No HDD detected in Win 8.1 install?

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[L]imey

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
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Hey guys,

having a problem here. I'm trying to replace the original 1tb drive from a Lenovo Edge 15 for a friend of mine with a 250gb crucial SSD he bought.

I cannot for the life of me get the 8.1 installer to recognize the SSD.

I've tried all the bios settings RE: legacy and ahci modes I can find with no joy.

I'll admit i don't fully understand the uefi vs bios and legacy vs ahci.

The bios sees the SSD as the disk installed, but once we're into windows, I get nothing

I checked the support site for storage drivers for windows 8 for this laptop, but there aren't any, just win7.

Anyone have any experience with this? Help please!
 
Sean's Windows 8 Install Guide for SSDs and HDDs gives very detailed instructions on how to prepare for and perform a Win8 install. There's a bunch of stuff you are probably missing in there, not least including using the Windows 8.1 Installer to format the SSD with GPT (beginning by pressing Shift + F10 at the Install Windows 8.1 screen to get a command prompt).
 
Followed the instructions in that link, but the windows boot manager doesn't come up to allow me to choose the "UEFI" install option. Once it runs the installer off my USB stick, it says "there is a missing driver for cd/usb blah blah" and it won't go any further.

Red, I disabled uefi and still got nowhere.

Either I don't have the driver for the usb/cdrom or the drive isn't visible in the disk selection if that error is gone (changes based on UEFI/Legacy support)
 
Evil, I tried it exactly as described in the guide.
Open and run CMD as Administrator
Type Diskpart, press Enter
Type List Disk, press Enter
Type Select Disk # (where # is the number your USB drive shows up as), press Enter
Type Clean, press Enter
Type Create Partition Primary, press Enter
Type Active, press Enter
Type Format Quick FS=FAT32, press Enter
Type Assign, press Enter
Type Exit, press Enter
Copy everything from the Windows 8/8.1 installation DVD onto the USB key (a simple drag and drop will do; if you have an .iso extract or mount first).

I followed this exactly. (I've also tried it using the windows install tool, and the rufus utility which is supposed to set the values the same way the listed commands do, but still no joy)

and no Solid, using only usb 2.0 ports on both pcs (one I'm using to create the usb stick and such)
 
also, when i try to run diskpart from inside the windows install (that says it needs the drivers) and i run the list disk command, it says " there are no fixed disks to show"
 
here is an easier way plug the ssd in a working pc initialize it convert it to gpt partition it fomat it like you want. then put it in the pc to install on it should work now.
 
What is the source of what you copied onto the USB stick? If you used a torrent file because you ran into the OEM vs Retail key issue, just put the original hard drive back into the laptop, make sure Windows 8.1 is activated on the laptop, and use the laptop to create the USB stick on Microsoft's 8.1 media creation page. It's okay to use the USB 3.0 slot to do that because USB 3.0 drivers are included in the install media.
 
evilsofa said:
What is the source of what you copied onto the USB stick? If you used a torrent file because you ran into the OEM vs Retail key issue, just put the original hard drive back into the laptop, make sure Windows 8.1 is activated on the laptop, and use the laptop to create the USB stick on Microsoft's 8.1 media creation page. It's okay to use the USB 3.0 slot to do that because USB 3.0 drivers are included in the install media.
Click to expand...

The issue that is being described is due to being a new unformatted drive I don't know why but windows refuses to prep a new drive on boot unless you take steps before hand

just trust me partition and format the drive while in windows and make sure it is gpt after that the windows installer will recognize the drive.

when I went to put Windows 8 on my new ssd I ran into this very issue luckily I still had my old drive and a usb to sata adapter. But until I resorted to doing it that way I tried diskpart and all manner of other dos commands and such. I think I tried various ways for 3 hours before resorting to just doing it from within windows.
 
You need to make a new install media. Use the Windows 7 DVD Downloader tool. It can do Windows 8.1 too. and create a new bootable USB installer, and then try again.
 
Warrior said:
You need to make a new install media. Use the Windows 7 DVD Downloader tool. It can do Windows 8.1 too. and create a new bootable USB installer, and then try again.
Click to expand...

