SSD showing incorrect bytes per sector Win 11 - SQL server 2017 installation cannot be completed

Question

Hello,

I recently purchased a new HP Envy laptop with Win 11 pre-installed.

It works great so far, when it comes to streaming, usuing the internet, MS office and Adobe applications.

However, when I tried to install DATEV (a German accounting program, which also installes the SQL server 2017) an error occured and the installation of the SQL server was cancelled. The DATEV support checked my machine and advised me that this seems to be an issue related to Win 11 and is impacting the Samsung SSD that HP used for these models.

They ran a test, which delivered the following results:

C:\windows\system32>fsutil fsinfo sectorinfo c:
Logische Bytes pro Sektor: 512
Physische Bytes pro Sektor für Unteilbarkeit: 32768
Physische Bytes pro Sektor für Leistung: 32768
Effekt. phys. Bytes/Sektor für Unteilbark. in Dateisystem:4096
Geräteausrichtung: Ausgerichtet (0x000)
Partitionsausrichtung auf Gerät: Ausgerichtet (0x000)
Kein Abzug für Suchen
Kürzen wird unterstützt
Nicht DAX-fähig
Nicht mit schlanker Speicherzuweisung bereitgestellt

I was told that the SSD should not return the two results of 32768, but is rather expected to return a result of 4096, or below.

Online, I found information that the new Win 11 seems to slow down many SSD drives and that some of them are working about 45% slower than under Win 10. Supposedly, this was fixed with an update. I installed all current updates (see screenshot below), but nothing helped.

Is there anything I can do, in order to fix this issue? Or do I have to wait for another Win patch to be released?

Thank you for your feedback.

Answer 1

I found a solution thanks to DATEV and their MS contact. It worked for my, try it at your own risk.

This is what helped me:

Go to start enter cmd.exe in the search field and run as admin.

Then enter the following line:

reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\stornvme\Parameters\Device" /v "ForcedPhysicalSectorSizeInBytes" /t reg_multi_sz /d "* 4095" /f

This registry key will force the sector size to 4095. Reboot your PC, go back to the command promt and enter this time:

fsutil fsinfo sectorinfo c:

This should now return 4096 as in the screenshto below. Afterwards I was able to install the SQL server without any issues. So far the feedback I received is that mostly Samsung SSD drives with 1TB or rather 980 GB are affected, I hope they'll roll out an official fix soon, but as I said this worked for me. Good luck! And thank you all for your feedback and help!!!

Answer 2

I am unable to even install SQL Server 2019 (Express or Standard) in the following scenario (SQL does not install many components):

• MacBook Pro 16” / 1TB SSD / M1 Chip / 64GB RAM / 2021 Model
• Parallels Ver 17
• Windows 11 Pro (downloaded from Microsoft site is ARM based not x86 which is the right version for my Macbook Pro M1)

My observations so far after reading many threads:

1. In the above environment, SQL Server 2019 will install properly on a second hard drive (but this option is not available to me)
2. If the Primary Hard Drive is less than 1TB, then also there is no problem (SQL Server 2019 installs properly) but this options is also not available to me
3. If you partition the 1TB SSD, the problem persists because the partition is still recognised internally as “One Single Hard Drive”
4. The issue is that Windows 11 is verifying the sector size is not over 4K and SQL Server installation fails when the hard drive sector is larger then 4096
5. SQL Server will run on Windows 10 but I am unable to install Windows 10 in the above environment due to the M1 Chip (ARM architecture)

———————————
To Force the Value of Sector Size, I followed the Gurus and did the following:
Changed Registry (as Administrator) as follows:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\stornvme\Parameters\Device

• New
• Multi-String value
• ForcedPhysicalSectorSizeInBytes
• 4095

Ran the following on CMD Prompt (as Administrator)
"HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\stornvme\Parameters\Device" /v "ForcedPhysicalSectorSizeInBytes" /t REG_MULTI_SZ /d "* 4095" /f

Verified as follows on CMD Prompt (as Administrator):
REG QUERY "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\stornvme\Parameters\Device" /v "ForcedPhysicalSectorSizeInBytes"

Ran the following on PowerShell (as Administrator)
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\stornvme\Parameters\Device" -Name "ForcedPhysicalSectorSizeInBytes" -PropertyType MultiString -Force -Value "* 4095"

Verified the following on PowerShell (as Administrator)
Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\stornvme\Parameters\Device" -Name "ForcedPhysicalSectorSizeInBytes"

———————————

Results of SQL Server Express 2019 Installation:

• Database Engine Services & SQL Server Replication did not get installed
• SQL Browser, SQL Writer, SQL Client Connectivity SDK & SQL Client Connectivity were installed successfully
• Net Result: SQL Server 2019 not installed
  ———————————

Help pls…

Answer 3

Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022 do not report correct/compatible sector information for some SSD storage devices at this time. This causes issues with SQL Server IO when reported sector sizes are over 4K.

Work-arounds I've seen suggested include:

• Install SQL Server on a drive that reports correct sector information (not over 4K)
• Create a VHD/VHDX and install SQL Server on that drive

With an existing installation (e.g. after an OS upgrade), one can start SQL Server with trace flag 1800.

Answer 4

Thank you for your feedback. So waiting for an Update from Microsoft, or creating an partition and installing the SQL server there are the best options at the moment? Do you have any idea, when Microsoft will fix this? Or is this something that's low on the debugging list and may take another 6 months or more, in that case I'd probably try to setup an VHD / VHDX.

Answer 5

Hi @DR

Many users of Windows 11 have stated this error and this has been from the insider release of windows 11. For many users, the workaround was to install the SQL on the drive which does not have the SSD.

Here is an article as well where many workarounds are listed and you can try checking them out and see if that helps you out. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/541099/sql-server-2019-windows-11.html

Meanwhile, raise this issue via the feedback hub, The Feedback Hub app lets you tell Microsoft about any problems you run into while using Windows 10. You can also send suggestions to help us improve your Windows experience.https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/send-feedback-to-microsoft-with-the-feedback-hub-app-f59187f8-8739-22d6-ba93-f66612949332

Hope this resolves your Query!!

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