Windows Update Intel RST/VMD 20.2.6.1025 broke boot - WinRE, Setup and Diskpart could not see NVMe

[MaxTheMiracle]

Hardware

• ASUS ProArt Z690 Creator WiFi

• Intel Core i9-14900KS

• Intel VMD enabled in BIOS

• Intel RST RAID/VMD configuration

• Windows 11 24H2

What happened

Windows Update automatically installed:

Intel Corporation Driver Update (20.2.6.1025)

After the required reboot, Windows became completely unbootable.

KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE
Bug Check 0x139

Symptoms:

• Windows would not boot.

• Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) could not see any NVMe drives.

• Windows 11 Setup could not see any NVMe drives.

• Diskpart only showed USB devices.

• BIOS still detected all SSDs correctly.

• Intel VMD status in BIOS was healthy.

• RAID volume status was healthy.

This made it look like all SSDs had disappeared, even though they were still visible in BIOS.

Root cause

The issue appears to be related to the Intel RST / VMD driver update pushed by Windows Update.

Device Manager entries involved:

• Intel RST VMD Managed Controller 09AB

• Intel RST VMD Controller A77F

After the update, the operating system and recovery environment could no longer communicate with the VMD-controlled NVMe devices.

How I recovered the drives

Booted from a Windows 11 USB installer.

Opened Command Prompt (Shift+F10).

Loaded the Intel RST VMD driver manually:

drvload iaStorVD.inf

After loading the driver, Diskpart immediately detected all NVMe drives again:

diskpart
list disk

All drives reappeared instantly.

Final fix

Once the drives were visible again, I launched:

System Restore

and restored the system to a restore point created before the driver update.

After System Restore completed:

• Windows booted normally.

• All NVMe drives were accessible.

• RAID/VMD configuration worked again.

• No data loss.

Additional observations

• BIOS always detected the drives correctly.

• The issue only affected Windows, WinRE and Windows Setup.

• The problem appeared immediately after Intel Corporation Driver Update 20.2.6.1025.

• The Windows Update history incorrectly reported the driver as successfully installed.

• Loading iaStorVD.inf manually was enough to make all drives visible again.

What i dont like

You were already informed by multiple users that this issue existed, yet nothing was done to prevent Windows Update from pushing a non-optional update that could leave systems unbootable.

Why was this update allowed to be distributed automatically when reports of the problem already existed?

In my case, this happened twice.

The first time, the update was still optional. After installing it, the system became unbootable and I eventually had to reinstall Windows from scratch. At that point I didn't know the root cause. I spent hours troubleshooting storage drivers, BIOS settings, Intel RST configurations, NVMe detection issues, and Windows recovery options. By the time I found reports from other users describing the exact same problem, it was already too late because I had deleted the original Windows installation during the recovery process.

The second time was even more frustrating because the update was no longer optional. Windows installed it automatically despite the fact that there were already public reports showing that it could break systems using Intel platforms.

The result was the same:

• Windows failed to boot.

• Recovery options were ineffective.

• Storage devices were inconsistently detected.

• Critical troubleshooting time was wasted chasing symptoms instead of the actual cause.

• A complete OS reinstallation became the only practical solution.

What is particularly concerning is that this was not an isolated incident. Existing reports were already available before the broader rollout.

Users should not be expected to discover through trial and error that a Windows update can render their system unusable. If there is already evidence that an update can cause boot failures, storage detection issues, or installation corruption on specific hardware configurations, that update should be blocked, paused, or at minimum clearly flagged before installation.

The amount of time lost was significant. Between diagnosing the issue, recovering data, rebuilding the operating system, reinstalling applications, restoring configurations, and validating system stability afterwards, this turned into many hours of unnecessary work.

At this point I am posting my experience both as feedback and as a warning to other users. If your system suddenly becomes unbootable after this update, especially on Intel platforms, you are not alone and this may not be a hardware failure. There are multiple reports describing the same behavior.

Intel and Microsoft need to explain why a known issue was allowed to reach a mandatory deployment stage without adequate safeguards or warnings.

Keywords

Intel RST 20.2.6.1025

Intel VMD 09AB

Intel VMD A77F

Windows Update broke boot

Windows Setup cannot find NVMe drives

WinRE cannot see SSD

Diskpart missing NVMe

iaStorVD.inf

Intel Rapid Storage Technology

ASUS Z690

Windows 11 24H2

NVMe drives disappeared after Windows Update

Intel VMD Managed Controller 09AB

Intel Corporation Driver Update 20.2.6.1025

Hope this helps someone avoid spending hours thinking their SSDs have failed.

[Manas_Intel]

Hello @MaxTheMiracle,

Thank you for taking the time to share such a detailed account of your experience. We truly appreciate the effort you put into documenting the issue, the troubleshooting steps you performed, and the recovery process you followed. Information like this is extremely valuable and helps us better understand the situation.

We're sorry to hear about the difficulties you encountered and the significant amount of time spent diagnosing and recovering your system.

To help us take a closer look at your specific configuration and better understand what may have occurred, could you please provide your Intel System Support Utility (SSU) logs? 

Link: - Intel® System Support Utility for Windows*

Note: - Please uncheck the "Networking" Tab.

The SSU report will give us a comprehensive view of your system details, including hardware, drivers, and configuration information, which will assist us in investigating the issue further and providing appropriate guidance.

Once you have the SSU logs available, please share them with us and we'll be happy to continue assisting you.

Thank you again for bringing this to our attention and for helping us investigate this matter.

Best regards,

Manas

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DaveT010]

This is happening to me as well - particularly annoying is the fact that as the original poster mentioned, the 'update' now installs itself automatically into my newly-reset Windows 11, leaving me unable to restart my machine to install any other updates.

