I am trying to install SQL Server SP1 Express on a fresh windows 10.0.10240.  I've tried several times.  In the last attempt, I changed the SQL Server Engine's login to SYSTEM, but to no avail.

The installer returns this error:

"SQL Server 2014 SP1 Express Installer Error Msg:
Could not find the Database Engine startup handle."

This just means that the main engine service will not start.  There is more than one possible cause for this.

The relevant event log entry is:
"Cannot use file 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.X2014\MSSQL\Template Data\master.mdf' because it was originally formatted with sector size 4096 and is now on a volume with sector size 3072. Move the file to a volume with a sector size that is the same as or smaller than the original sector size."

Sometimes, it is a bad user account being used by the service that prevents the main engine service from starting.

In my case, it is the fact that I have a new 2TB disk drive with "Advanced" something or other.  This is causing SQL Server to think that the sector size is 3072 bytes.  It is 512 bytes, if you can believe "fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo c:" which returns:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.10240]
++++++++++
NTFS Volume Serial Number :        0xfc42bd4b42bd0b80
NTFS Version   :                   3.1
LFS Version    :                   2.0
Number Sectors :                   0x000000003d08f7f8
Total Clusters :                   0x0000000007a11eff
Free Clusters  :                   0x00000000063ccfed
Total Reserved :                   0x00000000000059d0
Bytes Per Sector  :                512
Bytes Per Physical Sector :        512
Bytes Per Cluster :                4096
Bytes Per FileRecord Segment    :  1024
Clusters Per FileRecord Segment :  0
Mft Valid Data Length :            0x000000001b5c0000
Mft Start Lcn  :                   0x00000000000c0000
Mft2 Start Lcn :                   0x0000000000000002
Mft Zone Start :                   0x0000000001806a80
Mft Zone End   :                   0x0000000001812340
Max Device Trim Extent Count :     0
Max Device Trim Byte Count :       0x0
Max Volume Trim Extent Count :     62
Max Volume Trim Byte Count :       0x40000000
Resource Manager Identifier :     8E4C4407-53D7-11E5-8180-806E6F6E6963
++++++++++

I don't see a 3072 anywhere in the list!  Unless, of course, you subtract 1024 (Bytes Per FileRecord Segment) from 4096 (Bytes per Cluster).

But, if this is how windows managed to come up with 3072, then they forgot to multiply that result by their shoe size in centimeters and then divide that result by the mass of their left butt-cheek in mg!

I have found many posts that complain of the same problem, some of which are several years old!

Does anyone know how to correct this BUG?  It is NOT a problem with my hardware.  It is a problem with Windows 7, 8, 10 and to the Windows Server products, as well.  But mostly, it is a problem with the SQL Server Installer, not at all limited to SQL Server 2014.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you may provide.

Have you made sure that firmware version of hardware if up-to-date? In one of my case, issue was resolved after upgrading firmware.

Also read https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/926930 and http://blogs.msdn.com/b/psssql/archive/2011/01/13/sql-server-new-drives-use-4k-sector-size.aspx

I believe fsutl is reporting incorrect value.

I just bought this disk drive.  It's brand new.

I did check the driver and windows reported that the latest driver was already installed.

New Info: I did manage to get the installation completed successfully by changing the location of the data files to an external USB3 mass storage device as part of the installation process.  Funny thing is fsutl returns the same values for both drives!

Also, I had installed SQL Server 2014 on my old disk drive previously and when I cloned everything to the new drive, that instance of SQL server works fine on the new disk drive!

Copying the files back to the new internal drive, changing the SQL configuration accordingly, unfortunately, results in the same error.

So, I really don't understand what is happening.  SQL Server runs on the new drive.  I just can't install it on the new drive.

I've now got good files.  If I could just learn how to convert them to work on this new drive.

I have recently installed a new 2TB disk drive in my laptop.

When I try to install SQL Server 2014 SP1 Express in my fresh copy of Windows 10.0.10240, it fails with the Event Log reporting:

"Cannot use file 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.X2014\MSSQL\Template Data\master.mdf' because it was originally formatted with sector size 4096 and is now on a volume with sector size 3072. Move the file to a volume with a sector size that is the same as or smaller than the original sector size."

I don't believe that my sector size is 3072.  fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo C: returns:

(c) 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo C:
NTFS Volume Serial Number :        0xfc42bd4b42bd0b80
NTFS Version   :                   3.1
LFS Version    :                   2.0
Number Sectors :                   0x000000003908f7ff
Total Clusters :                   0x0000000007211eff
Free Clusters  :                   0x0000000005e20b60
Total Reserved :                   0x00000000000016e0
Bytes Per Sector  :                512
Bytes Per Physical Sector :        512
Bytes Per Cluster :                4096
Bytes Per FileRecord Segment    :  1024
Clusters Per FileRecord Segment :  0
Mft Valid Data Length :            0x000000001b5c0000
Mft Start Lcn  :                   0x00000000000c0000
Mft2 Start Lcn :                   0x0000000000000002
Mft Zone Start :                   0x0000000000b84b80
Mft Zone End   :                   0x0000000000b8aac0
Max Device Trim Extent Count :     0
Max Device Trim Byte Count :       0x0
Max Volume Trim Extent Count :     62
Max Volume Trim Byte Count :       0x40000000
Resource Manager Identifier :     8E4C4407-53D7-11E5-8180-806E6F6E6963
++++++

As you can see, my sector size appears to NOT be 3072.

At any rate, Windows 10.0.10532 agrees with my assessment.  SQL Server 2014 SP1 Express, installs successfully on it.

I just tried it and there is no problem at all.

These windows installations are on the same computer and disk drive (multi-boot).  All partitions were formatted the same, ntfs, default size.  fsutil returns the same values for all partitions.

So, whatever it is in 10.0.10532 that makes it work is needed in 10.0.10240.

And, PLEASE, PLEASE, don't ask why I don't just use 10.0.10532.  It has its own issues, completely unrelated to SQL Server that make it unacceptable for now.  And I am being blocked from further Insider builds which is another issue.  It boils down to 10.0.10532 being a dead-end, for me at least.  When I inquire about the insider build blocking issue, I get no helpful response.  There are, always, a myriad of unhelpful responses.

I'd really appreciate any help that you can pr

After further testing, I have found that SQL Server SP1 Express does install successfully on Windows 10.0.10532.

So it would appear that there is an issue with some larger drives that confuses windows is corrected in Windows version 10.0.10532.  The actual fix may have occurred in an earlier build that came after build 10.0.10240.  I only observed the phenomenon in build 10.0.10532.

So I am closing this thread.  I have created a new thread that exposes this issue more succinctly:

https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/9b72deaa-9454-4ac3-b00f-6fa8e1229e92/why-does-sql-server-2014-sp1-express-install-successfully-in-windows-10010532-but-not-in-windows?forum=sqlexpress