMD" is also the favorite trick of lazy IT guys who can't be bothered to copy-paste a 2MB folder onto a flash drive. But hey, it works. Just don't come crying to this forum when your laptop battery drains 15% faster because the CPU is constantly awake babysitting the unmanaged NVMe controller.

6Davidmca

JamesK "Do NOT toggle VMD after OS installation." Good to know, almost bricked my sibling's PC last week doing something similar.

Dr_J

JamesK That is a massive exaggeration. The power differential between standard NVMe APST (Autonomous Power State Transition) and Intel's VMD-managed states on consumer laptops is statistically negligible for typical workloads. Stop defending artificial hardware encapsulation. The drive should be accessible natively, end of story.

Alan87

Dr_J You two can argue philosophy all day, but the reality is that 90% of the people searching this thread just want to get to the Windows desktop.

If anyone else stumbles on this via Google: just inject the iaStorVD.inf driver. It takes literally 30 seconds. Disabling VMD in BIOS works too, but on some locked-down consumer motherboards (especially certain Acer and Lenovo budget lines), the OEM completely hides the VMD toggle anyway. So loading the driver is the only universal fix.

6Davidmca

Alan87 Adds another bullet point

"Budget laptops might lock the VMD toggle in BIOS entirely."

"Always keep Intel RST drivers on the backup partition of the ventoy drive."

This thread is a goldmine. Thanks everyone, bookmarked!