How to fix Error "Could not find the Database Engine startup handle" when installing Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Express?

Question

I am a student trying to install Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Express, but I encountered the following error:

Exit code (Decimal):. -2061893607 Error description: Could not find the Database Engine startup handle.

I attempted to solve the issue by forcing my SSD to show the sector size of 4095, but it didn't fix the problem. Please can anyone provide a solution?

Below is the error log text:-

2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      Microsoft SQL Server 2022 (RTM) - 16.0.1000.6 (X64) 
	Oct  8 2022 05:58:25 
	Copyright (C) 2022 Microsoft Corporation
	Express Edition (64-bit) on Windows 10 Home Single Language 10.0 <X64> (Build 22621: )

2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      UTC adjustment: 5:30
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      (c) Microsoft Corporation.
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      All rights reserved.
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      Server process ID is 20160.
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      System Manufacturer: 'LENOVO', System Model: '82JW'.
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      Authentication mode is WINDOWS-ONLY.
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      Logging SQL Server messages in file 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL16.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\Log\ERRORLOG'.
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      The service account is 'NT Service\MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS'. This is an informational message; no user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      Registry startup parameters: 
	 -d C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL16.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\DATA\master.mdf
	 -e C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL16.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\Log\ERRORLOG
	 -l C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL16.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\DATA\mastlog.ldf
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      Command Line Startup Parameters:
	 -s "SQLEXPRESS"
	 -m "SqlSetup"
	 -T 4022
	 -T 4010
	 -T 1905
	 -T 3701
	 -T 8015
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      SQL Server detected 1 sockets with 6 cores per socket and 12 logical processors per socket, 12 total logical processors; using 8 logical processors based on SQL Server licensing. This is an informational message; no user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      SQL Server is starting at normal priority base (=7). This is an informational message only. No user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      Detected 14188 MB of RAM. This is an informational message; no user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      Using conventional memory in the memory manager.
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      Detected pause instruction latency: 99 cycles.
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      Spin divider value used: 2
2024-01-03 19:48:05.99 Server      Page exclusion bitmap is enabled.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.06 Server      Buffer Pool: Allocating 4194304 bytes for 2232320 hashPages.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.06 Server      Default collation: SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS (us_english 1033)
2024-01-03 19:48:06.08 Server      Buffer pool extension is already disabled. No action is necessary.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.09 Server      CPU vectorization level(s) detected:  SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE41 SSE42 AVX AVX2 POPCNT BMI1 BMI2
2024-01-03 19:48:06.10 Server      Perfmon counters for resource governor pools and groups failed to initialize and are disabled.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.11 Server      Query Store settings initialized with enabled = 1, 
2024-01-03 19:48:06.11 Server      The maximum number of dedicated administrator connections for this instance is '1'
2024-01-03 19:48:06.12 Server      This instance of SQL Server last reported using a process ID of 11372 at 1/3/2024 7:45:03 PM (local) 1/3/2024 2:15:03 PM (UTC). This is an informational message only; no user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.12 Server      Node configuration: node 0: CPU mask: 0x00000000000000ff:0 Active CPU mask: 0x00000000000000ff:0. This message provides a description of the NUMA configuration for this computer. This is an informational message only. No user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.12 Server      Using dynamic lock allocation.  Initial allocation of 2500 Lock blocks and 5000 Lock Owner blocks per node.  This is an informational message only.  No user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.13 Server      In-Memory OLTP initialized on standard machine.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.14 Server      [INFO] Created Extended Events session 'hkenginexesession'
2024-01-03 19:48:06.14 Server      Database Instant File Initialization: enabled. For security and performance considerations see the topic 'Database Instant File Initialization' in SQL Server Books Online. This is an informational message only. No user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.14 Server      Total Log Writer threads: 2, Node CPUs: 4, Nodes: 1, Log Writer threads per CPU: 1, Log Writer threads per Node: 2
2024-01-03 19:48:06.14 Server      Database Mirroring Transport is disabled in the endpoint configuration.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.15 Server      clwb is selected for pmem flush operation.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.15 Server      Software Usage Metrics is disabled.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.15 spid26s     Warning ******************
2024-01-03 19:48:06.15 spid26s     SQL Server started in single-user mode. This an informational message only. No user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.15 spid26s     Starting up database 'master'.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.17 spid26s     3 transactions rolled forward in database 'master' (1:0). This is an informational message only. No user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.17 spid26s     0 transactions rolled back in database 'master' (1:0). This is an informational message only. No user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.17 spid26s     Recovery is writing a checkpoint in database 'master' (1). This is an informational message only. No user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.21 spid26s     SQL Server Audit is starting the audits. This is an informational message. No user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.21 spid26s     SQL Server Audit has started the audits. This is an informational message. No user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.21 spid26s     XE session 'system_health' started.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.22 spid26s     SQL Trace ID 1 was started by login "sa".
2024-01-03 19:48:06.22 spid26s     Server name is 'WarMachine\SQLEXPRESS'. This is an informational message only. No user action is required.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.22 spid26s     Starting up database 'msdb'.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.22 spid31s     Starting up database 'mssqlsystemresource'.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid34s     Error: 17190, Severity: 16, State: 1.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid34s     Initializing the FallBack certificate failed with error code: 15, state: 29, error number: 0.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid34s     Unable to initialize SSL encryption because a valid certificate could not be found, and it is not possible to create a self-signed certificate.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid34s     Error: 17182, Severity: 16, State: 1.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid34s     TDSSNIClient initialization failed with error 0x80092004, status code 0x80. Reason: Unable to initialize SSL support. Cannot find object or property. 
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid34s     Error: 17182, Severity: 16, State: 1.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid34s     TDSSNIClient initialization failed with error 0x80092004, status code 0x1. Reason: Initialization failed with an infrastructure error. Check for previous errors. Cannot find object or property. 
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid34s     Error: 17826, Severity: 18, State: 3.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid34s     Could not start the network library because of an internal error in the network library. To determine the cause, review the errors immediately preceding this one in the error log.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid26s     Error: 17204, Severity: 16, State: 1.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid26s     FCB::Open failed: Could not open file D:\dbs\sh\5uj5\1008_054209\cmd\11\obj\x64retail\sql\mkmastr\databases\mkmastr.nativeproj\MSDBData.mdf for file number 1.  OS error: 3(The system cannot find the path specified.).
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid34s     Error: 17120, Severity: 16, State: 1.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid34s     SQL Server could not spawn FRunCommunicationsManager thread. Check the SQL Server error log and the operating system error log for information about possible related problems.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid26s     Error: 5120, Severity: 16, State: 101.
2024-01-03 19:48:06.23 spid26s     Unable to open the physical file "D:\dbs\sh\5uj5\1008_054209\cmd\11\obj\x64retail\sql\mkmastr\databases\mkmastr.nativeproj\MSDBData.mdf". Operating system error 3: "3(The system cannot find the path specified.)".

Answer 1

The error messages about TDSNICClient usually means that the Windows profile for the default user has been corrupted.

This can be worked around by using an existing account as the service account for SQL Server, but it is better to fix that corrupted profile, because it could come back and bite you later.

How to fix it, is a Windows question and not an SQL Server question. I have ran do it once, and googled around. I think one suggestion was to copy a profile from another computer. I was fortunate to have a backup, so I ended up restoring that backup.