My computer has an NVMe SSD with roughly 500 GB of space, but Linux live environments cannot use it. Tools such as fdisk -l and lsblk detect the drive, yet report its size as 0 B, so the installer says there is not enough storage. AHCI is enabled, RST is disabled, the drive is not configured as RAID, and BitLocker has been removed. The SSD appears to use Intel VMD, and the firmware behaves inconsistently: Windows reports UEFI, while the firmware interface appears to boot in legacy mode. Could I shrink the drive by around 12 GB, install Windows there, and then install Linux into the remaining space without using a USB drive? Would Linux be able to access the SSD once Windows is installed?
2 Answers
Installing Windows on a small partition probably will not solve the underlying problem. If the Linux kernel can only see the NVMe device as 0 B, the issue is likely the controller or firmware configuration rather than the absence of an existing Windows partition. Intel VMD is a strong possibility; many Linux installers need VMD disabled in firmware, or a kernel/installer with VMD support. Also make sure the system is consistently configured for UEFI rather than mixing legacy and UEFI boot modes. Check the firmware storage settings and, if possible, test a newer Linux live image. Before changing VMD, make a Windows recovery drive and back up important data, since changing storage-controller modes can make Windows unbootable.
Linux can be installed without a USB in several ways, including starting an installer from Windows or booting over the network, but those methods do not bypass a storage controller that Linux cannot access. A USB installer should see the same SSD as any other Linux environment. Fix the 0 B detection issue first, then install normally. If you experiment with a Windows-based or network installation, keep a bootable Windows recovery option and current backups because a failed bootloader or partitioning change could leave the system unusable.
The SSD is not necessarily Windows-only. If Windows can use it, that usually means Windows has the required VMD or vendor-specific driver, while the Linux environment does not. Installing Windows in a small partition would only add that driver environment; it would not automatically make Linux recognize the remaining space.
The fact that lsblk and fdisk detect the device but report 0 B suggests Linux is seeing the controller without being able to access the namespace properly. That points more toward VMD, firmware, or a storage compatibility problem than encryption or a missing filesystem.