Fresh windows install fails

[TimCD]

Can anyone help me get a fresh copy of Windows installed on a clean fresh new SSD? The original SSD failed completely  -about 5 days after the warranty expired!.

Bought a new SSD and physically installed it. Tried to run a fresh Windows 11 install from a USB stick with a freshly downloaded copy of Windows 11. However, the install fails very early in the process and I get an error that it can't recognise some device or that some device driver is missing. Reading around various forums it seems that I need to modify the installation files on the Windows 11 bootable installation USB stick so that the install process has access to the necessary extra device drivers. However I have no information about what extra drivers I need to add to the Win11 install USB image, or precisely how to add them.

I can boot the laptop with e.g. Ubuntu, and install Ubuntu onto the new SSD fine, so I know that the device is working fine

[tk_srq · Accepted solution]

@TimCD,

Your model has an Intel Core 10th gen processor. Does your BIOS have 'UEFI HII Configuration' in Configuration menu?

If so, it runs on Intel RST driver and perhaps, the Windows installer needs to have IRST driver to detect the storage drive during the installation process.

Download IRST driver (sp138727) from this link and extract the driver files to a Windows installation usb drive. You can follow the steps below.

HP ENVY 15.6 inch Laptop PC 15-ep1000 Software and Driver Details

1. Use a Windows installation usb drive created with Microsoft Media Creation Tool (an ISO file-based installation usb drive tends to cause errors during the IRST driver installation).

2. Right-click the downloaded IRST driver and run it as administrator and follow the on-screen instructions for the driver extraction process.

3. Go to C:\SWSetup\sp138727. Double click the sp138727 folder and copy the F6 folder to the root directory of a Windows installation usb drive. The F6 folder contains IRST drivers which the installation setup needs to detect the storage drive.

4. Connect the usb drive to the notebook and boot the system from the usb drive. When asked where to install Windows, click on Load Driver. Click on Browse and click the usb drive in the window that opens. Click the F6 folder then OK. Check the box to display compatible drivers only.

5. Multiple driver files may be displayed. Select one and click Next. If this doesn't display the storage drive, use a different one until the drive is displayed.

6. If the storage drive is displayed with any partitions, delete each of all the partitions just to see "unallocated space" and click Next to proceed the installation.

[TimCD]

It worked for me. Nice clear and simple instructions. It just worked.

It has taken me a few weeks to get round to this due to pressure of other work etc. but thank you a great deal. You have saved me a lot of heartache and hassle.

Tim