"No drives found" on Windows installation

Hi Al-X

it's a 512GB M.2 SSD (NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4, 2280)

if you press the "Escape" key (or the "Delete" key) when starting the PC you enter the BIOS

check the various tabs to see if you find the NVMe M.2

see you

Hello old bison box

Thank you for your feedback

In the BIOS (F2 key on this model)

I can see in the Information tab a section for NVME SSD with the detail SAMSUNG MZALQ512HALU-000L2, so the SSD is indeed recognized in the BIOS

However, in this Information tab, I cannot change any of the values of the sections (Product name, BIOS version, ...) except for the Language, but with only English and Chinese as options

Hello Brucine

Thank you for your response

I can't access the command prompt by pressing SHIFT+F10 with a boot from the USB drive.

I will look for another key combination to access the command prompt.

Is there any risk in formatting the SSD? I think it's empty since the PC is new.

Re Al-X

It needs to be done differently

You should format it on another PC while connected via USB

You would need an NVMe => USB adapter like > this one <, or like > that one < to format it

and see if it would be recognized during the Windows installation

(you will check if the BIOS still recognizes it)

@+

Hello,

You need the SATA driver (or Storage Controller) on a USB stick in a folder.

https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/5-series/ideapad-5-15itl05/downloads/driver-list/component?name=Storage&id=F3491C79-0A9D-4DD8-A593-A73FE52CA54C

Then, when choosing the disk, to create the partition, use "Load driver."

But in principle, the latest version of Windows should already contain it, because it's not a very recent driver.

(Intel Rapid Storage)

It might be version 19 or 18.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/720755/intel-rapid-storage-technology-driver-installation-software-with-intel-optane-memory-11th-up-to-13th-gen-platforms.html

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19512/intel-rapid-storage-technology-driver-installation-software-with-intel-optane-memory-10th-and-11th-gen-platforms.html

You need to extract it from the setup to .sys, .inf, .cat files, etc.

You run it on a PC, and either it offers to extract it, or you go to "Search": %LocalAppData%\Temp

PS: Note that you may be missing more than just the disk driver.

I had to use NTLite recently to integrate several drivers.

I formatted the SSD (it was in FAT32 and I switched it to NTFS)

But unfortunately, the result is the same

Before going through the complicated installation procedure via command prompt (and I don't know if this other procedure will "see" the SSD), I'm wondering if there's a simpler solution

On the screen with the message "we couldn't find any drives", I have 2 active options: "Refresh" which changes absolutely nothing and "Load a driver" which allows opening a browser

Would it be possible to retrieve the driver from somewhere else and put it on the USB drive to then load it?

But I don't really know where to find this driver

Then let go of Windows 10, it's over in 2025

Install the latest Windows 11 version, 23H2

https://www.microsoft.com/fr-fr/software-download/windows11

You might not have any problems.

Otherwise, I'm not sure the Windows 10 activation key will work for Windows 11

Thanks, old clunky bison, but your path is a bit too high-level for me.

My ambition is to get by without opening the PC; otherwise, I would go through a pro.

And thanks as well, fabul.

I had already tried with the installation of Windows 11, but it’s the same.

My intention was to install Windows 10 Pro since that's the activation key I have, and then upgrade to Windows 11.

I downloaded the Lenovo driver package, extracted it (on my other PC), then copied everything to the USB stick (directory structure with a setup.cmd file and other exe, dll, sys files in a Source folder).

When I go to "Load a driver," I can navigate and position myself in the root directory of my copied directory (named DRIVERS), but I get a message saying, "No signed device drivers were found. Please verify that the installation media contains the correct drivers and then click OK."

I may not have done what I needed to; I didn’t fully understand your extraction instructions regarding setup and LocalAppData.

And I couldn't try with the Intel packages because I received a message interrupting the installation on the grounds of installing on an unsupported platform, yet it's on an older PC with Windows 10 Home.

I still tried again with Windows 11 (just in case switching to NTFS had an impact), but it doesn't change anything

I understood how to use the Start menu to find the Temp directory, but I'm stuck because the Intel setup isn't working on my second PC

I will need to find a third PC if I want to explore this avenue, but I'm starting to worry

Re Al-X

If you have another laptop, try cloning its disk onto your NVMe

to see if you can boot from the Lenovo

if so, install your Windows over it

> External case (empty) USB 3.0 for M.2 SATA SSD <

@+

No, no other phone except for the work one, but I don't have admin rights.

Given the difficulties and the uncertain outcome, I'm going to send back the PC while it's still possible and get another one with Windows already installed :-)

Thank you all