Latitude 5420 can't install irst to get windows 11 install to work

Question

I have a Latitude 5420 and I'm trying to do a fresh install of Windows 11. I have a boot USB drive. I've been able to get it to boot off of that USB drive and it gets to point of asking me where to install Windows 11 and the hard drive is not available. I discovered based on this post that I need to first install the IRST driver. So I followed the instructions in that post to install the driver. I get to the point where it asks to browse for the driver and when I click browse the machine locks up stuck on the hour glass icon. See below:

I have the IRST driver installed both on the usb drive that has the windows installation and also a separate USB drive also plugged into the laptop.

I've tried this repeatedly and one time or another I actually was able to browse for the driver (I don't remember exactly how I got that to work). Once I located the appropriate folder and tried to install it, I received an error message: Error installing driver. Photo below:

The specific model is ST: 2H666L3 and I downloaded the IRST driver specifically for that model. I'm at loss in terms of what to do next. Any help would be appreciated.

XPS user11 · Accepted Answer

Well, I finally got it to work.  What I ended up doing was starting over and creating a new bootable USB drive using the windows media creator.  Previously I had downloaded an ISO file and then used rufus to create the bootable USB.  Clearly I messed up somehow in that process.  Using the simpler method worked.  I also switched the to AHCI rather than RAID and that allowed the installation to work.

XPS user11 · Answer

Update - I also tried switching to AHCI from RAID as suggested on other forums.  Didn't work.  Once I got to the 'select location to install Windows 11' screen, I did see the hard drive (Disk 0 Unallocated Space, 238 gb).  But when I click next, nothing happens.  It just sits there.

anne_droid · Answer

Hi

So many questions..........

What size, format and partitioning is currently on the HDD you are trying to install to?

Was / Has the previous installation been wiped? Is Fast Boot etc turned OFF?

So chapter and verse please.

XPS user11 · Answer

The laptop was completely wiped. In the bios setup under the fastboot setting, there are three options: minimal, thorough, and auto. It is set to thorough.

I've pasted the details on the hard drive below. I don't believe that that it is partitioned, but let me know if there is a way to identify that from the bios setup and I can look.

Just to try things out I went ahead and switched the fastboot to minimal then tried again to install windows from the USB. I got to the point of installing the IRST driver that is also saved on the USB drive. I click install and nothing happens. My gut tells me that this is a problem with the driver, like maybe it's not the correct driver, but I've gone to the Dell site multiple times, inputted my ST code and downloaded the Windows 11 IRST driver. None of those downloaded drivers seems to work. They just do nothing when you click the install button.

anne_droid · Answer

Hi

In the past when I have dropped to the CLI during install, it shows as X:, because there is no C: as the install has not progressed that far.

When I got my recent Crucial drive and had the same kind of problems, I installed Debian 13, which didn't need the nvme support like W11 did.

Then I double checked my W11 install USB and W11 installed wiping out the temporary Debian 13 install.

So while I know something is wrong, I cannot pinpoint it, Sorry.

If in doubt please ask.

Latitude

Latitude 5420 can't install irst to get windows 11 install to work

Was this post helpful?