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Hard drive not detected

Started by neonviper94 · · 👁 5 views · 28 replies

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Participants neonviper94wearymason4George Murphy12fadedorca66Frank Smith10hiddencanyon142Noah Miller6
neonviper94 neonviper94 NewcomerOP
1 message
joined Oct 2021
#1 ·
So, I’m running into a bit of a headache with my hard drive situation—honestly, I’m totally lost here. I know my way around a Windows installation well enough, but I’m working with this Dell G15 that doesn't have a DVD-ROM, so I had to go the USB route. Everything was going fine until I hit that part where you’re supposed to pick a destination to install Windows... and there’s absolutely nothing there. I keep hitting "refresh," but nothing happens. It’s just a blank slate. When I look at the specs, it says there's a 256 GB SSD inside, so it should be showing up. I even hopped into the BIOS because I read somewhere online that I might need to tweak some SATA settings or something to get the partition to show up, but I couldn't find anything related to that anywhere. Now I'm starting to wonder—is it actually possible for a brand-new laptop straight out of the box to not even have a hard drive installed?
I just checked the Command Prompt, and when I try to pull up the list of drives, the only thing that shows up is the USB stick I plugged in. So, what am I looking at here? Any ideas?
wearymason4 wearymason4 Active Member
239 messages
joined Oct 2014
#2 ·
Pop the little panel open and take a look to see if the SSD is actually in there, then double-check that the Cable is plugged in tight.
neonviper94 neonviper94 NewcomerOP
1 message
joined Oct 2021
#3 ·
wearymason4 said:Pop the small access panel open and check if the SSD is tucked in there—also double-check that the Cable is actually plugged in right.


Actually, there isn't even a little little door to pop open—I'm gonna have to rip the whole bottom casing off. On the bright side, I just picked up an HDD upgrade Cable. I'll give it a shot and see what happens.
neonviper94 neonviper94 NewcomerOP
1 message
joined Oct 2021
#4 ·
So I popped the case open, and right there—staring me in the face in the bottom right corner—is just this empty gray and white slot...
My gut feeling is that’s where the hard drive was supposed to be sitting, so either they totally botched my order or I'm completely missing something here.
neonviper94 neonviper94 NewcomerOP
1 message
joined Oct 2021
#5 ·
Quick correction on what I said earlier,
So, I finally figured out what an SSD actually looks like—turns out there's already one in there... probably that 256 GB one. The other slot is totally empty. The only thing I'm stuck on is which cable you're talking about? There's this long, skinny green slot, and just to the left of the empty one, there's a slightly thicker cable hanging around—but honestly, I don't think it has anything to do with this, though who knows? I guess we'll see.
George Murphy12 George Murphy12 Member
40 messages
joined Apr 2020
#6 ·
If you pick one running Linux, they might not get why you're formatting...
neonviper94 neonviper94 NewcomerOP
1 message
joined Oct 2021
#7 ·
George Murphy12 said:If you pick up one that's running Linux, maybe it won't understand what you're trying to do with the format.


I'm not totally following you there—this thing is just running MS-DOS.
fadedorca66 fadedorca66 Regular
372 messages
joined Nov 2022
#8 ·
Which version of Windows are you trying to install? And did you actually boot from the USB via BIOS mode?
Frank Smith10 Frank Smith10 Member
20 messages
joined Jul 2020
#9 ·
Start by diving into your BIOS settings:
1) Switch over to legacy boot mode—then set your boot order so the USB sticks is first and the SSD is second. Honestly, I find UEFI to be nothing more than an unnecessary headache, so I usually just disable it on every machine I work on.
2) Double-check those BIOS settings to make sure the SSD is actually being recognized—whether it's plugged into an M.2 slot or a SATA3 port, depending on what you're running.
3) If points 1 and 2 look solid but Windows still isn't seeing that SSD, then you're going to have to inject the specific SSD driver into your installation ISO.
wearymason4 wearymason4 Active Member
239 messages
joined Oct 2014
#10 ·
It’s like nobody even bothered to read the original post. Neither the BIOS nor the USB installation media shows any active drive at all—just the USB stick itself.
It doesn't matter if there's a partition or if it's formatted; the drive has to show up somewhere, unless the installation files on that USB are as ancient as Windows 7 or something.
If it was running MS-DOS, you should at least see a C: drive pop up right after booting.
hiddencanyon142 hiddencanyon142 Newcomer
4 messages
joined May 2020
#11 ·
neonviper94;80062911 said:Quick correction on that wrong info,
So I finally figured out what an SSD actually looks like, and yeah, there's already one in there... probably that 256 GB one. The other slot is empty. I just don't get which cable you're talking about? There's this little long green slot, and to the left of the empty one, there's some kind of cable (it's a bit thicker), but I doubt it has anything to do with this. Still, who knows.
I KNOW

"some kind of cable?" WHICH CABLE ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME WITH? I'M NOT SOME ANCIENT SCRIPT...

basically Catwoman ☕

I KNOW
Frank Smith10 Frank Smith10 Member
20 messages
joined Jul 2020
#12 ·
wearymason4 said:It seems like nobody actually bothered to read the OP's first post. Neither the BIOS nor the USB installation media shows any active drive other than the USB stick itself.
It doesn't matter if there's a partition or if it's formatted—the drive has to show up, unless the installer being used is ancient, like Windows 7 for example.
If the drive is running MS-DOS, you should at least see a C: drive immediately upon booting after following the post.

