Windows 10 No Drives Found During Installation: Making Setup See Your SSD

You boot from a Windows 10 USB stick to install or reinstall Windows. You pick your language, accept the licence, choose Custom install, and the screen asking “Where do you want to install Windows?” is empty. It says “We couldn’t find any drives. To get a storage driver, click Load driver.” When Windows 10 no drives found during installation stops setup, the installer cannot talk to your storage controller.

Windows setup includes drivers for many common controllers, but not all. Many newer laptops, especially those with Intel 11th-generation processors and later, use Intel Volume Management Device, or VMD, together with Intel Rapid Storage Technology. Without the matching driver, the installer cannot see the SSD at all.

The same message appears if the drive is not detected in the BIOS, is disconnected, or is set to an unusual RAID mode.

Loading the right driver or changing one BIOS setting usually reveals the link slot drive.

What Might Be Causing It

Setup shows no drives for these reasons:

• Intel VMD or RST mode needs a driver that setup does not include.
• The storage controller is set to RAID instead of AHCI.
• The drive is not detected by the BIOS.
• The installation media is very old and lacks newer storage drivers.

If the BIOS itself does not list the drive, the problem is hardware or connection, not Windows.

First Steps to Try

Check the BIOS first.

1. Restart into the BIOS and look for the drive under storage or boot information.
2. If the drive is listed, look for a setting called VMD Controller, Intel VMD, or SATA Operation.
3. On a fresh install, you can switch from RAID or VMD to AHCI, save, and restart setup.
4. On desktops, reseat the SSD or SATA cables if the drive is not listed.
5. Create new installation media with Microsoft’s latest Media Creation Tool.

Only change the controller mode on a new install; switching it under an existing Windows installation can stop it booting.

If the Problem Continues

Load the storage driver.

1. On another PC, download the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver for your laptop model from the manufacturer’s support page. Look for the “F6” or setup driver package.
2. Extract it and copy the folder to the installation USB stick.
3. In setup, select Load driver, then Browse, and open the copied folder.
4. Choose the listed Intel RST VMD controller driver and select Next.
5. The drive should now appear in the list.

Protect Your Data First

If the drive holds data, do not delete or format partitions until you have confirmed your backup. Changing controller modes does not erase data, but deleting partitions in setup does.

The Bottom Line

When setup finds no drives, it lacks a storage driver or the BIOS uses VMD or RAID mode. Load the Intel RST driver from your PC maker, or switch to AHCI for a clean installation.