How to Add Drivers to a Windows 11 Bootable USB

When Windows 11 Setup reaches the step where you pick a drive and the list is empty, saying no drives were found, the cause is almost always a storage driver that the installer USB does not include. There are two fixes: load the driver from a USB stick during Setup, or add it to the USB’s images ahead of time with DISM so every future install sees the drive on its own.

Why Setup cannot see your drive

Retail Windows 11 media carries a broad set of drivers, but not every storage controller. The most common gap is Intel Volume Management Device (VMD). Dell’s support article on installing Windows on PCs with Intel VMD explains that many of its computers with 11th generation and later Intel processors use VMD, and that standard Windows 10 and Windows 11 media lacks the driver for it. Other makers’ PCs that use VMD or a firmware RAID mode can show the same empty list; MSI, for example, documents the same Load driver fix for its Intel notebooks on its support page for an unrecognized drive during installation.

The fix is not a different USB. It is the same installer plus one driver package. If you have not made the installer yet, start with creating a bootable Windows 11 USB drive and come back here when Setup stalls at the drive list.

Get the right driver files first

Both routes need the same thing: an extracted driver folder containing .inf files (usually alongside .sys and .cat files). A setup program ending in .exe will not work inside Setup.

1. On another computer, open the support page for your exact PC model or motherboard and find the storage driver. Dell lists it under Drivers & Downloads in the Storage category as Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver; other makers may call it an IRST, RST, VMD or “F6” driver.
2. Download the 64-bit version that matches your hardware.
3. Extract the package. Dell’s article has you run the downloaded file and choose Extract, then pick the USB drive as the destination. A .zip file can simply be unzipped.
4. Copy the extracted folder to the root of the Windows installer USB, or to a second USB stick. Short folder names such as Drivers are easier to find in the browse dialog.

Always take drivers from the PC or chipset maker’s own support site. Driver updater programs and download mirrors add risk without adding anything Setup needs.

Route 1: Load the driver while Setup is running

This is the quickest fix for a single PC, and it changes nothing on the USB.

1. Boot the PC from the installer USB and continue through Setup until you reach the screen that asks where to install Windows.
2. When the drive list is empty, select Load driver. The wording around it changes between Windows versions, so look for the link or button with that name near the empty list. MSI’s support page quotes the message as “We couldn’t find any drivers. To get a storage driver, click Load driver.”
3. If you see a prompt asking you to insert driver media, select OK. Dell notes that a “Drivers Not Found” message may follow; select OK again.
4. Select Browse and open the driver folder you copied. For Dell’s Intel package, the article points to the VMD folder and then the f6vmdflpy-x64 folder.
5. Select the controller that appears in the list (Dell’s example is Intel RST VMD Controller), then select Next.

The image is an illustration of an older Setup screen; current screens may look different. After a few seconds, your drive and its partitions should appear. From here, continue the install as usual; reinstalling Windows from a USB drive covers the remaining screens.

Route 2: Add the driver to the USB with DISM

If you install Windows on several identical PCs, adding the driver to the USB’s images saves you the browse step every time. DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) is built into Windows. Microsoft’s guide to adding drivers to an offline Windows image says the technician PC must run Windows 10 or later, Windows Server 2016 or later, or Windows PE for Windows 10 or later. Run each command in Terminal or Command Prompt opened as administrator. The example paths assume the USB is drive D:, the images go in C:\work, the mount folder is C:\mount and the driver is in C:\drivers.

1. Copy boot.wim from the USB’s sources folder to C:\work, and create an empty C:\mount folder.
2. List the images inside it: Dism /Get-ImageInfo /ImageFile:C:\work\boot.wim. Each image has an index number and a name.
3. Mount the first index: Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:C:\work\boot.wim /Index:1 /MountDir:C:\mount
4. Add the driver: Dism /Image:C:\mount /Add-Driver /Driver:C:\drivers /Recurse. To add one driver only, point /Driver at its .inf file and leave out /Recurse.
5. Check it went in: Dism /Image:C:\mount /Get-Drivers. Microsoft notes that added packages are renamed Oem0.inf, Oem1.inf and so on.
6. Save and unmount: Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:C:\mount /Commit
7. Repeat steps 3 to 6 for each other index that /Get-ImageInfo listed, so the driver is present whichever image Setup runs from.
8. Copy the updated boot.wim back over the original in the USB’s sources folder.

