I'm looking for guidance on dual-booting Ubuntu 22.04 alongside Windows on my Dell/Alienware laptop, which has an NVMe SSD. When my BIOS is set to RAID/Intel RST, Windows boots up fine, but the Ubuntu installer can't detect the internal disk at all. However, switching to AHCI allows Ubuntu to function properly, but then Windows fails to boot and shows an INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE error. The disk itself is healthy and I'm not losing any data. I seem to be stuck: in RAID mode, Windows works but Ubuntu can't access the disk, and in AHCI mode, Ubuntu works but Windows breaks. What's the best long-term solution? Should I try converting Windows to AHCI, or keep the RAID mode and figure out how to load Intel RST/VMD support for Ubuntu? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
Your Windows needs to be set up for AHCI. While I'm not sure if you can migrate your current Windows setup from RAID to AHCI directly, reinstalling Windows in AHCI mode is definitely an option. Considering your laptop shipped with RAID/RST, it’s tricky. You could also consider doing a clean install of Windows in AHCI mode to ensure stability long-term.
You should try converting the RAID to AHCI with this method:
1. Open 'msconfig'.
2. Go to the 'Boot' tab and select 'Safe boot' under 'Minimal'.
3. Reboot and enter BIOS (press F2 or the appropriate key).
4. Change SATA Operation to 'AHCI'.
5. Save changes and reboot again.
6. Go back to 'msconfig', uncheck 'Safe boot', and reboot again.
This approach has worked for me on all my Windows PCs. Good luck!
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