SQL Server Express fails to install on Windows 11 with 16K physical sector size (Wait on Database Engine recovery handle failed)

Question

Hello,

I am unable to install SQL Server Express (2019, 2022 and 2025 tested) on Windows 11.
The installation completes initial setup successfully, but during Database Engine startup it fails with:

"Wait on the Database Engine recovery handle failed."

Exit code: -2061893606

From the SQL Server setup logs:

The Database Engine service fails to start.

After investigation, I checked the disk sector size using:

fsutil fsinfo sectorinfo C:

Results:
LogicalBytesPerSector: 512
PhysicalBytesPerSectorForAtomicity: 16384
PhysicalBytesPerSectorForPerformance: 16384
FileSystemEffectivePhysicalBytesPerSectorForAtomicity: 4096

It appears the NVMe drive uses 16KB physical sectors.

I found documentation stating SQL Server supports up to 4KB physical sector size.

Is SQL Server officially unsupported on 16K physical sector NVMe drives?

Is there a supported workaround without using a virtual machine?

System details:
Windows 11 Home
Version: 25H2
OS Build: 26200.7922
Windows Feature Experience Pack: 1000.26100.300.0
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 4600H (3.0 GHz)
RAM: 32 GB
System type: 64-bit OS, x64-based processor
Storage:
NVMe SSD (Physical sector size: 16384 bytes)
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Effective physical sector size: 4096 bytes

Thank you.

Summary_IgorPC_20260302_001131.txt

Answer 1

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

There's no released version of SQL Server compatible with sector sizes greater than 4 KB. For more information, see the Hard disk drive sector-size support boundaries in SQL Server article.

SQL Server officially supports only 512-byte and 4,096-byte sector sizes. When Windows 11 reports the true physical sector size of certain modern NVMe drives (for example, 8 KB or 16 KB), SQL Server setup can fail with errors you're seeing.

This behavior occurs because newer Windows 11 NVMe drivers report the actual hardware sector size instead of emulating 4 KB as earlier Windows versions did. As a result, SQL Server detects an unsupported sector size and the Database Engine service fails to start during installation.

The supported workaround is to configure Windows to emulate a 4 KB physical sector size by adding the ForcedPhysicalSectorSizeInBytes registry key. This allows SQL Server to install and run successfully on drives that physically use sector sizes larger than 4 KB. You do not need to enable trace flag 1800 for this scenario.

To apply the workaround, add the following registry value and then reboot:

Path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\stornvme\Parameters\Device

Create a new Multi-String value named:

ForcedPhysicalSectorSizeInBytes

Set its value to:

* 4095

After rebooting, Windows will emulate 4 KB sectors for the NVMe device, allowing SQL Server installation to complete successfully.

If multiple drives exist in the system, another option is to install SQL Server database files on a different drive that reports a supported sector size (512 or 4096 bytes when checked using fsutil fsinfo sectorinfo). If a storage pool was already created using disks with sector sizes larger than 4 KB, the pool must be removed, the registry change applied, and then the pool rebuilt before installing SQL Server.

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hth

Marcin