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Hard Drive Not Detected During Windows Installation...

For those who want to have several operating systems running on their PC, wish to have the option of running Windows on a Mac and more, installing Windows via a virtual machine can prove to be an efficient solution.

However, sometimes, when trying to install Windows in a VirtualBox virtual machine, you may receive an error message saying: “We couldn’t find any drives. To get a storage driver, click Load driver.” The error message will prevent you from proceeding with the installation — with that, it does not give you much information as to how to solve the problem.

In this article, we tell you how to fix the “we couldn’t find any drives while installing Windows” error by following a quick sequence of steps. The error-fixing process will include removing your existing storage devices, creating a new storage device and, finally, selecting the right ISO file.

Here come the details.

How to resolve the “hard drive not detected” error during  the Windows installation?

There are two main reasons that are usually behind the “hard drive not detected” problem. These include incorrect system settings and a corrupted virtual disk.

You will typically see the error message on the screen where you are asked to select a partition for the guest operating system and will be unable to proceed until the problem is resolved.

As mentioned earlier, to fix the “we couldn’t find any drives” error, you will need to complete three steps:

  • remove current storage devices,
  • create a new storage device, and
  • choose the correct ISO file.

Here’s how to proceed:

  • Open VirtualBox.
  • Select the virtual machine and press the Settings button.
  • Navigate to the Storage section of the menu.
  • On the right side of the page, find Controller: SATA and two more sub-labels.
  • Select Controller: SATA and press the red cross button (this will remove the chosen storage controller)
  • Click the Adds new storage controller icon.
  • Choose the Add SATA Controller option.
  • Now, select the Adds hard disk button and click Create new disk.
  • You will now be creating a new virtual disk on your virtual machine. When creating the virtual hard disk, select the Dynamically allocated option.
  • Once the process is complete, you should see a .vdi file in the list.
  • Go on and click the Adds optical drive button.
  • Select Choose disk.
  • If you can see an ISO file in the list, select it.
  • If not, click the Add button and choose an ISO file from the folder.
  • Click the OK button, and your virtual machine will boot up.
  • Now, instead of the error message, you should see a list of options like Delete, Refresh, Extend, Format, Load driver, etc.
  • Now, you should be able to create a new partition and proceed with your Windows installation.

We hope that the above steps have been helpful in solving the “hard drive not detected” situation and you have been able to successfully install Windows in VirtualBox.

Finally, in order to avoid the “we couldn’t find any drives” and other driver-related issues, we suggest you have a driver-updating program installed on your computer. A program like Auslogics Driver Updater will scan your PC for existing and potential driver issues and give you a detailed report of the situation. You will then be able to update all your system drivers to the latest manufacturer-recommended versions in just one click. This will help avoid device compatibility issues and ensure the smooth performance of your system overall.

Have you received any other error messages when trying to install Windows in a VirtualBox virtual machine? How did you resolve them? Share in the comments below.