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1987
December 17th, 2022 13:00
XPS 8950, unable to do a clean install of Windows
XPS 8950
When I got to the step where I should be able to select the disk where I want Windows to be installed, there were no disks listed, not even the hard drive. The message was asking for the disk driver. Apparently Windows doesn't include disk drivers for Dell computers? What do I need to do to be able to install Windows?
Thanks for your help.
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Captain Marvel
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December 25th, 2022 12:00
When I first got the computer I removed the installed M.2 card. I put in a 2TB card and tried to install Windows on it. That's where I had the problem discussed above. I solved the problem by taking the OEM M.2 card and put it in a USB enclosure and connected it to my laptop. I then connected another enclosure with my new blank 2TB card and cloned the OEM card to the 2TB card. I the installed the 2tb card in the DELL and it booted up just fine and has been running without any problems.
Thanks to everyone for the advice and suggestions.
NJDave
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404 Posts
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December 17th, 2022 14:00
I'm guessing that SATA operation is switched to "RAID on" in the BIOS. This is where the request for a driver comes in, since the required Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver isn't in the Windows installation media. Presuming you don't want to set up RAID operation, easiest fix is to change the setting to AHCI mode before installing.
Prasad38
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December 17th, 2022 14:00
Hi, I had similar problem with my PC in past, I download the recovery software from dell site on a USB and by using F12, booted from USB and installed it.
JOcean
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12.6K Posts
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December 17th, 2022 14:00
@NJDave is spot on with advice. If what is suggested does not help then, assuming you have more than one drive, disconnect all drives except the drive you want to install Windows on. If that does not help and if the drive you are trying to install Windows on is an M.2 SSD then have a look at this YouTube video. You may need to add the Intel Rapid Storage driver to the Windows installation flash drive.
Captain Marvel
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December 18th, 2022 21:00
I checked the bios and it was set to AHCI.
NJDave
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December 18th, 2022 22:00
@Tesla1856 has a great point about running a DiskPart clean operation.
To back up, though: none of us has yet asked you to specify what storage is in the system, where you're trying to install Windows, what version of Windows. Could you please do so?
Does the storage in the system appear in your Storage configuration in BIOS? Does it pass pre-boot diagnostics?
If so, if you don't currently have Windows available on the system (probably?) and assuming you're trying to install from standard Microsoft install media (e.g. built from the media creation tool) you can break into Windows installation and run DiskPart from a command window (see this). I don't think you want to create a partition as shown in the illustrations; just a "clean" operation on the drive where you want to install Windows should suffice -- though a subsequent "convert gpt" to initialize the drive probably couldn't hurt.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
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17.1K Posts
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December 18th, 2022 22:00
That is fine.
You don't say if it's a M.2-NVMe or a 2.5in-SATA ... but I don't guess it matters as long as it's the only disk connected at install time (you can re-connect any other drives later).
If it's still not appearing, be sure it's completely erased (no partitions and un-initialized/raw). You can do that with a proper Diskpart Clean procedure.