Rocky9 installer doesn't recognize M.2 PCIe SSD on Dell Tower ECT1250

Rocky Linux Help & Support
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1

Hello all,

I recently got myself this desktop: 
https://www.dell.com/support/product-details/en-us/product/dell-ect1250-desktop/resources/manuals

It arrived with Windows 11 Home installed on an M.2 PCIe. 1TB PC_SN5100S Sandisk.

I copied Rocky9 on a USB and want to write over the Windows image. However the installer doesn’t recognize the internal SSD, it wants to install Rocky 9 on ~2G left on the USB drive after the boot ISO was copied to it.

I checked BIOS, it doesn’t have a RAID setting.

Turned off Secure Boot.

BIOS has a setting where you can enable SATA-0. I turned it off.

Changed boot order to External USB → Internal SSD → Windows Boot Manager.

Nothing worked.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

2

Aaand, of course I found the answer within 10 minutes of posting the query. Here is what I did:
F2 during boot up to enter BIOS.

Click “Advanced Setup” in the upper left corner.

Click Storage → Change from RAID On to AHCI. This option does not show up unless you choose “Advanced Setup”, which is not the default. I wasted an hour trying to find this option on the default setup.

Reboot → Get back into the installer. It saw the internal drive.

Posting the answer to my own query here in case it helps someone else.

The Manimal has spoken.

EDIT: This is my first post-Centos experience with Rocky. Love what the team has done. Install took about 10 minutes max. Amazing.