I want to install 15.1 on a new DELL XPS system with 256G SSD. When I get to the disk partitioning section, I don’t see any mention of the SSD. Shouldn’t I see partitioning options for the SSD? All it sees is the HDD. What am I missing here?
Yes, you should see such options.
This could be a hardware compatibility issue.
Maybe try Tumbleweed or even Leap 15.2 (still at alpha testing). Both of those have newer kernels, which might make a difference. Leap 15.2 Alpha has a 5.3 kernel, while Tumbleweed has a 5.4 kernel.
Just as (in this thread) if you need help finding the iso for those.
Check the SATA controlers settings in UEFI. It should be in AHCI mode , not in RAID mode. However just changing that setting will kill your Windows installation on that disk. Look for instructions how to uninstall Intel RST driver on Windows if you want to save that Windows installation.
Background for the problem : The Intel RST driver supports Fake Raid with NVME disks. To do so, the Windows NVME driver must not recognize and take over the NVME disks. Therefore, in RAID mode the UEFI does some changes on PCIe registers, that hide the NVME disk from Windows NVME drivers. And from Linux NVME drivers,too.
There seems to be a patch to fix that problem without switching to AHCI : https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/20190620061038.GA20564@lst.de/T/. But I don’t know if this patch has made it into current Tumbleweed or 15.2 kernels.
Thanks for the advice! I have zero interest in keeping Windows. (I was curious about seeing that RAID setting in the BIOS.)
One more thank you to mkossman. Changing the SATA setting to ACHI worked. The install went smoothly, and I’m a happy user of a new 15.1 installation!