Windows 10 Installs on Wrong Hard Drive with Dell Precision 5820, 7820, and 7920

Summary: This article provides the solution for installing Windows 10 on the intended hard drive on the Precision 5820, 7820, and 7920 Tower.

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Symptoms

Windows 10 Installs On Wrong Hard Drive

A behavior with the Dell Precision (5820, 7820, and 7920) can happen with Windows 10 Operating System Re-Install (OSRI) media installing on the wrong hard drive.

If a mixture of hard drives (SATA, SAS, and NVMe) is installed and the Windows 10 OSRI media is used to recover or reinstall Windows. The user may not end up with the Operating System (OS) installed to the intended drive.

This mainly occurs when SATA and NVMe drives are mixed in the system simultaneously. The OS is always installed to the SATA disk and not the NVMe drive.

Cause

This is due to how the Microsoft Plug and Play driver enumerates the drive. Drives attached to the Intel SATA controller will always be enumerated first and the OSRI media always targets DISK0 for the reinstall.

Resolution

Solution

When doing an OS recovery, or reinstall with the Dell provided OSRI media. Disconnect any drives that are not intended to be used as the OS boot disk. Connect only the drive or RAID volume to the system that is intended to be the OS boot disk.

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Affected Products

5820 XL Tower, 7820 XL Tower, 7920 XL Tower, Precision 5820 Tower, Precision 7820 Tower, Precision 7920 Tower
Article Properties
Article Number: 000126524
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 29 Jul 2025
Version:  6
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