Microsoft warns that /Recurse makes it easy to bloat an image, so point it at a folder that holds only the drivers you need. The DISM driver servicing reference lists a /ForceUnsigned switch for unsigned packages on 64-bit images and describes it as for testing only; a maker’s released driver should not need it.

The installed copy of Windows: install.wim or install.esd

Boot.wim only covers Setup itself. To have the driver in place the first time the new Windows starts, add it to the edition you install as well. Run Dism /Get-ImageInfo /ImageFile:C:\work\install.wim to find the index for your edition (Home, Pro and so on), then mount, add, check and commit that index with the same commands.

Some installer USBs hold install.esd instead of install.wim. Microsoft’s DISM image management options list .wim, .ffu, .vhd and .vhdx as the files /Mount-Image works with, so export the edition you need to a .wim first, for example Dism /Export-Image /SourceImageFile:C:\work\install.esd /SourceIndex:6 /DestinationImageFile:C:\work\install.wim /Compress:max, using the index /Get-ImageInfo showed for your edition.

When the edition is committed, copy the updated install.wim into the USB’s sources folder in place of the original, and remove install.esd if the USB had one, so the folder holds a single install image. If the new install.wim is larger than 4 GB, use the split step below instead of copying it.

When install.wim is too big for the USB

Microsoft’s page on installing Windows from a USB flash drive points out that install drives are formatted as FAT32, which has a 4 GB file size limit. If your updated install.wim is larger, split it onto the USB instead of copying it: Dism /Split-Image /ImageFile:C:\work\install.wim /SWMFile:D:\sources\install.swm /FileSize:3800. Microsoft’s steps copy everything except the install image to the USB and write the split files straight into its sources folder, so first remove any install.wim or install.esd from the USB’s sources folder. Microsoft says Setup installs from the split file automatically as long as it is named install.swm.

Organizations that deploy with answer files can also point Setup at a driver share; Microsoft’s page on adding device drivers during Windows Setup describes the DevicePaths setting in the windowsPE pass.

Network and other drivers

Storage is the driver that stops Setup outright. A missing network driver is another gap: Setup still finishes copying files, but the PC may have no Wi-Fi or Ethernet during the first sign-in screens. Load or inject the maker’s network driver the same way if that happens. Graphics, audio and other drivers can wait until Windows is running, either through Windows Update or the maker’s site, using the steps in updating drivers in Windows 11 or installing drivers on Windows 11.

If the drive still does not appear

• No driver shows after Browse. The folder holds an .exe or a .zip rather than extracted .inf files, or you picked a parent folder for a package that has separate subfolders. Open the subfolders one level at a time.
• The driver loads but no drive appears. It may be the wrong package for your controller. Dell’s own example has separate folders for different controller types, and some makers offer one package for older processors and another for newer ones. Check the model page again.
• Wrong architecture. Windows 11 runs only on 64-bit processors, so pick the package that matches yours (x64 on most PCs, ARM64 on Arm-based ones).
• A firmware setting. Some makers document turning off VMD or changing the storage mode in the firmware instead of loading a driver; MSI, for example, names an Enable VMD controller option. Only change it before a fresh install, because switching storage modes under an existing Windows installation can stop it from starting. Opening the BIOS in Windows 11 shows how to reach those settings.
• Maker recovery media. Dell says this problem does not occur with installation media made with its Dell OS Recovery Tool or with a SupportAssist OS Recovery reinstall, so that is another option on Dell PCs.

Bootable USB driver questions

Can I keep the drivers on a separate USB stick?

Yes. Plug in the second stick before you select Browse, then open it from the dialog. Leave the installer USB connected.

Does this work with Windows 10 media?

Yes, both routes use the same tools. Keep in mind that Windows 10 has reached the end of support, so a new install is best done with Windows 11 if the PC qualifies.

Will adding drivers stop the USB from working on other PCs?

Not normally. An extra storage driver only loads on hardware that matches it. Avoid stuffing the image with unrelated packages, though, which is the bloat Microsoft warns about with /Recurse.

Where do I go next after Setup sees the drive?

For a full wipe and reinstall, see reinstalling Windows 11 or reinstalling Windows from the BIOS. If the drive is going to share space with another system, plan partitions with dual booting Windows 11 in mind, and for a fresh USB built from scratch, putting Windows 11 on a USB drive covers the download.