this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2025

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Difficulties installing Windows 11 (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by Gnomie@lemmy.world to c/buildapc@lemmy.world

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Hello,

I’ve recently assembled a new PC with the parts listed below and I am having problems with the initial install of Windows 11 Pro.

MSI B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi
AMD Ryzen 9 7900
Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5 64GB
MSI GEFORCE RTX 5070ti
NZXT Kraken 360
Samsung 990 Pro 4TB
HYTE Y70 Touch Infinite case

I’ve downloaded the .iso and burned it to an USB stick and after booting, I get a window titled “Windows 11 Pro Install Driver to Show Hardware” and the option to browse for the needed driver. At the bottom of this window, it reads “A media driver your computer needs is missing. This could be a DVD, USB, or Hard Disk Driver.”

I’ve downloaded and flashed the BIOS to the version 7C91v29 dated 2025-07-04. It’s been a while since I’ve built a PC and it seems like most of the hardware now comes from the manufacturer’s website with its own exe that would be run to install the driver. This is my only Windows computer so I’m not sure how I can get the drivers installed. Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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[–] grue@lemmy.world 22 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

You sure your SSD is plugged in all the way? Otherwise, I don't see any hardware exotic enough that Windows would justifiably not ship with drivers for it. Re-seat all the connections and try again, and if it still doesn't work, try re-downloading the ISO.

(Also, obligatory "your real problem is wanting to install Windows instead of Linux in the first place.")

[–] Gnomie@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Funnily enough, I had already installed Mint to test the SSD and it formatted no problems and installed. I reformatted it back to one partition to install Windows first and then later will put Linux back on in a dual boot. Thanks.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

And that's why we just roll our eyes when somebody tries to claim Linux lacks hardware support compared to Windows, LOL.

I was trying to give Windows the benefit of the doubt and keep the evangelism to a minimum, but Hell, maybe lack of driver support for your SSD really is your problem! I don't understand why that would be, since an NVME drive is supposed to be pretty standardized and ought to work with a generic driver, but maybe Microsoft sucks even worse than I thought it did. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

~~I do think your ISO being corrupted is the most likely issue at this point, though.~~ Never mind, I read your other reply. If Windows has failed to install properly twice with separate ISOs, my advice is now just to single-boot Mint and call it a day.

[–] Gnomie@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It’s looking more and more like that’s going to be my solution. I was hoping to get win11 installed to ease some other network connectivity (with my astrophotography hardware) but it’s beginning to seem less worth the pain.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

What's going on with Linux lack of network connectivity to your astrophotography hardware?

[–] ElectricWaterfall@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 weeks ago

How are you making the iso I had the same issue making it from Linux. Might not be the best solution but I ended up installing windows in a VM and the doing USB pass through to get the windows iso on the flash drive using Rufus from within windows in the vm.

[–] NutinButNet@hilariouschaos.com 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I had an issue similar to this earlier this year.

In the end, it turned out that my SSD wouldn’t work with Windows no matter what I did but could be seen in Linux. The SSD was working with Windows, so this isn’t some odd manufacturer issue, I’m thinking my drive is on its way out.

But I just installed it in a throwaway Linux laptop I have yesterday and it’s working with no issues. Health tests come back clean too.

Getting another SSD worked out for me.

Not sure if that’s the same for you or not.

[–] Gnomie@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Hmm, I hope not, it's a brand new SSD. Good to know if I want to move it to my linux box later. Thanks.

[–] Gnomie@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

I have successfully formatted the disk using Linux and then deleted the partitions I created.

[–] oleorun@lemmy.fan 10 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

Two ways to fix this. Get the WinPE storage device driver from the manufacturer, put it on a flash drive, and browse to it. Alternatively, go into the BIOS and change the raid option to ahci and restart the install process.

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

It's been a bit since I've (re)installed windows on any machine but ahci for storage rings a bell

[–] Gnomie@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I had to look this up as I’m not current on windows and I checked the bios and it’s set to ahci.

[–] Mesophar@pawb.social 2 points 3 weeks ago

It's the driver for the storage device. A 990 Pro shouldn't trigger this on a new motherboard, but doesn't mean it can't. I'd wager it has to do with using an iso instead of the installer tool. I don't think you need a Windows device to download the drivers, but you will need to download the drivers on a second USB like the comment above points out.