Look, if the SSD is functional and plugged in correctly—and assuming the BIOS setup isn't acting up—it absolutely has to show up in the BIOS. It WILL NOT show up in Windows if the drivers are missing. I actually had to manually inject a driver into a Windows 10 ISO once just to get a specific, exotic SSD model to behave.
wearymason4 wearymason4 Active Member
239 messages
joined Oct 2014
#13 ·
That’s exactly why I said you gotta read the first post, plain and simple... there isn't a single drive showing up in the BIOS besides the USB.
It might work for an install Windows 10 situation, but only if you're using an older .iso. I ran into this exact same headache with a version from about two years ago, but when I grabbed the latest build—the one that actually includes support and drivers for these newer chipsets—everything worked just fine.
Noah Miller6 Noah Miller6 Active Member
56 messages
joined Jul 2010
#14 ·
Head into your BIOS and look under the Boot options to find Secure Boot.
If it's currently ENABLED, just switch it to disabled. You'll be able to install Windows without any further headaches.
neonviper94 neonviper94 NewcomerOP
1 message
joined Oct 2021
#15 ·
hiddencanyon142;80067469 said:
neonviper94 said:Just correcting a mistake here,
So I finally figured out what an SSD actually looks like—turns out there's already one in there... probably that 256 GB one.. the other slot is empty. I just don't get which cable you're talking about? There's this little green long slot, and to the left of the empty one, there's some cable (it's a bit thicker), but I honestly don't think it has anything to do with this, though who knows.
I KNOW!

"some cable?" WHICH CABLE ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I FEEL LIKE I'M BEING TRACKED BY SOME ANCIENT SCRIPT...

basically Catwoman vibes ☕

I KNOW!!


That cable is just the power connector, anyway. So, nothing to worry about.
neonviper94 neonviper94 NewcomerOP
1 message
joined Oct 2021
#16 ·
fadedorca66 said:What version of Windows are you running? And did you actually boot from that USB using UEFI mode?

I'm going with Windows 10 Pro x64 en-US—and yeah, it even says UEFI (non CSM) in the brackets
and I see GPT listed on the left side, so... I'm gonna give it another shot and see if it sticks.
neonviper94 neonviper94 NewcomerOP
1 message
joined Oct 2021
#17 ·
Frank Smith10 said:If the SSD is actually working and plugged in right—assuming the BIOS itself isn't acting up—it’s gotta show up in the BIOS. But listen, the SSD WON'T show up once you're inside Windows if the drivers aren't there. I actually had to manually inject a driver into a Windows 10 ISO once just to get one of those weird, exotic SSD models to behave.

So you're saying as long as the hardware is fine, it's just a Windows issue... alright, I'll give that a shot.
neonviper94 neonviper94 NewcomerOP
1 message
joined Oct 2021
#18 ·
Noah Miller6 said:Just hop into your BIOS and look under the Boot options for Secure Boot.
If it's set to enabled, just flip it to disabled and you should be able to install Windows without any more headaches.

So here's my deal—the Boot mode setting (it's highlighted in blue) is sitting right there at the top, but it's stuck on UEFI... I don't see an option for LEGACY anywhere.
And then further down, the Secure Boot option is all greyed out—I can't seem to change it, or maybe I'm just missing how to do it—but it's currently ENABLED.
Noah Miller6 Noah Miller6 Active Member
56 messages
joined Jul 2010
#19 ·
People over on the Dell forum are suggesting this:

Have you attempted to convert the SSD to GPT during the Windows 10 installation process? If that fails, hit Shift + F10, type diskpart, disk list, sel disk x, clean (this wipes everything), and then convert gpt. Exit the command prompt and see if the Windows installation proceeds on the SSD.

Honestly, I ran into the exact same issue. I handled it by plugging the SSD into an external enclosure, formatting it directly through Windows, and then everything worked perfectly.
If you have the gear on hand, it’s a zero-cost fix.

Otherwise, take a look at this:
neonviper94 neonviper94 NewcomerOP
1 message
joined Oct 2021
#20 ·
Noah Miller6 said:people over on the Dell forums are saying:

Have you tried converting the SSD to GPT during the Windows 10 installation? If it doesn't work right away, just hit Shift + F10 and type diskpart, then disk list, sel disk x, clean (this wipes everything!), and finally convert gpt! After that, just exit the Command Prompt and see if you can get Windows installed on the SSD!

Honestly, I ran into the exact same headache once—I ended up fixing it by plugging the SSD into an external enclosure, formatting it directly through Windows, and boom, everything worked perfectly.
If you have a way to do that, it’s totally worth a shot—nothing to lose, right?

Or just check this out:


Just saw this—I'm gonna give it a shot as soon as Rufus finishes copying the Windows ISO... Thanks man, looks pretty promising! 🙂

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