Hello!
I’m trying to use a ssd as cache for my hdd. i have an image/video hoarding problem, and i like to see my files from time to time so i often open my hdd to see my files, according to copilot, Intel RST could do the work, but it could help me more.
I’m trying to enable Intel VMD in BIOS. However, my current Windows 11 installation was created with VMD disabled (AHCI mode). When I enable VMD in BIOS, Windows fails to boot — it doesn’t detect the drives.
Here’s what happened:
- I enabled VMD in BIOS and rebooted.
- Windows failed to boot properly — I got a recovery error screen.
- I opened the command prompt from the recovery tools, but diskpart showed no drives (list disk was empty).
- I reverted BIOS settings to disable VMD, and Windows booted normally.
- I tried installing Intel VMD drivers from my motherboard’s support page, but I’m unsure if I used the correct version or installed them properly.
- After reinstalling the drivers and re-enabling VMD, the issue persisted — Windows still couldn’t detect any drives.
My setup:
- System SSD (NVMe): XPG GAMMIX S70 BLADE — boot drive
- Secondary SSD: KINGSTON SNVS500G — intended for caching
- HDD: ST8000DM004-2U9188 — main storage
- MOBO: PRO Z690-A WIFI (MS-7D25)
- CPU: i7-12700KF
- OS: Windows 11 Pro x64 (24h2 – 26100.6584)
Goal:
I want to keep my current Windows installation and enable VMD without reinstalling the OS. Is there a supported method to inject the VMD driver into my system and make it bootable under VMD? Which exact driver version should I use, and how should it be installed to ensure Windows can load it during boot?
