Installing SQL Server 2012 - Wait on the Database Engine recovery handle failed

Question

I am installing SQL Server 2012 SP1 on a new Windows 8.1 machine.

During installation I get this error: (Screenshots similar to this question)

TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 Setup

The following error has occurred:

Wait on the Database Engine recovery handle failed. Check the SQL Server error log for potential causes.

For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkID=20476&ProdName=Microsoft%20SQL%20Server&EvtSrc=setup.rll&EvtID=50000&ProdVer=11.0.3128.0&EvtType=0xD15B4EB2%25400x4BDAF9BA%25401306%254026

When I Click OK - it continues installation, but doesn't actually install the Database Engine Services, Reporting Services - Native, Data Quality Services or Full-Text and Semantic Extractions. This rest is checked-off as green.

I have tried various solutions (like playing with the 'login as' options under SQL Server in Configuration Manager ; shutting down the Firewall etc) , but nothing has worked yet. Your help appreciated.

Full log below:

    Overall summary:
      Final result:                  Failed: see details below
      Exit code (Decimal):           -2061893606
      Start time:                    2014-12-17 00:10:05
      End time:                      2014-12-17 00:44:12
      Requested action:              Install

    Setup completed with required actions for features.
    Troubleshooting information for those features:
      Next step for RS:              Use the following information to resolve the error, uninstall this feature, and then run the setup process again.
      Next step for SQLEngine:       Use the following information to resolve the error, uninstall this feature, and then run the setup process again.
      Next step for DQ:              Use the following information to resolve the error, uninstall this feature, and then run the setup process again.
      Next step for FullText:        Use the following information to resolve the error, uninstall this feature, and then run the setup process again.


    Machine Properties:
      Machine name:                  [COMPUTER]
      Machine processor count:       4
      OS version:                    Future Windows Version
      OS service pack:               
      OS region:                     United States
      OS language:                   English (United Kingdom)
      OS architecture:               x64
      Process architecture:          64 Bit
      OS clustered:                  No

    Product features discovered:
      Product              Instance             Instance ID                    Feature                                  Language             Edition              Version         Clustered 

    Package properties:
      Description:                   Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1
      ProductName:                   SQL Server 2012
      Type:                          RTM
      Version:                       11
      Installation location:         E:\x64\setup\
      Installation edition:          Enterprise

      Slipstream:                    True
      SP Level                       1
      Patch Level:                   11.1.3128.0

    Product Update Status:
      Success: KB 2674319, KB 2793634

    Product Updates Selected for Installation:
      Title:                         Service Pack 1
      Knowledge Based Article:       KB 2674319
      Version:                       11.1.3000.0
      Architecture:                  x64
      Language:                      1033

      Title:                         SQL Server 2012 SP1 GDR Product Update
      Knowledge Based Article:       KB 2793634
      Version:                       11.1.3128.0
      Architecture:                  x64
      Language:                      All

