having problem installing SQL server 2022 Evaluation Edition (Setup.exe) on windows 11. Exit code: -2061893606Error description: Wait on the database engine recovery handle failed

Adeyinka Sholagbade 0 Reputation points
2025-10-21T05:44:39.2733333+00:00

having problem installing SQL server 2022 Evaluation Edition (Setup.exe) on windows 11. Exit code: -2061893606Error description: Wait on the database engine recovery handle failed.

SQL Server Database Engine
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  1. Rekha 0 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-10-21T09:25:37.55+00:00

    Hi @Adeyinka Shodeke ,

    Thank you for reaching out to us.

    There is a similar issue reported in this forum, below are the details :

    [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1100549/error-fix-(database-engine-service-failed-in-sql-s?page=1#answers](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1100549/error-fix-(database-engine-service-failed-in-sql-s?page=1#answers)

    User's image Could you please try the above suggested steps and let us know if you need any additional steps.

    Thanks & Regards,

    Rekha Athmakuri.

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  2. Erland Sommarskog 129.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2025-10-21T21:31:04.68+00:00

    The message Wait on the Database Engine recovery handle failed is a generic error that means that SQL Server did not start when Setup wanted to run configuration steps. To understand why it did not start, you need to look in the SQL Server errorlog, which you find in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL16.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\LOG\ERRORLOG.

    If you see a message about 256 misaligned reads, you are running into a known issue where Windows 11 for some disk drives reports a sector size that SQL Server does not cope with. Microsoft has published an article with workarounds for the problem.

    If you don't see the message about misaligned reads, feel free to upload the errorlog here, so we can look at it. You will need to rename to ERRORLOG.txt for the forum software to accept it.

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