Dell Latitude 5520 Imaging Issues

Question

Hey everyone, I am in need of some help! My organization just purchased a brand new Dell Latitude 5520 for one of our employees. These are the specs: KBG40ZNS512G NVMe KIOXIA 512GB SSD, Intel i7-1185G7, 16GB DDR4 SDRAM @ 3200MHz, Intel Iris Xe Graphics. We currently use Windows PE for imaging purposes (Task Sequence Wizard) . Before imaging the machine on Windows PE, I typically open up the command prompt and access "diskpart", where I can then format the disk on the machine to my liking so that I can commence the imaging process. When I do the "list disk" command, only the bootable media inserted into the machine appears (the USB). If the disk is not formatted, then I cannot image the machine so there lies the main problem. Furthermore, the machine already came pre-installed with Windows 10, so I was able to create an account and access the computer normally. I accessed "diskpart" from the command prompt while logged into the machine and entering the "list disk" command showed me my SSD. I also went on Disk Management and my SSD appeared. It also appears within my BIOS. The only place it does not appear is within Windows PE on the command prompt. I do not know what the issue could possibly be.

I have looked all over a bunch of different forums and I have not been able to get any straight answers. The machine has RAID turned on, so I disabled it and set the SATA/NVMe Operation to AHCI/NVMe mode to see if that would fix anything. This did nothing and did not allow me to boot into Windows 10 at all until I re-enabled RAID. I've played around with all Virtualization settings on the BIOS and that did nothing. I tried loading different Intel Rapid Storage Technology Drivers onto my boot drive and none of them have been successful in getting diskpart to display my SSD. I updated the machine with all the latest updates provided to me by Dell Support including BIOS updates and Storage Controller updates. I have gotten IRST updates directly from the Intel website that Dell might have not published yet and installed them on the machine, as well as loaded onto the boot drive. This did nothing as well. I unencrypted the SSD using Windows Powershell and this did nothing either. I reset the BIOS altogether as well. I have also created multiple USB bootable medias for the imaging to rule out that the bootable media is the issue. The bootable media works on other computers that our organization owns such as Dell Desktops, Lenovo's, and Toshiba's. This is the only machine it has not worked on.

You might ask, "If you already have Windows 10 installed, then why do you have to image the machine?" Well by using Windows PE and the Task Sequence Media Wizard, the computer can be automatically added to our organization's Active Directory and all software that is used by the org will automatically be installed and licensed. The imaging is a huge part of my job and this has become and crazy inconvenience. Can anyone help me with this and provide some insight as to what I should do next? Mind you, this computer is BRAND NEW.

Attached below are screenshots of the disk appearing while logged into the machine vs while in the Windows PE command prompt.
Windows PE (no disk appears, only USB): https://ibb.co/tD0DLxf
Logged into Windows 10 (disk appears): https://ibb.co/z6ypwyH

anjpere · Answer

This issue is in fact NVMe related. I tried imaging another machine on Windows PE with a NVMe as well (Lenovo X1 Carbon 6th Gen). The issue is consistent on both machines. By removing all drivers tied to the boot.wim file on my Windows PE bootable media and then injecting only network related drivers from the Windows PE 10 Driver Pack (https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000108642/winpe-10-driver-pack), as well as the latest Intel RST driver, I was able to get the Lenovo to work. That particular fix does not work with the Dell Latitude 5520 though sadly.

PUClientAdmin · Answer

@anjpere what version of winpe are you using? Here is a thread with issues relating to the WinPE being out of date https://www.dell.com/community/Latitude/Latitude-5320-no-storage-detected-in-WinPE/m-p/7864860/highlight/true#M32695

Also as an FYI there is a BSOD issue when the 5X20s go to sleep while in AHCI mode. Dell has been working on it for about 2 months and have still not identified a solution.

Zehta · Answer

I'm in a similar situation. My org bought 5 5520's and I've been tasked with imaging them as well. For me, I can't even get to a command prompt for diskpart. On any other device it's just tap F8 to get the command prompt, is it different on these?

jddfw · Answer

We also have issues with the KIOXIA NVMe SSD's. Fire up the next computer, which has a different NVMe SSD in it, and everything works as expected.

When we first encountered this, we applied the KIOXIA firmware update(s) to no avail. Our workaround was to swap the KIOXIA drive into the previous model's chassis -- which allowed us to image it without complaint -- and then swap it back to its original host.

For example: The KIOXIA first appeared to us in a new Latitude 7420. On a whim, we transferred this into a Latitude 7400, got it to image, and then simply moved the KIOXIA back to the 7420's frame.

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Dell Latitude 5520 Imaging Issues

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