      Update Source:                 MU


    User Input Settings:
      ACTION:                        Install
      ADDCURRENTUSERASSQLADMIN:      false
      AGTSVCACCOUNT:                 NT Service\SQLSERVERAGENT
      AGTSVCPASSWORD:                *****
      AGTSVCSTARTUPTYPE:             Manual
      ASBACKUPDIR:                   C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSAS11.MSSQLSERVER\OLAP\Backup
      ASCOLLATION:                   Hebrew_CI_AS
      ASCONFIGDIR:                   C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSAS11.MSSQLSERVER\OLAP\Config
      ASDATADIR:                     C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSAS11.MSSQLSERVER\OLAP\Data
      ASLOGDIR:                      C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSAS11.MSSQLSERVER\OLAP\Log
      ASPROVIDERMSOLAP:              1
      ASSERVERMODE:                  MULTIDIMENSIONAL
      ASSVCACCOUNT:                  NT Service\MSSQLServerOLAPService
      ASSVCPASSWORD:                 <empty>
      ASSVCSTARTUPTYPE:              Automatic
      ASSYSADMINACCOUNTS:            [COMPUTER]\[USER]
      ASTEMPDIR:                     C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSAS11.MSSQLSERVER\OLAP\Temp
      BROWSERSVCSTARTUPTYPE:         Automatic
      CLTCTLRNAME:                   <empty>
      CLTRESULTDIR:                  <empty>
      CLTSTARTUPTYPE:                0
      CLTSVCACCOUNT:                 <empty>
      CLTSVCPASSWORD:                <empty>
      CLTWORKINGDIR:                 <empty>
      COMMFABRICENCRYPTION:          0
      COMMFABRICNETWORKLEVEL:        0
      COMMFABRICPORT:                0
      CONFIGURATIONFILE:             C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20141217_000419\ConfigurationFile.ini
      CTLRSTARTUPTYPE:               0
      CTLRSVCACCOUNT:                <empty>
      CTLRSVCPASSWORD:               <empty>
      CTLRUSERS:                     <empty>
      ENABLERANU:                    false
      ENU:                           true
      ERRORREPORTING:                false
      FEATURES:                      SQLENGINE, FULLTEXT, DQ, AS, RS, DQC, BIDS, CONN, IS, BC, SDK, BOL, SSMS, ADV_SSMS, SNAC_SDK
      FILESTREAMLEVEL:               0
      FILESTREAMSHARENAME:           <empty>
      FTSVCACCOUNT:                  NT Service\MSSQLFDLauncher
      FTSVCPASSWORD:                 <empty>
      HELP:                          false
      IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS:  true
      INDICATEPROGRESS:              false
      INSTALLSHAREDDIR:              C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\
      INSTALLSHAREDWOWDIR:           C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\
      INSTALLSQLDATADIR:             <empty>
      INSTANCEDIR:                   C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\
      INSTANCEID:                    MSSQLSERVER
      INSTANCENAME:                  MSSQLSERVER
      ISSVCACCOUNT:                  NT Service\MsDtsServer110
      ISSVCPASSWORD:                 <empty>
      ISSVCSTARTUPTYPE:              Automatic
      MATRIXCMBRICKCOMMPORT:         0
      MATRIXCMSERVERNAME:            <empty>
      MATRIXNAME:                    <empty>
      NPENABLED:                     0
      PID:                           *****
      QUIET:                         false
      QUIETSIMPLE:                   false
      ROLE:                          <empty>
      RSINSTALLMODE:                 DefaultNativeMode
      RSSHPINSTALLMODE:              DefaultSharePointMode
      RSSVCACCOUNT:                  NT Service\ReportServer
      RSSVCPASSWORD:                 <empty>
      RSSVCSTARTUPTYPE:              Automatic
      SAPWD:                         <empty>
      SECURITYMODE:                  <empty>
      SQLBACKUPDIR:                  <empty>
      SQLCOLLATION:                  Hebrew_CI_AS
      SQLSVCACCOUNT:                 NT Service\MSSQLSERVER
      SQLSVCPASSWORD:                <empty>
      SQLSVCSTARTUPTYPE:             Automatic
      SQLSYSADMINACCOUNTS:           [COMPUTER]\[USER]
      SQLTEMPDBDIR:                  <empty>
      SQLTEMPDBLOGDIR:               <empty>
      SQLUSERDBDIR:                  <empty>
      SQLUSERDBLOGDIR:               <empty>
      SQMREPORTING:                  false
      TCPENABLED:                    1
      UIMODE:                        Normal
      UpdateEnabled:                 true
      UpdateSource:                  MU
      X86:                           false

      Configuration file:            C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20141217_000419\ConfigurationFile.ini

    Detailed results:
      Feature:                       Management Tools - Complete
      Status:                        Passed

      Feature:                       Client Tools Connectivity
      Status:                        Passed

      Feature:                       Client Tools SDK
      Status:                        Passed

      Feature:                       Client Tools Backwards Compatibility
      Status:                        Passed

      Feature:                       Management Tools - Basic
      Status:                        Passed

      Feature:                       SQL Server Data Tools
      Status:                        Passed

