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Virtualization

Resolving "There are no fixed disks to show" in VMware with PVSCSI

2 min read497 words1 code block

At a glance#

  • Purpose: Fix Windows setup being unable to see disks on a VMware VM using the PVSCSI controller.
  • Applies to: Windows Server installations on VMware vSphere with PVSCSI.
  • Risk: Low - applies during installation, before any data exists.
  • Time: About 20 minutes.

When using VMware with PVSCSI (Paravirtual SCSI) controllers, the diskpart utility in Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) may show:

text
DISKPART> list disk
There are no fixed disks to show.

This occurs because the Windows recovery environment does not include the PVSCSI driver by default. Without this driver, Windows cannot detect disks attached to the PVSCSI controller.

Solution#

To resolve this issue, you need to manually load the VMware PVSCSI driver by following these steps.

1. Verify That No Disks Are Recognized#

Before proceeding, confirm that no disks are detected:

  1. Boot into Windows Recovery.
  2. Open Command Prompt.
  3. Run the following command:

``` diskpart

```

  1. Inside DISKPART, list available disks:

``` list disk

```

If you see:

``` There are no fixed disks to show.

```

This confirms that the PVSCSI driver is missing.

2. Load VMware PVSCSI Driver#

To load the missing driver, you must mount VMware Tools and manually install the PVSCSI driver.

Step 1: Mount VMware Tools#

  1. Open vSphere Client.
  2. Right-click the VM experiencing the issue.
  3. Navigate to Guest OS → Install VMware Tools.
  4. Click Mount to attach the VMware Tools ISO (ensure the VM has a virtual CD/DVD drive).

Step 2: Load PVSCSI Driver in Windows Recovery#

  1. Go back to the Command Prompt in Windows Recovery.
  2. Run the following command to manually load the PVSCSI driver:

``` drvload "D:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\Drivers\pvscsi\Win8\amd64\pvscsi.inf"

```

  • Replace Win8 with the appropriate folder for your Windows version (Win10, Win11, etc.).
  • If the drive letter for the mounted VMware Tools is different, replace D:\ with the correct path.

3. Verify That Disks Are Now Recognized#

  1. Re-run diskpart:

``` diskpart

```

  1. List available disks again:

``` list disk

```

If successful, the output should now display the attached disks:

``` DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ------------- ------- ------- --- --- Disk 0 Online 75 GB 1024 KB Disk 1 Online 90 GB 1024 KB

```

4. Boot into Safe Mode (If Needed)#

If the OS disk is configured with PVSCSI, Windows may fail to boot normally. To resolve this, you can force Safe Mode:

  1. Load bcdedit.exe in Windows Recovery:

``` bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal

```

  1. Restart the VM.
  2. Once booted into Safe Mode, install VMware Tools within Windows.
  3. After installation, disable Safe Mode:

``` bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot

```

  1. Reboot normally.

Conclusion#

When using VMware PVSCSI for virtual disks, Windows Recovery does not automatically load the necessary driver, leading to the "There are no fixed disks to show" error. By mounting VMware Tools and manually loading the PVSCSI driver, you can restore disk visibility and proceed with system recovery.