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Can't see any drives to install Windows Server

Sonic007

By Sonic007
in Windows Server 2022

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Sonic007

Sonic007

Posted
Posted

Hi everyone,

 

Just got a new Dell server and it is fitted with an SSD and then two larger hard drives.

 

I've just booted it up to install Windows Server and no drives are showing at all.

 

 

Do I have to load seperate drivers?

 

I'm not sure what to use.

 

The SSD is a Dell SSDSC2KB480GZR

 

 

Thankyou.

nwkeene

nwkeene

Posted
Posted

You might need the raid controller drivers from the dell support site so the OS install can 'see' the drives as I suspect your raid controller is 'hiding' the drives... You'll need to configure that first i think. You may be able to set the SSD to not be on the raid card and use that as your OS drive? Then configure the other 2 drives on the raid?

 

On our servers, we had to configure the raid setup first so that the OS could then 'see' the drives... we used 2 drives for the OS as a mirror and then the remaining 3 drives were raid 5. Once that was setup, then the OS installer could 'see' the raid drives as 2 'virtual' drives.

 

my 2p

  • Thanks 3
Davit2005

Davit2005

Posted
Posted
Hi everyone,

 

Just got a new Dell server and it is fitted with an SSD and then two larger hard drives.

 

I've just booted it up to install Windows Server and no drives are showing at all.

 

 

Do I have to load seperate drivers?

 

I'm not sure what to use.

 

The SSD is a Dell SSDSC2KB480GZR

 

 

Thankyou.

 

Nearly always need to add the drive controller driver to sort this out. What version of Windows is it? I've normally found this more of a problem with HP servers than anything else.

 

Should not need to add the driver for the disk itself.

  • Thanks 1
paulellam

paulellam

Posted
Posted
As above, my server earlier this year, set the RAID up first then had to login to Dell with the asset tag to find some of the drivers to allow my OS to install.
  • Thanks 1
Koldov

Koldov

Posted
Posted (edited)

Haven't done it for a long time, but wasn't it F6 during install for RAID drivers...?

 

IIRC you'd need to put them into the 'where to install Windows' dialogue, something like this:

 

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-uk/000148150/how-to-install-the-storage-controller-f6-driver-during-the-windows-installation-setup-process

 

EDIT: This is after you've set up your RAID config somewhere during the the boot-up process (then drivers might not be needed as Server has some popular ones included).

Edited by Koldov
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Sonic007

Sonic007

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thankyou for your replies everyone. Much appreciated.

 

I suddenly realised I had a duff keyboard so F10 wasnt working so I couldnt get into the LifeCycle Controller.

 

I've now managed to get into that and am updating the firmware and OS drivers.

Sonic007

Sonic007

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

Ok, so I've jusyt gone into the lifecycle controller, left it as Raid 0 and added the drive.

It can now be seen in the Windows Server install and going through. I think I am nearly there.

 

Cant see the two big hard drives at the moment, just the SSD I've installed on to.

Edited by Sonic007
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Sonic007

Sonic007

Posted
  • Author
Posted

This is where I'm stuck. I dont know how to get the other hard drives to be seen by the host OS.

Host is on the SSD. and then there are these two Hard drives that dont show up.

 

Any help much appreciated.

 

Thankyou.

Koldov

Koldov

Posted
Posted (edited)
Thankyou for your replies everyone. Much appreciated.

 

I suddenly realised I had a duff keyboard so F10 wasnt working so I couldnt get into the LifeCycle Controller.

 

I've now managed to get into that and am updating the firmware and OS drivers.

 

This is where I'm stuck. I dont know how to get the other hard drives to be seen by the host OS.

Host is on the SSD. and then there are these two Hard drives that dont show up.

 

Any help much appreciated.

 

Thankyou.

 

Interesting... If you have a single SSD for your OS, why is it in the RAID config at all... let alone RAID 0, which if IIRC is data striped across 2 disks.

 

I've never used Dell's Lifecycle controller, but I thought any single disks, even joined to the RAID controller (PERC?) would need to be assigned non-RAID status in the set-up (just note changing now might bork your OS install though).

 

Have you created a RAID set-up for your 2 other disks?

 

Does this help?

 

https://www.dell.com/support/contents/en-uk/videos/videoplayer/how-to-configure-raid-with-device-settings-lifecycle-controller-for-poweredge/6320378969112

Edited by Koldov
  • Thanks 1
Sonic007

Sonic007

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thankyou for your help.

 

I found that the only way I was able to make the Windows Server install see a drive to install to was by adding the SSD to Raid 0 in the Lifecycle Controller.

 

My plan was to have the host OS on the SSD and then my virtual machines on the larger hardrives which will have file servers, etc.

Koldov

Koldov

Posted
Posted
Thankyou for your help.

 

I found that the only way I was able to make the Windows Server install see a drive to install to was by adding the SSD to Raid 0 in the Lifecycle Controller.

 

Yes, seems you are correct. Probably because the SSD is attached to the RAID controller instead of a SATA port (did you specify that?), I don't have any experience with single SSD, but I'm sure someone else will be able to say for sure (our OS is on 2x spinning rust in RAID 1, so already on the PERC RAID controller).

 

"Unfortunately that means no direct access to the SSDs - you'll need to set them up as single-drive RAID0 arrays."

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/m5i364/dell_r630_can_i_have_raid_and_nonraid_drives/

 

My plan was to have the host OS on the SSD and then my virtual machines on the larger hardrives which will have file servers, etc.

 

Yes, good plan (with a regularly tested 1-1 backup copy of the OS SSD)!

  • Thanks 1
Sonic007

Sonic007

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Ok, I've followed the video that Koldov posted. I've gone into the Raid controllers settings and reset the Raid options. Yes, it means having to start again, but that is fine.

So now I can set them up as a Non-Raid Disk.

 

Thankyou everyone for your help as always. It is very much appreciated. Have a great day.

Koldov

Koldov

Posted
Posted (edited)
So now I can set them up as a Non-Raid Disk.

 

Wait, what?!

 

You are still setting up the 2 x large drives as a RAID array though, yes?

 

Although I can only see RAID 0 or 1 as an option, so not sure why the server was ordered with only 2 x large disks as this means the only RAID option is striped (0) - hope you have good backups... or mirrored (1) - and that's not great for performance or capacity.

 

I didn't think you 'needed' to remove the single SSD from a RAID 0 array (although it's an option either way, so it doesn't matter), I thought that you were just going to create another array for the 2 other disks (IIRC you can have multiple separate RAID arrays on one card).

 

My old workstation has a similar configuration to what I think you are trying to do, it's not a RAID card as such so not quite so complicated/involved but the theory is the same I think.

 

Drive 0 (Kingston) is set up as non-RAID for the OS

 

Drives 1 and 2 are set up as member disks of the RAID 0 array (called RAID lol)...

 

RAID_NON_RAID.jpg

Edited by Koldov
  • Thanks 1
Sonic007

Sonic007

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Sorry, Yes, I am still setting up the two Hard drives as Raid. Only the SSD was put into non Raid.

 

I also have another server too so backups are fine.

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