      Feature:                       Reporting Services - Native
      Status:                        Failed: see logs for details
      Reason for failure:            An error occurred for a dependency of the feature causing the setup process for the feature to fail.
      Next Step:                     Use the following information to resolve the error, uninstall this feature, and then run the setup process again.
      Component name:                SQL Server Database Engine Services Instance Features
      Component error code:          0x851A001A
      Error description:             Wait on the Database Engine recovery handle failed. Check the SQL Server error log for potential causes.
      Error help link:               http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkId=20476&ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&EvtSrc=setup.rll&EvtID=50000&ProdVer=11.0.3128.0&EvtType=0xD15B4EB2%400x4BDAF9BA%401306%4026&EvtType=0xD15B4EB2%400x4BDAF9BA%401306%4026

      Feature:                       Database Engine Services
      Status:                        Failed: see logs for details
      Reason for failure:            An error occurred during the setup process of the feature.
      Next Step:                     Use the following information to resolve the error, uninstall this feature, and then run the setup process again.
      Component name:                SQL Server Database Engine Services Instance Features
      Component error code:          0x851A001A
      Error description:             Wait on the Database Engine recovery handle failed. Check the SQL Server error log for potential causes.
      Error help link:               http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkId=20476&ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&EvtSrc=setup.rll&EvtID=50000&ProdVer=11.0.3128.0&EvtType=0xD15B4EB2%400x4BDAF9BA%401306%4026&EvtType=0xD15B4EB2%400x4BDAF9BA%401306%4026

      Feature:                       Data Quality Services
      Status:                        Failed: see logs for details
      Reason for failure:            An error occurred for a dependency of the feature causing the setup process for the feature to fail.
      Next Step:                     Use the following information to resolve the error, uninstall this feature, and then run the setup process again.
      Component name:                SQL Server Database Engine Services Instance Features
      Component error code:          0x851A001A
      Error description:             Wait on the Database Engine recovery handle failed. Check the SQL Server error log for potential causes.
      Error help link:               http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkId=20476&ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&EvtSrc=setup.rll&EvtID=50000&ProdVer=11.0.3128.0&EvtType=0xD15B4EB2%400x4BDAF9BA%401306%4026&EvtType=0xD15B4EB2%400x4BDAF9BA%401306%4026

      Feature:                       Full-Text and Semantic Extractions for Search
      Status:                        Failed: see logs for details
      Reason for failure:            An error occurred for a dependency of the feature causing the setup process for the feature to fail.
      Next Step:                     Use the following information to resolve the error, uninstall this feature, and then run the setup process again.
      Component name:                SQL Server Database Engine Services Instance Features
      Component error code:          0x851A001A
      Error description:             Wait on the Database Engine recovery handle failed. Check the SQL Server error log for potential causes.
      Error help link:               http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkId=20476&ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&EvtSrc=setup.rll&EvtID=50000&ProdVer=11.0.3128.0&EvtType=0xD15B4EB2%400x4BDAF9BA%401306%4026&EvtType=0xD15B4EB2%400x4BDAF9BA%401306%4026

      Feature:                       Integration Services
      Status:                        Passed

      Feature:                       Data Quality Client
      Status:                        Passed

      Feature:                       Analysis Services
      Status:                        Passed

      Feature:                       SQL Browser
      Status:                        Passed

      Feature:                       Documentation Components
      Status:                        Passed

      Feature:                       SQL Writer
      Status:                        Passed

      Feature:                       SQL Client Connectivity
      Status:                        Passed

      Feature:                       SQL Client Connectivity SDK
      Status:                        Passed

    Rules with failures:

    Global rules:

    Scenario specific rules:

    Rules report file:               C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20141217_000419\SystemConfigurationCheck_Report.htm

EDIT: Installation logs are located here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/11a5xp4v414qe67/AABBrQVgD5LzUpKQTp3kYN9sa?dl=0

Answer 1

Following can be the reason behind the error message. The process of troubleshooting such errors is mentioned in article Could Not find database engine startup handle error during Installation

1. The account which user selected on Server Configuration page window ( during installation) is somehow not able to bring SQL Server database engine services online. Either is lacks privilege or it is corrupted. During installation of database engine services SQL Server tries to bring online database services as a internal process but due to startup account either corrupt or not having appropriate privileges it fails to do so and ultimately installation fails.

