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I have a Western Digital DS5100 media server. I want to install a fresh copy of Windows Server 2016 on this machine from a USB boot key. I used rufus to burn this from the ISO I downloaded from MSDN.

When I boot to this key I get the Windows install screen. However, when I try to specify where it should be installed, there are no drives listed.

This machine has an SSD boot disk and 2 RAID disks, though I have the RAID disks unplugged for now. I suspect this is BIOS related, such as the "security boot", AHPCI, ACPI options. I've spent hours of guessing, but so far have had no luck. I'm kind of at wits end trying to figure this out. Any suggestions on how to proceed? Do you need more information from me such as the BIOS version or anything else?

rufus settings

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  • Can you tell us what the SSD is? It might be a driver issue, or the server's SATA connectors may be loose.
    – Ultrasonic54321
    Sep 12, 2018 at 17:02
  • I know the SSD is connected because I have a Veeam image backup which I can restore and boot too, but it doesn’t work
    – Mike Forman
    Sep 12, 2018 at 17:50
  • You have created a installation disk that only supports UEFI. Provide more information about your hardware.
    – Ramhound
    Sep 13, 2018 at 0:59
  • @Ramhound oddly enough the USB showed up twice, once as XXX UEFI and the other XXX 0. Neither of them could see the drive l though when I added the drivers as per the answer below they both could see the drive.
    – Mike Forman
    Sep 13, 2018 at 1:33

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The most common reason why Windows installer doesn't see a drive is that the machine is using an unknown SATA controller. In other words, Windows doesn't have the driver for the disk controller and can't communicate with it. Check the Western Digital support site and download the drivers. The Windows installer has the ability to add the drivers in during the installation.

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  • I should have known. FWIW I called WD before posting and they told me since the hardware was MS “approved” I didn’t need to download any drivers.
    – Mike Forman
    Sep 13, 2018 at 1:31

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