Intel RST VMD – Troubleshooting Notes (DriverFiles)
People usually reached this page because Windows setup failed to see storage, boot broke after a BIOS change, or system reports flagged Intel RST VMD as being in an invalid state. In practice, many of these situations were not resolved by reinstalling drivers alone. Some failures were tied to OEM customization, others to unsupported configuration changes, and several ended without a workable fix at all.
Problem: “Invalid state” reported for Intel RST VMD controller
What users observed: On a freshly restored Windows 11 system, running a performance report flagged the Intel RST VMD Managed Controller with an “invalid state” error. The system otherwise appeared new and functional.
What was tried: No corrective action was documented beyond observing the report.
How this played out: No solution was identified. The warning persisted without a clear explanation or impact being confirmed.
Problem: Intel VMD drivers installed, but Windows setup still asks for storage drivers
What users observed: On a Lenovo IdeaPad, Windows 10 and 11 installers repeatedly requested storage drivers even after Intel RST drivers were provided. The installer could not proceed normally.
What was tried: Generic Intel RST drivers were used during installation.
What this turned out to be: A mismatch between generic Intel drivers and OEM-specific storage configuration.
Where this sometimes ended: Recreating the installation media using a different tool allowed Windows to install successfully.
Problem: Windows installer cannot see NVMe drives due to a missing VMD driver
What users observed: On systems where Windows had been replaced with Linux, reinstalling Windows failed because no storage devices were detected. The installer reported missing media drivers.
What was tried: Intel RST drivers were downloaded and attempted during setup.
Where this sometimes ended: Extracting OEM-provided driver packages and manually pointing Windows Setup to those files allowed the installer to detect the drives. Generic Intel packages did not consistently work.
Problem: Windows fails to boot after the install with VMD-enabled storage
What users observed: After successfully loading Intel RST drivers during Windows setup and installing to an NVMe SSD, the system failed on first reboot with an “Inaccessible boot device” error.
What was tried: Multiple installation attempts were made using standard tools and drivers.
Where this sometimes ended: Changing the USB port used for installation and loading multiple OEM-provided Intel RST drivers allowed Windows to complete setup. The fix was fragile and not clearly attributable to a single change.
Problem: Switching from AHCI to VMD after Windows installation breaks boot
What users observed: Enabling Intel VMD in BIOS on a system that was originally installed with AHCI caused Windows to fail to boot. Recovery tools could not see any disks.
What was tried: Installing Intel VMD drivers after the fact and re-enabling VMD did not restore boot capability.
What this turned out to be: An unsupported configuration change.
Where this sometimes ended: There was no supported process to inject the VMD driver into an existing Windows installation. A full reinstall with VMD enabled from the start was required.
Problem: Intel RST VMD driver no longer available in loadable format
What users observed: Intel replaced previously downloadable ZIP driver packages with a single executable installer, which could not be loaded directly during Windows setup.
What was tried: Users attempted to extract or reuse driver files from multiple sources.
Where this sometimes ended: By copying all extracted subfolders from multiple driver packages to installation media and scanning them individually, one compatible driver was eventually accepted. The process was trial-and-error.
Problem: Windows 11 update blocked by Intel RST VMD controller error
What users observed: Applying a Windows 11 24H2 update failed with an error referencing an Intel RST VMD controller, even though compatibility checks reported no issues.
What was tried: Standard update troubleshooting and compatibility checks.
How this played out: No confirmed solution was reported. The update could not proceed, and the cause remained unclear.
Other devices showing similar behavior:
- Scans your system for missing or outdated drivers
- Downloads and installs the correct versions
- Creates a restore point before making changes