2. Other reason is when installation fails first time due to some reason and user uninstall failed installation from add remove program, the un-installation leaves account in broken state so any further attempt to install flashes this error message.

3. The reason can be also that SQL Server installation was successful in installing SQL Server and its services but due to some other limitation in system or other system related errors SQL Server is not able to come online. The same has been discussed in section 'Looking at SQL Server errorlog'

Please try below solution

1. Uninstall SQL Server completely from add remove program. Make sure no previous failed installation fragments are present on your system. Please use this link for uninstalling existing instance of SQL Server

2. Start a fresh installation. Locate Setup.exe file in SQL Server installable. It would be something like below. Always Right click on Setup file and select Run As Administrator to launch the setup.

3. After launching the setup and providing necessary details you would reach to Server Configuration page as below. When you reach this page please select startup account for Database Engine services as NT Authority\SYSTEM which is also called as Local System account. Please see screenshot

4. I hope this will resolve your issue. After installation completes change Service account of SQL Server to some low privileged domain account you can use this link for configuring service account for SQL Server

If above still does not helps can you find SQL Server logs at location

Drive:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.n\MSSQL\LOG\ERRORLOG and ERRORLOG.n files.And post the contents in question.

Where Drive is system drive on which you installed SQL Server. It can be system drive C or any user drive (D,E,F...) . MSSQLn here means version number of SQL Server

n=10 for SQL Server 2008/2008 R2

n= 11 for SQL Server 20012

n=12 for SQL Server 2014.

For more details about this issue please read this link

EDIT: IMPORTANT NOTE

Please don't install SQL Server 2012 with SP1 with slipstream method there was issue in slipstreaming process with SP1 which caused setup to fail. Only install SQL Server 2012 you can uncheck the SP1 setup during installation. The issue was removed with SP2 slip stream

Edit: Following are from logs you provided

Error: 5172, Severity: 16, State: 15. 2014-12-20 22:37:58.01 spid5s
The header for file 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\MSDBData.mdf' is not a valid database file header. The PageAudit property is incorrect.

2014-12-20 22:37:58.25 spid9s Starting up database 'model'.

2014-12-20 22:37:58.29 spid9s Error: 5172, Severity: 16, State: 15.

2014-12-20 22:37:58.29 spid9s The header for file 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\model.mdf' is not a valid database file header. The PageAudit property is incorrect.

2014-12-20 22:37:58.39 spid9s ex_raise2: Exception raised, major=52, minor=43, state=8, severity=22, attempting to create symptom dump

2014-12-20 22:37:58.60 spid9s Using 'dbghelp.dll' version '4.0.5'

2014-12-20 22:37:58.67 spid9s **Dump thread - spid = 0, EC = 0x0000000276576B90

2014-12-20 22:37:58.71 spid9s ***Stack Dump being sent to C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\LOG\SQLDump0001.txt 2014-12-20 22:37:58.71 spid9s * ******************************************************************************* 2014-12-20 22:37:58.71 spid9s * 2014-12-20 22:37:58.71 spid9s
* BEGIN STACK DUMP: 2014-12-20 22:37:58.71 spid9s * 12/20/14 22:37:58 spid 9

SQL Server is installed but due to corruption in MSDB, Model database it is not able to come online. If model database is not able to come online tempdb wont be created hence SQL Server would not come online. The error is also includes stack dump this is very strange SQL Server is getting installed and detecting corruption in system data files. There might be two possibilities

1. The hardware( the underlying disk) on which master,model and msdb file resides is incorrectly formatted or corrupt. You need to get the Storage verified.

2. This might be bug ( Which I dont believe, actually some external factor is preventing SQL Server from coming online which can be known by analyzing dump )

You have two possible solutions

1. Use this Microsoft BOL document to rebuild system databases. You can also use this documents its more easy to refer because it has screenshots. See if this helps

2. Please contact Microsoft CSS ( Customer support) they are the best person to analyze dump which got generated. The location of dump file is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\LOG\SQLDump0001.txt.

Personally I will try to post this dump to one of my MS friend if he is free he might have a look, but dont expect much.