MS Media Creation Tool to create a Windows 11 install usb drive only shows USB drives not SSD drives

[tk_srq · Accepted solution]

The third photo shows the SSD and Optane information. 'HDD/SSD 1/2' refers to the 512 GB M.2 SSD, and 'HDD/SSD 2/2' is the 32 GB Optane. Their actual capacity is 476 GB and 27.2 GB, respectively. Note that the Optane's wear level is 39%, while the SSD's wear level is 4%. 39% seems to be way too high, and the Optane may not be working as it should be.

See if you can disable the Optane in the BIOS. Enter F10 BIOS setting -> Configuration -> UEFI HII Configuration -> Intel Rapid Storage Technology. Do you see "Incomplete Optane volume" or any message about Optane there? Click on whatever is clickable to look for an option to disable Optane. If you find it, go ahead disable it and save the change and exit.

If upon reboot the notebook loads into Windows, that'd be great. If not, connect a Windows installation usb drive and run a W11 installation again and follow the installation instructions in my second reply.

[Robc-1]

Success!!

Thank you!

Windows 11 restarted on the bootup after Disabling the Optane Memory.

It appears to be a full recovery without losing data. All my apps and network connectivity has been the same thus far on my laptop with Windows 11 working well.

I am using the recovered HP Envy x360 Laptop now as I type my response.

Below are some details from the Optane DIsabling in BIOS.

I followed your steps to Disable Optane Volume in BIOS.

To Disable, there are two separate Disable buttons with warnings both times. The  first is a YES \ NO option to Disable. This then goes to a second screen with Are You sure that you want to disable?  [YES] in brackets.

The second Disable button is a black right Arrow  with Disable highlighted in Black:  > DisableDisable 

There is also an option to Preserve Data which I kept as Enabled.

There is a Warning that disabling may take a couple of minutes to a couple of hours. Don't retart the computer until the operation is complete.

I wasn't clear on what to do with the second disablement process. I ended up pressing the higlighted "Disable" area which must be a button. A message displayed that said the Disabling process had begun. It took a few minutes then a message said that the DIsabling was complete. 

Then I went and selected Save with Changes and Exited BIOS.

The laptop began to restart.

The HP startup logo came up and after a few moments indicated that system changes were being made. Then a message indicated that some driver changes were being made.

After about 10 minutes or so, the Windows 11 login screen came up. 

I logged into Windows and waited 5 -10 minutes for the system to finish with updates.

I then started checking various Windows processes including Network connectivity, Email, Browsers, other frequently used apps. Everything worked well.

I made a Restore Point for reference.

Then Rebooted the system a couple of times to make sure Windows 11 restarted properly. All went well. 

I checked Drivers for any new updates and only had a Windows Insider Update pending.

I went back to the bootup Systems checks and ran Extensive Systems, Storage, and Memory tests. All Passed the tests. 

I also checked BIOS and noticed that the UEFI Configuration no longer shows Optane Volume  \Intel Optane: 476.9 GB storage. 

Under the Intel RST 18.1.15201 RST VMD Driver page, it now shows

Non-Raid Physical DIsks:

Both the 476.9GB and 27.2GB volumes show underneath the subtitle.

No more mention of Optane Storage in BIOS.

In summary, Disabling the Optane Storage in Bios appeared to free up memory and storage for WIndows 11 to restart correctly.

Thank you very much for helping resolve the problem.

By the way, I have another HP Envy x360 Laptop which is the same model as the problem unit, but about 6 months newer. It has the Optane memory storage. It is working fine for Windows with no apparent problems. But I wonder if I should disable Optane in that Laptop as well or just wait and see if the same Windows 11 startup problem occurs in the future.. Thoughts?

[tk_srq]

Hey your sheer determination was paid off. Glad that your notebook is up and running again. It's great that disabling Optane didn't cause any data loss.

Thanks for explaining how Optane was disabled in the BIOS. It will certainly help other folks.

Answer to your question: I suggest that you leave Optane on the other notebook alone.

Optane and an SSD are paired up to create a type of RAID formation to accelerate the performance of the SSD. This will significantly increase the overall performance of the computer according to Intel (some folks say that M.2 NVMe SSDS are already fast and Optane doesn't provide much boost).

Disabling Optane will slow down the PC to some degree. Since you have two identical notebooks, you can compare them.

If the other notebook fails to start W11 in the future, you can first try to reinstall Windows with an installation usb drive with IRST VMD drivers and Optane drivers copied to. If this doesn't work, maybe Optane is not physically intact, and you may have to disable Optane.

You can read this article if you have time.

Intel Optane Memory: What is It and Why Do You Need It?