I'm trying to reinstall Windows 11 on an HP Omen 45L, but the installer only lists the USB drive as "Disk 0 Partition 1." My internal SSD doesn't appear as an installation destination. I recreated the Windows installation media and tried several troubleshooting methods, but nothing has worked. What should I check to make the SSD show up?
1 Answer
The installer may be missing the storage controller driver, especially if the system uses Intel RST or VMD. Download the correct storage driver for the exact HP Omen 45L configuration from HP’s support page, extract it to another USB drive, then choose “Load driver” in Windows Setup. Also check the BIOS to confirm the SSD is detected. If the BIOS uses RAID/VMD mode, switching to AHCI or disabling VMD may make the drive appear, but changing storage mode can affect an existing Windows installation, so back up important data first.
I tried installing some drivers before, but the computer became very slow afterward. I’m not sure how drivers would affect whether the SSD appears as an installation option.