No Drives Found During Windows 10/11 Installation on Dell Intel 11th–14th Gen Systems
On Dell systems with Intel 11th through 14th Generation processors, the Windows 10 or Windows 11 installer fails to detect any storage drives, displaying 'We couldn't find any drives' on the partition selection screen. This occurs because the default Windows installation media lacks inbox drivers for Intel VMD (Volume Management Device) and RST (Rapid Storage Technology) controllers used on these platforms. The fix requires loading the appropriate Intel RST/VMD driver from a secondary USB drive via the 'Load driver' option within Windows Setup before proceeding with installation.
Indicators
- Windows Setup displays 'We couldn't find any drives' on the 'Where do you want to install Windows?' screen
- No storage drives listed during clean Windows 10 or Windows 11 installation
- NVMe SSD or SATA drive not visible to the Windows installer
- Issue occurs on Dell systems with Intel 11th, 12th, 13th, or 14th Generation processors
- Drive is confirmed functional and present in BIOS/UEFI but invisible to Windows Setup
Likely causes
- Intel VMD (Volume Management Device) controller is enabled in BIOS/UEFI but has no inbox driver in standard Windows installation media
- Windows 10/11 ISO does not include drivers for Intel 11th Gen and later platform storage controllers
- NVMe drive operating under VMD or RAID mode, requiring an additional Intel RST driver to be loaded during Setup
- Missing Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) driver package in the Windows setup environment
- Incompatible or outdated Windows installation media lacking updated storage controller support
Diagnostic steps
-
Boot from the Windows 10/11 installation USB and proceed through Setup until reaching the 'Where do you want to install Windows?' screen. Confirm that no drives are listed and the message 'We couldn't find any drives' is displayed.
-
On a working machine, navigate to dell.com/support and download the Intel RST or VMD driver package specific to your system model or Service Tag. Search for 'Intel Rapid Storage Technology' or 'Intel VMD Controller Driver' under the Storage category.
-
Extract the downloaded driver package to a secondary USB flash drive (separate from the Windows installation USB). Ensure the extracted .inf files are accessible in a known folder path.
-
Return to the Windows Setup drive selection screen. Click 'Load driver', then click 'Browse' and navigate to the folder on the secondary USB drive containing the extracted Intel RST/VMD driver files.
-
Select the appropriate driver from the list presented (e.g., 'Intel RST VMD Controller' matching your platform generation) and click 'Next' to load it into the Setup environment.
-
After the driver loads successfully, confirm that your storage drive now appears in the drive list on the partition selection screen, then proceed with the Windows installation as normal.
-
If drives still do not appear after loading the driver, reboot into BIOS/UEFI Setup (press F2 at the Dell splash screen), navigate to Storage settings, and determine whether the controller mode can be switched from VMD/RAID to AHCI. Note: changing this setting on a system with an existing OS installation will likely render it unbootable — only perform this on a fresh installation scenario.
Resolution path
- Identify the Dell system model or Service Tag and visit dell.com/support to download the Intel RST/VMD driver package for that model
- Extract the driver package contents to a secondary USB flash drive
- Boot the target system from the Windows 10/11 installation USB and proceed to the drive selection screen
- Click 'Load driver', browse to the secondary USB drive, and select the Intel RST or VMD controller driver
- Load the driver and confirm that the storage drive is now visible in the partition list
- Complete the Windows installation normally
Prevention
- Before performing a clean OS installation, download all required storage drivers from Dell support for the target model and keep them on a dedicated USB drive
- Use Dell's OS Recovery Tool or a Dell-provided factory image that includes platform-specific storage drivers pre-integrated into the installation media
- Check the BIOS storage controller mode (VMD/RAID vs AHCI) before beginning installation and confirm the appropriate driver is available for the selected mode
- Create Windows installation media using the latest Windows ADK or Microsoft Media Creation Tool, which may include more current inbox drivers than older ISOs
- Document the driver requirements for each hardware platform in the organisation's build runbook so technicians are prepared before re-imaging begins
- Consult Dell's support documentation for your specific model prior to any clean OS installation on Intel 11th Gen or later hardware
Tools
- Dell Support website (dell.com/support) — driver download by Service Tag or model
- Windows Setup built-in 'Load driver' utility
- Secondary USB flash drive for driver transfer
- Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) driver package
- Intel VMD Controller driver (.inf)
- Dell BIOS/UEFI Setup (F2 at boot) — for storage controller mode verification