How to fix "Unable to install SQL Server (setup.exe) Exit Code (Decimal): -2061893607Error description: Could not find the Database Engine startup handle."

Question

Hi, I keep getting this problem when trying to install the SQL Server (Express Edition) through basic installation. Here are the Summary.txt and Detail.txt. Really need to get this fixed as soon as possible, I appreciate any help.

Answer 1

The message Wait on the Database Engine recovery handle failed is a generic error that means that SQL Server did not start when Setup wanted to run configuration steps. To understand why it did not start, you need to look in the SQL Server errorlog, which you find in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL16.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\LOG\ERRORLOG. Note that the component MSSQL16.MSSQLSERVER is for a default instance of SQL 2022. I see that you have a number of instances, I guess any of them will do.

If you see a message about 256 misaligned reads, you are running into a known issue where Windows 11 for some disk drives reports a sector size that SQL Server does not cope with. Microsoft has published an article with workarounds for the problem.

If you don't see the message about misaligned reads, feel free to upload the errorlog here, so we can look at it. You will need to rename to ERRORLOG.txt for the forum software to accept it.

Answer 2

Hi @JDK246

Try changing this login to a valid login (an existing local user).

Also, please refer to this blog for more solutions: Error: Could not find the Database Engine startup handle.

Best regards,

Cosmog Hong

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Answer 3

There is no output at all from the command prompt, here is the error (highlighted in the photo) that I copied and pasted from the Windows event viewer:

I post this an answer, because I am afraid that we have reached the end of the line, and you may not be able to install SQL Server your machine.

I like to stress that the behaviour you run into is not exactly normal. Rather, this happens because there is something "special" with your machine. But what I don't know.

A few wild speculations:

• If you are running some other anti-malware solution than Windows firewall, you can try exclusion rules, disabling and worst of all, uninstall it.
• You have a bad memory stick or similar. But a bad memory stick usually produce more random errors, and you would see blue screens every now and then etc.
• You are running on some unusual hardware. Every now and then, we see people who try to install SQL Server on ARM, which is not supported. But this usually dies at an earlier stage.

Had you been in a corporate environment, I would have recommended that you open a support case. But I see that you have Windows 11 Home, so I assume that this is a private machine, and in that case, I don't think a support case would be an option for you.

You could possibly try to create a virtual machine, or run SQL Server on Docker.