I had just done that the night before i got my ssd and i had this issue... i tried my restore media i made when i first got my laptop i tried a genuine windows 7 and 8 and Vista disc in the end I was able to get somewhere with a ubcd but I found the easiest quickest way was to use a sata to usb adaptor and initialize and format the drive that way after that it will show up in the windows setup and you can do a clean install...
 
yeah that needs to be done. but, his previous comment says that he did this with diskpart. Which is a fine method to use. Though he's using FAT32... which is meh..
 
I'm guessing it is a BIOS incompatibility with the SSD drive. Does the laptop have the latest BIOS on it?
 
Lunas said:
The issue that is being described is due to being a new unformatted drive I don't know why but windows refuses to prep a new drive on boot unless you take steps before hand

just trust me partition and format the drive while in windows and make sure it is gpt after that the windows installer will recognize the drive.

when I went to put Windows 8 on my new ssd I ran into this very issue luckily I still had my old drive and a usb to sata adapter. But until I resorted to doing it that way I tried diskpart and all manner of other dos commands and such. I think I tried various ways for 3 hours before resorting to just doing it from within windows.
Click to expand...

Never seen this issue on any Windows 8 install with SSD's and i have done probably 30+ SSD installs with Windows 8 and 8.1 over the last 6 months.

Also never had to "prep" a drive before installing windows on it, Wiodows installer has always just worked.

Not sure if mentioned but use Universal USB Installer to make a USB windows installer vs the manual steps.

Does the SSD even show in the Bios?
 
Last edited:
bigdogchris said:
Are you using the demo/trial version of Windows 8.1 from Microsoft's site?
Click to expand...

Nope, the version you can create full install media from. I've tried several different methods to create the USB stick, and downloaded the iso 4 different times.
 
I have had that problem before and it always turned out to be the install media for some reason. After creating a new install USB, without changing a single thing in the PC, it would work just fine. Did back to back to back installs on son/wife/mine and had the problem on son's installation using the same USB stick on previous two, and after just recreating it, it installed just fine. Give it a try.
 
[L]imey;1041602720 said:
Nope, the version you can create full install media from. I've tried several different methods to create the USB stick, and downloaded the iso 4 different times.
Click to expand...
Well you can create installation media from the demo/trial version. I've just seen some of those versions have issues detecting hard drives for some reason.
 
Even Microsoft states that low-quality DVDs or a corrupted download can cause this problem:

Microsoft said:
This issue occurs for one of the following reasons:

The installation DVD is removed during the setup process.
A low-quality DVD was used to create the installation DVD.
The speed at which the installation DVD was burned was too fast.
The DVD drive cannot read the media.
The ISO file is corrupted.
Click to expand...

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2755139
 
Well, I've admitted defeat.

I snagged a few of the IT guys at work, and we hammered on it all morning with no joy whatsoever.

My buddy is returning it and we'll be on the lookout for something else for him.

Thanks everyone for all your help.
 
evilsofa said:
"The Windows 8 installation media includes USB 3.0 drivers. USB installation media created using alternative utilities, including the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, produce a boot configuration which is incompatible with USB 3.0." (Source) I know the OP is using USB 2.0 only, but you should be aware of this when giving that advice.
Click to expand...

I was aware... and seeing how I read his posts, such as Post #7, I came to the conclusion that he was using 2.0 ports... But, thanks for adding nothing to the OP's issue.

I have done countless windows 7/8/8.1 installs with the Windows 7 DVD Downloader tool, and they have all went perfectly.

Now, to add to the thread....

OP, are you running the latest Firmware of the SSD? Does the install see other drives?

Never be defeted.
 
I fought with my Acer V15 Nitro with these exact same issues. Removed the 1TB spinner for a 500GB 850 Evo.

What I ended up having to do was create my USB install media through Rufus and under "Partition Scheme and target system type" I had to set it to "GPT partition scheme for UEFI computer".

Once I did that, Win 8.1 installer saw the SSD and everything was perfect. Maybe give that a try.
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
if the bios sees the drive and windows does not, it's not a drive issue
Click to expand...

Exactly, This is a media issue %99.9999 chance.

Use the proper tools to create an image

Then try to boot from the media on another computer and see if drives show or not.
 
1. Is tpm enabled?
2. What are the csm and uefi boot settings?
3. Are you booting from usb as bios or uefi?
 
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