[ofeydraws]

same problem here, after resetting, update automatically installs 20.2.6.1025, what i did was, without restarting (the intel corporation driver update asks for a restart) reinstalled the old driver (presumably over 20.2....) that was on my M/Bs support page, after that have restarted the pc a couple of times and checked for update but windows is not asking for an update.

in device manager the vmd controller shows the old driver.

dont know how long it will last, guess everytime an update is installed i'll have to check if 20.2.6.1025 is installed.

any other suggestions are welcome.

[unfiled7502]

I've had the same problem. I had to restore the system from a Windows restore point and pause the updates.

[MaxTheMiracle · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the interest, but I won't be collecting or sharing any additional logs, dumps, BIOS exports, or hardware diagnostics.

The issue has already been isolated to the Intel Corporation Driver Update (20.2.6.1025) delivered through Windows Update. The system has been restored, the root cause has been identified, and the problematic update has been blocked.

The only thing I'd like to add is the final piece of the solution:

After recovery, I used Microsoft's wushowhide.diagcab utility to hide the Intel update so Windows Update cannot automatically reinstall it.

Without hiding the update, Windows may offer the same problematic driver again, potentially causing the issue to return.

This way people don't have to mess around with Group Policy Editor, registry tweaks, or other workarounds. This provides a complete and simple solution.

I've also attached the Microsoft utility here for convenience.

Enjoy!

Max

[Graz69]

I've got exactly the same problem...

Windows update forces the 20.2.6.1025 update.

On reboot - windows throws a Kernel security check failure 0x139 and won't boot, even into safe mode.

The only way to get back into windows is to run a system restore.

The first time I did that...windows update forced the 20.2.6.1025 update again...followed by another failed boot.

Second system restore, with windows update paused.

Intel - surely you have to either remove this update, fix it, or make it non-optional. Otherwise as soon as we unpause windows updates we're in the same cycle of update, restart, boot fail, system restore.

[yavas]

Made an account specifically to mention that this driver update through Windows Update also bricked my computer, and despite the original user's post, I am here only after about 12 hours of repeatedly reinstalling Windows, having finally narrowed it down. I use the following to let Windows Update continue while avoiding this particular update, following the advice from this Microsoft forum: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/4165409/how-can-i-stop-windows-update-from-updating-a-spec

1. Pause Windows Update as soon as practical (after restoring older drivers, in my case the working 19.5.8.1059, or reinstalling Windows)
2. Get the VMD controller's hardware ID: Device Manager → Storage controllers → the Intel VMD / RST controller → Properties → Details tab → Property dropdown → Hardware Ids. Copy the top (most specific) line; it'll look like PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_xxxx&SUBSYS_...
3. Use group policy to set a device-level installation block preventing any further changes to the VMD controller: Edit group policy → Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → Device Installation → Device Installation Restrictions → "Prevent installation of devices that match any of these device IDs" → Enable → Show → paste the hardware ID → tick "Also apply to matching devices that are already installed" → OK.
4. Run gpudate /force (or reboot)

[Erg-Bsb]

Hi.

Thank you to the original poster to bring up this problem in which I run too this week-end with my desktop PC (Asus Z690 mobo too, Win 11 25H2). After founding it was probably caused by that Intel RST update I found this discussion which helped me a lot.

Big thumbs up to yavas who brought here what seems to be THE solution for the end user. After several restarts it's still working great.

[OptiDark]

Hello,

Exact same problem here. Very disappointed by Intel.

Disappointed by this forced driver update but moreover disappointed by the verry buggy intel rapid storage (driver / firmware or whatever).

During the several reboots, kernel panic messages etc. my RAID array lost one disk (for no reason at all). I told me "no big deal", I will solve this driver issue first and rebuild the array. But during the following several reboots (yeah this problem is a pain in the ....), I lost another disk (again for no reason...).

I managed to make my Windows works again doing this :

- Deactivate VMD in the bios, so that Windows won't load the faulty driver

- Enter Windows recovery mode to restore my system before the driver update

- Reactive VMD in the bios juste after the restore (because Windows need it to startup)

I tried the solution from yavas but it still triggers the update.

My HW ID is like : PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_XXXXX&SUBSYS_00008086&REV_00\**bleep**&**bleep**&XXXX&**bleep** is that correct ?

For now I just cut the windows update until I found a permanent solution.

And Also the "collateral" issue : my RAID array is lost.

I'm trying to save my date using tool like UFS Explorer, but VMD Intel keep 1 of my 3 drive for him and won't release it. Do you know a way to release it without wiping the datas ?

Thanks

[Erg-Bsb]

Hello OptiDark.

Weird the Group Policy didn't work for you.

Try using only the "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_XXXXX&SUBSYS_00008086" part, without the "&REV_00\**bleep etc." section. It should be the second line of the Hardware ID which a little bit more generic. I used this, following the https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/146562-prevent-windows-update-updating-specific-device-driver.html page given by yavas.

Still working fine for me. In the first days, Win Update informed it will retry to install the RST. Now this line disappeared but I just checked: it's still my original version of RST installed, not the 1025 one.

[yavas]

That looks roughly correct, but consider also using the wushowhide tool that OP linked! It accomplishes the same task but with a GUI. Technically it is a "legacy inbox troubleshooter" and no longer officially offered (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deprecation-of-microsoft-support-diagnostic-tool-msdt-and-msdt-troubleshooters-0c5ac9a2-1600-4539-b9d0-069e71f9040a), but it is known to still work.

[OptiDark]

Thanks to both of you and OP.