Crucial P3 Plus 1TB NVMe SSD Fails to Install Windows on HP Victus 15-fa0354TX

[dipanshu12]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been trying to upgrade my HP Victus 15-fa0354TX with a Crucial P3 Plus 1TB Gen4 NVMe SSD. The system detects the SSD in BIOS and the Windows installer, but when I try to install Windows (via USB), it consistently fails at around 2–5% with the error:

"We couldn’t install Windows on the selected partition. Error: 0x800701B1"

✅ What I’ve Tried:

• Rufus bootable drive (GPT, UEFI)

• Diskpart clean, convert GPT, format, etc.

• Loading Crucial NVMe drivers manually

• Macrium Reflect cloning (Windows boots once, then fails)

• Secure Boot disabled / BIOS updated

• Full hardware diagnostics — all tests passed

• TRIM enabled, SFC, CHKDSK, BCD repair

• SSD works on other systems

• My laptop works fine with 250GB & 512GB Gen3 SSDs

❌ Still not working.

HP Support said this model might not support 1TB NVMe Gen4 SSDs, but this is not documented anywhere — not on HP specs, not on Crucial’s compatibility tool.

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🔹 What I'm asking:

• Has anyone successfully used a 1TB Gen4 NVMe SSD in this model?

• Is there a BIOS setting or workaround I’m missing?

• Is this a known limitation with the HP Victus 15-fa0354TX?

Would really appreciate any help or confirmation from the community 🙏

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I find that interesting that HP support would inform you that your laptop might not support a PCIe Gen 4 x 4 SSD since that is what the parts list for your notebook indicates HP installed.

HP PartSurfer

Chapter 1 of the service manual also indicates that the model series supports Gen 4.0 SSD's

Maintenance and Service Guide

So, you can rule that out as a problem. 

Not to mention, even if your notebook's M.2 slot was only PCIe Gen 3.0, a Gen 4.0 SSD would work just fine, but would be limited to running no faster than 4000 MBPS from a Gen 3 slot.

What I suggest you do is this:

Your notebook is supported by the HP cloud recovery tool which you can use to create a bootable USB recovery drive that will reinstall Windows, the drivers and the software that came with your notebook.

Here is an info link for how to use the utility.  You will need a 32 GB USB flash drive for this.

HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool in Windows 11 and 10 | Soporte HP®

You can download the software from the Microsoft Store:

HP Cloud Recovery Tool - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store

Since you have to use the software on another PC as yours is not working, you will need to enter your notebook's product number in the tool's search window in order to proceed to make the recovery media.

Your notebook's product number is 6N031PA#ACJ

[dipanshu12]

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply — I really appreciate it.

That’s exactly what confuses me. My laptop (Victus 15-fa0354TX) officially supports Gen4 SSDs, and HP shipped it with a 512GB PCIe Gen4 drive. So logically, a 1TB Gen4 SSD like the Crucial P3 Plus should work — but it consistently fails to install Windows (error 0x800701B1, or hangs during setup). The drive works flawlessly on other Gen3 motherboards, but not on this system.

I’ve updated BIOS, disabled Secure Boot, tested the SSD in every way (SMART, DST, etc.), and even used the HP Cloud Recovery Tool — but installation always fails midway or crashes after first reboot. I even tried formatting and manually creating partitions using diskpart. Still no luck.

It’s strange that Gen3 drives work fine (I tested a 250GB and a 512GB), but the moment I plug in a 1TB Gen4 drive, things go south.

If anyone has successfully used a 1TB Crucial P3 Plus on this or a similar HP Victus, please share any steps or BIOS tweaks that worked for you.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome. 

Sorry that the Cloud recovery tool didn't work either. 

It's definitely a mystery that I hope you will be able to solve it.