This can be more an NVMe vs SCSI behavior than AMD vs Intel.
 
- On NVMe SKUs, the PersistedData/IdentityDisk is classified as a portable device, whereas on SCSI SKUs it is not.
 

 
Example Tests
-------------------
 
- Standard D32as v6 (AMD, NVMe) -> Resuled: PersistedData shows under Portable Devices
 
- Standard D32 v4 (Intel, SCSI) -> Resulted: PersistedData does not show under Portable Devices
 
- Standard D4ads v5 (AMD, SCSI) -> Resulted: PersistedData does not show under Portable Devices
 
 
** The portable vs non‑portable classification is coming from Azure + Windows behavior, not from any explicit Citrix flag **
 
 
 
 
With RDVDenyWriteAccess enabled, PersistedData/IdentityDisk is treated as a removable drive and becomes read‑only.
 
- This causes ImagePrep to fail with "The media is write protected."
- This is why the issue is only seen with the NVMe SKU and not with the SCSI SKU (even though the image is the same).

The main cause (was Bitlocker was applying the following registry [ HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FVE\FDVDenyWriteAccess = 1] )
 
- Which Denies write access to removable drives not protected by BitLocker

On the Master Image VM
=====================

Under registry: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FVE\

- Create DWORD "FDVDenyWriteAccess" = 0

MS Provided the BusType regkey
==========================
 
A registry value was used to prevent the IdentityDisk from being classified as a portable device
 
- Once added in Engineering environment and rebooting to take effect [ This stopped the IdentityDisk from appearing under Portable Devices ].
 
- DWORD Registry: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\stornvme\Parameters\ [BusType = 8]
 
- This allowed ImagePrep to succeed even with the BitLocker policy present.

BitLocker is detecting the Identity Disk as a removable / external storage (which triggers its operation to apply the policy setting its configured to perform).