[–] fan0m@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

This happened to me a few months ago.

What fixed it for me was to disconnect all hard drives except the one windows will be on, and restart the install process from the beginning.

[–] ConstantPain@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Some motherboards have storage management drivers that the user should provide during install, that's why there's this dialog. The Windows installer does not have the drivers.

Go to the motherboard manufacturer site and download the storage related ones.

[–] Gnomie@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks, I've gotten the files and will give it a go.

[–] Nollij@sopuli.xyz 6 points 3 weeks ago

Hit shift+f10 to open CMD. Run diskpart, then List disk

If you don't see your drive, you need a driver. Is your drive SATA or NVMe? I see that MSI offers ASmedia drivers for SATA, which are probably not included with Windows.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Get the drivers on a USB.

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-B850-TOMAHAWK-MAX-WIFI/support#driver

[–] Gnomie@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks for the link, I've downloaded them now and will give it a go.

[–] Pogogunner@sopuli.xyz 4 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

First, is there anything not actually working, or do you just have a nag screen?

Second, the best way to resolve the driver issue is going to be going into the device manager and seeing which device does not have a driver - this will be a big step towards finding the correct driver.

Third, you should reconsider installing windows, especially windows 11. Other operating systems will give you much more control over your computer, and there are many options that will not spy on you. The vast majority of the time, you can get your entire setup (applications, games, utilities, etc.) ported with a bit of work

[–] grue@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

First, is there anything not actually working, or do you just have a nag screen?

I haven't tried to install Windows since 7, but something about that screenshot looked suspiciously like the installer couldn't detect a suitable disk to install to, to me.

[–] Gnomie@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

It won’t get past the screen to do the actual install. This is the first thing that shows up after booting

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

How old is the iso? Is it the latest version from Microsoft or an older one? You might just need to download the chipset drivers and manually load the driver.

Also what slot is your SSD in? The very top most one is connected to the CPU. But anything else is going to be connected to the chipset or a 3rd party controller.

[–] Gnomie@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

It's the latest, greatest direct from microsoft's website. I put the SSD in the first slot.

[–] maniel@sopuli.xyz 3 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

never seen a window like this, installer asked me for storage drivers many times but not via window like this, i'd tryu a different windows iso

[–] Gnomie@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I have re-downloaded and burned the iso to a different usb stick. I’ve tried using different usb ports as well.

[–] teft@piefed.social 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

What program are you using to create the installation media? Try using rufus as it has additional options for creating the installation thumbdrive.

This error can occur depending on how you make the installation media. If you make it in linux with dd sometimes this can pop up.

[–] 474D@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Adding onto this, I recently built a new pc and installed windows on the secondary SSD for work purposes. Ventoy worked just fine

[–] Gnomie@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

From what I can see, Rufus is a windows only program. I've been formatting the usb on a macintosh using fat with master boot record.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Seen this many times. OP needs to go to MSI and download the drivers.

[–] Cainas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 weeks ago

Anyway to open command prompt during install? Shift + F10 opens it during setup at least. If you manage to do it, run diskpart to see if you can see the disk and that it is formated correctly.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

See if the manufacturers have OSD (Operating System Deployment) drivers, especially for the network card and mass storage. Alternatively, you may be able to extract from the exe directly, or the exe may have an extract option when you run it, or you can full send it on another computer and dig the driver files out of there after.

If you can get mass storage drivers, that should get you going on install. Network drivers are a great bonus, but you can USB stick install those after OS install if necessary.

[–] Gnomie@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Ok, thanks, thats good to know.

[–] synapse1278@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I remember having a similar issue a long while back and I remember having some different kind of issues during installation steps, and also remember not finding any useful tips online...

Not sure if this will solve your problem then but I remember I had to flash the installation media to a USB2 drive because non of my USB3 drives would successfully install windows. It would boot and allow me until the driver or partitioning step, but fail to install.

[–] Gnomie@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

That sounds like a bad experience. I have it on a USB2 stick but in a 3 slot. I've put in a 2 slot but still nogo. Thanks for your input. :)