An administrator is installing Windows Server 2003 via CD on a new server with an SAS RAID array. When the administrator reaches the option to select the target installation drive, there are no drives

WDS (Windows Deployment Services) is for network-based installations and would not resolve the issue of missing RAID drivers during a CD-based install.

While physical connections are important, the prompt indicates a driver issue rather than a physical connection issue, and physical checks should come after attempting driver installation.

During a Windows Server 2003 installation, pressing F6 at the start of the text-mode setup allows the administrator to load manufacturer-supplied drivers for SCSI or RAID controllers that are not natively supported by the operating system. Without these drivers, the installer cannot detect or access the drives managed by the SAS RAID array, causing no drives to be listed for installation. This method provides the operating system installer with the necessary software to communicate with the specialized hardware.

Setting RAID drives to compatibility mode (like IDE mode) is not relevant for an SAS RAID array that requires specific drivers and might degrade performance, if even an option.