I'm trying to perform a clean Windows 11 installation on an ASUS TUF Gaming FA506QM with a Ryzen 7 5800H. The laptop BIOS detects the Samsung PM991a 512GB NVMe SSD (MZVLQ512HBLU-00B00) and shows its model and serial number, but Windows Setup does not display it in the disk selection screen. Shift+F10 > diskpart > list disk only shows the USB installer. I restored the BIOS defaults, checked for storage settings such as Intel VMD, tried loading AMD RAID drivers including the rcbottom and rcraid folders, and recreated the installer as a UEFI/GPT USB. What BIOS setting, driver, or hardware check could make the internal NVMe drive appear during installation?
3 Answers
Before deleting anything, make sure there is no important data on the SSD. In the installer’s Command Prompt, diskpart can be refreshed with rescan, but if list disk still shows only the USB, this is not usually a partition-table problem. Check the laptop’s storage configuration and BIOS version first. If the drive is detected in BIOS but missing in both Windows Setup and Linux, the SSD, slot, or firmware is more likely at fault than a missing Windows storage driver.
Boot a Linux live environment and check whether the NVMe appears there. That separates a Windows Setup or driver problem from a hardware or firmware problem. BIOS detection alone confirms that the system can identify the device at a basic level, but it does not guarantee that the SSD is healthy or accessible for normal reads and writes. If Linux sees it, inspect its SMART/NVMe health information and recreate the Windows USB; if Linux also cannot see it, update the BIOS, reseat or replace the SSD, and check for a failing drive.
On a normal AMD laptop with RAID disabled, Windows Setup should recognize an NVMe drive without an additional driver. AMD RAID drivers are only needed when the firmware is actually configured for RAID, so repeatedly loading those packages probably will not help. Check for a newer ASUS BIOS, confirm that the storage mode is set to the default non-RAID option if such a setting is available, and reseat the SSD if you can do so safely. Also verify that the installer is booted in UEFI mode.
I’ll also test with a Linux live USB. If Linux cannot detect the drive either, I’ll investigate the SSD or its connection rather than continuing to search for Windows drivers.