Intel VMD driver not working with Windows 10 nor 11 on Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ITL6

[randunel]

I'm trying to install Windows (tried and failed both 10 and 11) on a Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15ITL6. Neither Windows installer recognises any storage drives. I've tried both with and without Intel VMD enabled in BIOS, to no avail.

With Intel VMD enabled, Windows suggests the "Intel RST VMD Controller 9A0B" driver but, after installing it, the installer returns an error saying "No new device drivers were found. Make sure the installation media contains the correct drivers, then click OK.".

I have tried the "Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver 18.7.0.1002" from https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/3-series/ideapad-3-15itl6/downloads/driver-list/component?name=Storage&id=F3491C79-0A9D-4DD8-A593-A73FE52CA54C with Windows 11, I have also tried "Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) Driver 18.0.5.1152_WHQL" from the same link above, and I have also tried VMD_Intel_v19.5.7.1058 to no avail.

I have successfully installed Ubuntu 23.04, which sees and uses the SSD without any issues.

What do I need to do to install Windows, given that I have a functional Ubuntu laptop on this machine?

[Jocelyn_Intel]

Hello, @randunel  

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities. 

I will do my best to assist you here. 

In this case, try a new image completely and use another media/tool to create the installer, like Rufus for example. 

Best regards,  

Jocelyn M.   

Intel Customer Support Technician. 

[randunel]

Hello @Jocelyn_Intel !

Thank you for your reply.

I have checked the image that I previously flashed to the USB drive when I used gnome-disk-utility and the integrity check passed for Windows 11. This is the last image that I flashed, so I couldn't check the Windows 10 one. This also means that the Windows 11 image that I downloaded from Microsoft's servers here https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11 contains all the files that's expected of it.

Given that the image flashed to the bootable USB is as provided by Microsoft, is there anything else I'd need to check or do to install it?

Thank you,

@randunel

[Jocelyn_Intel]

Hello, @randunel  

Thank you for your reply and the information provided. 

In the extracted folder (\SetupRST_extracted\production\Windows10-x64\15063\Drivers), there are the .inf files. If they don't work, use the ones from your System Manufacturer. 

However, as previously recommended, we suggest you try creating the installer with another tool to discard that the root cause is how was being created. We downloaded the OS image, and created the installer with Rufus and it doesn't cause any issues. 

Best regards,  

Jocelyn M.   

Intel Customer Support Technician. 

[randunel]

Hello @Jocelyn_Intel ,

Thank you for the suggestion.

I understand that you're keen on me trying Rufus, however, I couldn't find any versions which work on Linux. Given that I can only install Linux (currently Ubundu 23.04), Rufus is a no-go. In order to use Rufus, I'd need to install Windows, first, which is the main issue here.

Are there any suggestions which could work on my laptop? Because Rufus requires a working Windows OS.

Thank you,

@randunel 

[Jocelyn_Intel]

Hello, @randunel  

Thank you for your reply and information provided. 

Please be aware that we provide an Intel RST generic driver and Computer Manufacturers make customizations to their systems, including driver software hence we recommend you check this issue with your Computer Manufacturer or Microsoft to know why is still asking for the drivers when they have been installed already. Because, as previously mentioned, we downloaded an OS image and installed it normally in an Intel system without problems. 

Best regards,  

Jocelyn M.   

Intel Customer Support Technician. 

[Jocelyn_Intel]

Hello, @randunel  

I hope you are doing great. 

As we have not heard back from you, we will proceed to close this thread now. 

If you need any further assistance, please feel free to contact us back and submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.  

Best regards,  

Jocelyn M.   

Intel Customer Support Technician. 

[JonathanP]

Hello, @Jocelyn_Intel.

I am having the exact problem on an Asus laptop. Are you able to help with it.

@randunel, did you ever manage to get it working?

[mayh]

You can carry out this procedure with both Linux and Windows, though I don't know how to extract .exe file contents in a folder on Linux. You can search online how to do that.

Go to the Asus Website, from there, download the Intel RST drivers for your exact device name/model and windows 11. If you can't find one explicitly mentioning both your device's name/model and Windows 11, then you can try searching both the things together on google e.g. Asus IRST Drivers Windows 11 for BlablaBook/BlablaPad 6 11tWL5JW. If there still isn't anything on the Asus website satisfying both your wants together then just download your model's general drivers and if even they aren't available then as a last resort download the ones for 11th gen+.

Now run the driver file and don't 'Install' it, instead if there is an option of 'Extract Only', you can even directly extract to the rufus created bootable usb, just make sure not to overwrite anything. For linux, instead of ventoy use woeusb cli method. Now back to windows, if there was no 'Extract Only' option, then close the installer and open the windows powershell as administrator and run these commands:
Command 1: cd {path to where your driver.exe is stored, you can copy it from its Properties}
Command 2: ./{driver file name} -extractdrivers blablabla

Once you have placed the drivers extracted folder into your bootable usb. Load into your bios, enable VMD and then boot into your windows installation usb. When you click on 'Customized Install', Click on 'Load Drivers', now find the extracted folder, go to its subfolder and click on 'Open'. You will now see 1 or 2 .inf extension driver VMD files. If there is 1, just use it. If there are 2, then for Windows 11 you need the one that has 19 in it. The other one which has 18 in it is recommended for Windows 10.

Now you can install and use Windows 11 with Asus VMD. Boom.

[randunel]

@JonathanPno, this laptop with Intel VMD is essentially a Linux laptop right now because Windows drivers don't work, not from Lenovo's website and not from Intel's website.

Problems:

1. lack of an archive: no Windows version is able to work, but both Intel and the manufacturer provide Windows executable files exclusively instead of archives. To install the Windows drivers, customers must first have Windows installed, which makes the point moot. @Jocelyn_Intel you should really provide archived downloads instead of .exe files, because Windows doesn't run in the first place, only other operating systems do.

2. the drivers on Intel's website do not work, as shown by my screenshots

3. the drivers on Lenovo's website do not work, same behaviour as in my screenshots

3. @Jocelyn_Intel makes the assumption that the operating system's installation media (SD card, USB drive, CD ROM) is incorrectly copied, in spite of the customer stating otherwise, and insists that you, the end user, are the problem, not Intel nor the manufacturer. My screenshots should be evidence enough that the installation media works. Even if the OS installation media was somehow corrupted, we're discussing the inability to install drivers found on a separate drive, not on the OS installation media itself. It feels like Intel's customer support isn't able to go off script in spite of end users having a separate problem. After reading some other replies in this forum, it looks like this is Intel's "have you tried turning it off and on again?" standard customer support message. Intel employees just follow the script, unable to comprehend what the end user's problem actually is, standard first line of support.

[JonathanP]

@randunel, I was coming very close to accepting a similar fate, but I got this to work.

What allowed me to install Windows was to borrow a computer, and use Rufus to copy the ISO to USB (instead of using Gnome Disk partition thing, or other system).

Why this ends up with a different result, I don't know. But if you haven't tried to create the installer with Rufus, give that a go.

Windows Installer ISOs are on MS website, or Internet Archive.