How to fix MS SQL Server Express 2019 startup error?

Question

Hi guys.

I'm trying to install MS SQL Server Express 2019 on Windows 11. I did end up installing MS SQL Server Express 2019 and verified my installation using "where sqllocaldb" on Windows Cmd.

However, I get error when I try "sqllocaldb start". After doing some search, I realized this might be caused by system disk sector size greater than 4 KB (because of incompatibleness between Windows 11 and SQL Server Express). So I followed instructions on https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/database-engine/database-file-operations/troubleshoot-os-4kb-disk-sector-size?WT.mc_id=DP-MVP-5440&tabs=command-prompt which didn't work.

I have no idea how to fix this problem. I will attach the full error log, please help professionals.

FYI, I am using Windows 11 Home in Korean.

Thanks in advance.

Full Error Log

"

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server Microsoft SQL Server 2019 (RTM) - 15.0.2000.5 (X64)

Sep 24 2019 13:48:23 

Copyright (C) 2019 Microsoft Corporation

Express Edition (64-bit) on Windows 10 Home 10.0 <X64> (Build 26100: )

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server UTC adjustment: 9:00

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server (c) Microsoft Corporation.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server All rights reserved.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server Server process ID is 36156.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server System Manufacturer: 'HANSUNG COMPUTER', System Model: 'TFG5576XG'.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server Authentication mode is WINDOWS-ONLY.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server Logging SQL Server messages in file 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL15.SQLEXPRESS01\MSSQL\Log\ERRORLOG'.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server The service account is 'NT Service\MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS01'. This is an informational message; no user action is required.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server Registry startup parameters:

 -d C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL15.SQLEXPRESS01\MSSQL\DATA\master.mdf

 -e C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL15.SQLEXPRESS01\MSSQL\Log\ERRORLOG

 -l C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL15.SQLEXPRESS01\MSSQL\DATA\mastlog.ldf

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server Command Line Startup Parameters:

 -s "SQLEXPRESS01"

 -m "SqlSetup"

 -Q

 -q "Korean_Wansung_CI_AS"

 -T 4022

 -T 4010

 -T 3659

 -T 3610

 -T 8015

 -d "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL15.SQLEXPRESS01\MSSQL\Template Data\master.mdf"

 -l "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL15.SQLEXPRESS01\MSSQL\Template Data\mastlog.ldf"

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server SQL Server detected 1 sockets with 8 cores per socket and 16 logical processors per socket, 16 total logical processors; using 8 logical processors based on SQL Server licensing. This is an informational message; no user action is required.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server SQL Server is starting at normal priority base (=7). This is an informational message only. No user action is required.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server Detected 15774 MB of RAM. This is an informational message; no user action is required.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server Using conventional memory in the memory manager.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.09 Server Page exclusion bitmap is enabled.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.17 Server Buffer Pool: Allocating 2097152 bytes for 1365298 hashPages.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.19 Server Default collation: SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS (us_english 1033)

2025-04-05 15:14:48.21 Server Buffer pool extension is already disabled. No action is necessary.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.24 Server Perfmon counters for resource governor pools and groups failed to initialize and are disabled.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.25 Server Query Store settings initialized with enabled = 1,

2025-04-05 15:14:48.26 Server The maximum number of dedicated administrator connections for this instance is '1'

2025-04-05 15:14:48.26 Server This instance of SQL Server last reported using a process ID of 28204 at 2025-04-05 오후 3:14:44 (local) 2025-04-05 오전 6:14:44 (UTC). This is an informational message only; no user action is required.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.26 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.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.26 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.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.26 Server Lock partitioning is enabled. This is an informational message only. No user action is required.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.27 Server In-Memory OLTP initialized on standard machine.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.27 Server [INFO] Created Extended Events session 'hkenginexesession'

2025-04-05 15:14:48.28 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.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.28 Server Total Log Writer threads: 2. This is an informational message; no user action is required.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.28 Server Database Mirroring Transport is disabled in the endpoint configuration.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.28 Server clwb is selected for pmem flush operation.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.28 Server Software Usage Metrics is disabled.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.28 spid10s Warning ******************

2025-04-05 15:14:48.28 spid10s SQL Server started in single-user mode. This an informational message only. No user action is required.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.28 spid10s Starting up database 'master'.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.29 spid10s 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\MSSQL15.SQLEXPRESS01\MSSQL\Template Data\master.mdf.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.39 Server CLR version v4.0.30319 loaded.

2025-04-05 15:14:48.42 Server Common language runtime (CLR) functionality initialized using CLR version v4.0.30319 from C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319.

"

Answer 1

You installed Sqlserver on a disk with an unsupported sector size. See:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/database-engine/database-file-operations/troubleshoot-os-4kb-disk-sector-size?tabs=registry-editor