Has anyone resolved the "Database Engine recovery handle failed" and "firewall warrnig" error during SQL Server installation on Windows 11?

Question

I am encountering critical issues with installing both SQL Server 2017 or SQL Server 2022 on my Windows 11 Home (x64) machine. Below is a summary of the problems and the steps I have taken to resolve them:

Issue Summary:

• Warning: Firewall warning appeared in the initial phase of installation.
• Error: "Wait on the Database Engine recovery handle failed." - Component error code: 0x851A001A
• Failure: Database Engine Services failed to install.
• Occurrence: Same issues with SQL Server 2017 and SQL Server 2022.

Steps Taken to Resolve:

1. Checked SQL Server Logs for more error details.
2. Verified Permissions for NT Service\MSSQLSERVER to ensure directory access.
3. Updated Windows to the latest version.
4. Checked for Port Conflicts: Ensured no applications were using the default SQL Server port (1433).
5. Cleaned Previous Installations: Uninstalled previous versions, deleted residual files, and cleaned registry entries.
6. Disabled Antivirus and Firewall temporarily during installation.
7. Re-downloaded SQL Server setups to ensure fresh, non-corrupted files.
8. Contacted Microsoft Support twice: They suggested performing an in-place upgrade, which did not resolve the issue.
9. Tried Registry Edit: Followed the process of setting ForcedPhysicalSectorSizeInBytes in the registry, but the error persisted.

Solution from Microsoft Community:

• Repairing SQL Server Installation through the SQL Server Installation Center.
• Running sfc /scannow to check for corrupted system files.
• Manually Configuring the SQL Instance: Reinstall SQL Server with manual configuration to avoid port conflicts.

For more details, I have referred to their official troubleshooting guide: Microsoft SQL Server Troubleshooting Guide.

Despite these efforts, the issue persists. Given that this is a SQL Server-specific problem, I kindly request that this issue be escalated to a SQL Server expert or the relevant team who can provide further assistance.

Answer 1

I found this message in the errorlog:

There have been 256 misaligned log IOs which required falling back to synchronous IO. The current IO is on file C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL16.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\DATA\master.mdf.

This is a known issue where Windows 11 for some disk models reports a disk-sector size that SQL Server cannot cope with. Microsoft has published an article with workarounds for the problem.

You said above that you had edited the value of ForcedPhysicalSectorSizeInBytes, which is indeed one of the workarounds. You may not have applied that change in the correct way. I have never had to battle this conflict myself, so I don't have any hands-on experience of the problem. But from what I can tell, most users have been able to solve the problem with help of that article. Some users have reported that rather using the value 4096, they had to use 4095 (although this sounds utterly funny to me).