No matter what I do though, I can’t get the RST option to light up; it’s hard disabled in firmware even though it’s there.

Maybe you need to set a supervisor password in the Bios?

Check one of these, there may be something useful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTXXvxUjd-A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9wbCOajZ2A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M_yOwBoCA8

No, I have not seen the videos.

Best,

A.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Rapid_Storage_Technology

the very first question is...wait for it...you knew it was coming...

you have a tried and true, bullet-proof method to completely recover this machine to its original state? yes?(asking for a friend)

If I go into Windows and try to tinker with RST support (for example, via Device Manager and the legacy Add/Remove Programs control panel (appwiz.cpl) for Intel RST), when I boot back into Linux from USB, the disk doesn't show up anywhere! If I leave it alone, the result is the same. It's like it doesn't exist to Linux at all. I tried going back into EFI by and turning off Rapid Storage Technology (RST), but the option I found was grayed out with no way to change it (and I'll mention for anyone commenting, it was also grayed out before looking at Windows). I thought maybe it had to do with Windows 11's fast boot, so I made sure to start it traditionally, but RST is still stubbornly enabled. I have tried cutting edge versions (including Fedora Rawhide and Ubuntu betas) to see if anything could deal with it, and the Ubuntu installer at least *sees* it and tells me it's strongly recommended to turn off RST to continue... but how? And if I try to force it, no partition table or partitions are visible. There's literally no option -- and the one that's there is grayed out. And I have tried disabling Secure Boot, enabling CSM/BIOS, disabling drive features, any set of settings I could try to maybe get the grayed out option working, and it still won't light up.

Why this is a problem is because I can boot into Linux from a flash drive or whatever and run it fine that way, but I can't install it no matter which way I try, because there's no recognizable (or in the case of the Ubuntu beta, accessible) internal storage to install to. And with Devuan, it doesn't even see the drive inside it. If I remember the kernel messages right, it complains about missing firmware related to rst, but that's it.

For now... I've given the laptop back to my friend because I don't know what else to do, and it's still running Windows 11, which he's now using because I've mentioned I can't get Linux on it no matter how I've tried. Is there a hidden switch or sequence I go through like a Chromebook? Has anyone had luck with new HPs using RST and successfully turned it off? I almost wish I could experiment with shorting something on the board, but it's not my laptop. Truly curious as I'd like to get Devuan going on it! Thanks :-)