Cannot reinstall Windows 11 on Omen 45L! HELP!

[JordanDunbar]

Hi guys,

I live in China and bought a HP Omen 45L. Unfortunately with Chinese mainland windows PCs is that it doesn't allow changes to system language settings other than Chinese language.

I used my USB to try to reinstall windows 11 in English, but found that upon selecting a driver, both the HDD and SSD that came with the PC aren't visible. So I went through the usual method of using Intel's Rapid Storage Technology F6 file, and that also didn't work (I tried different versions and tested them all) but although it loaded, the hard drives still don't display.

I went through the BIOS menu and found that both drivers are Non RAID, but in Omen's new BIOS menu I can't see a way to convert them to RAID.

For testing purposes I took out an SSD from my old computer, (which is also bought in China, and I used the same method to reinstall English Windows with success), and inserted it into the extra SSD slot on the motherboard of my new PC and even that will not show up to install windows on. If I try to run Windows from that SSD which has active windows on it as well the PC won't boot and will be stuck on a restart loop.

Under disk manager both Hard Drives display, and I can format them accordingly as usual. I tried following other advice using the command prompt to clear the disks, but the disks don't show up on the list either.

Both disks are completely visible and usable upon boot through Chinese Windows. I've tried installing windows 10 instead, same result. All drivers are updated.

I'm at a loss. How do I solve this problem so I can install English Windows on my new PC!

Thank you!!!

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

I haven't come across a PC with an Intel 12 gen core processor before, but on the 11th gen core processors there is a certain RST driver you have to install for W10/W11 to 'see' the hard drive.

I think the storage controller driver you need is in one of the two folders that I zipped up and attached below.

I pulled the drivers out of this storage controller driver exe file on your PC's support page.

Driver - OMEN by HP 45L Gaming Desktop PC GT22-0000i | HP® Customer Support

[JordanDunbar]

Hi Paul, thanks for your reply.

I went in the link you posted, installed the driver along with some others for the 45L, as a just in case, and then went through the same method as before, installing windows from USB creation tool, tried using Intel F6 file to help detect the hard disks as they weren't visible again and after a brief rescan the same results unfortunately.

Drivers are still not visible through Windows installer. Really bugging me 🤣.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

So, when you got to the screen where it indicates no drives were found, neither of the drivers in the folders I attached worked when you clicked on the 'Load Driver' option on the bottom left side of that window.

If not, see if this works like it does for the 11th gen core processors, and use that driver if none of the ones I attached worked.

Solved: Re: HP Pavilion Gaming 17-cd2046ur intel RST - HP Support Community - 8287329

[JordanDunbar]

Still nothing. I will give it another try though. And afterwards I will have a look at the link you posted. Thank you.

I don't know if it is relevant at all, but on Omen's BIOS menu the disks are still stated as "Non-RAID". Tried going through some posts of others on how to convert them to RAID but no success as well.  

[Paul_Tikkanen]

The only other suggestion I can offer, would be to use the second driver file at the link below.

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Driver Installation Software with Intel® Optane™ Memory (11th and 12...

Windows was installed by HP with those BIOS settings I assume, so I don't believe that the 'non-RAID" status would matter.

[JordanDunbar]

Thank you Paul! I tried again and it worked. The drivers show up!

I was in utter excitement until a whole new different problem occured and now I just want to give up 😅.

So the Windows installer works perfectly fine. But during windows 11 installation, for what ever reason, WiFi isn't working (despite it working fine upon initial windows setup when I got the PC yesterday), and if I plug in the ethernet cable (as this is my only option on the network page) it just says identifying.... No network.

Can't do much now since you can't progress with the installation without access to the internet. No idea why the WiFi isn't working during installation. Uuuurrrgggghhh!

[JordanDunbar]

As an update, for anyone going through similar issues please refer to Paul's answer above, works perfectly. 

Regarding the WiFi issue I gave up on windows 11, and just used a windows 10 installer to bypass the WiFi issue. For what ever reason it was default to WiFi off and windows 11 forces an active internet connect to complete installation. Windows 10 lets you skip this, so after a clean windows 10 install I was able to reenable WiFi settings in the network adapters menu once windows was ready. 

Thanks again Paul! 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Glad that you were able to overcome all of the roadblocks to installing Windows and using your PC.

Cheers,

Paul