Overview

If you are using Windows 11 and have certain types of storage devices or drivers that use a sector size larger than 4 KB, SQL Server will not be able to start because it only supports sector sizes of 512 bytes and 4 KB.


To check if you are encountering this problem, you can run this command:

fsutil fsinfo sectorinfo C:


If the value of "PhysicalBytesPerSectorForAtomicity" is 4096, then run this command in an elevated command prompt on the system that is having issues.


REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\stornvme\Parameters\Device" /v "ForcedPhysicalSectorSizeInBytes" /t   REG_MULTI_SZ /d "* 4095" /f

After changing the registry, Uninstall SQL and Restart the computer 


Related error Codes/messages:

A network-related or instance-specific error while establishing a connection to SQL Server.

Error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified)


Wait on the database engine recovery handle failed


Reference:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/database-engine/database-file-operations/troubleshoot-os-4kb-disk-sector-size#resolutions