SQL Server Will Not Start After Windows 11 Upgrade – NVMe Drive Compatibility

SQL Server Will Not Start After Windows 11 Upgrade – NVMe Drive Compatibility

1.0 Introduction

Error code 1067 most often occurs when trying to start the SQL Server Windows service after the host PC has been upgraded from Window 10 to Windows 11. This happens if an NVMe disk drive is used and the drive has a sector that's larger than 4096. SQL will not start if that sector is seen as > 4096.



There are other causes of this error but if the host PC has been upgraded to Windows 11 then the 4K sector read issue is most likely to be the cause. 
 
Windows 11 will report the actual sector size reported by the disk drive, rather than the information emulated from the file system drivers. This wouldn't happen on Windows 10 because the Windows 10 OS does not report the sector size of disk drives/storage devices.

Notes
Important Note: This document explains how to use a command prompt to set the correct values for the NVMe disk sectors. Because it involves updating a Windows registry entry, we strongly advise involving the IT department if you have one - as the host PC user may not have the rights to edit the registry and additionally the PC could be damaged if the change is made incorrectly.

Keri Systems cannot be held responsible for any issues that may occur as a result of not correctly following the instructions in this document.


2.0 Verifying the System Disk Sector Sizes

You can run a command prompt to quickly verify the size of the disk sectors:

  1. From the Windows search field enter 'CMD'.
  2. Run the Command Prompt as administrator.



  3. Enter the following into the command prompt window:

    fsutil fsinfo sectorinfo C:

  4. Look for the values PhysicalBytesPerSectorForAtomicity and PhysicalBytesPerSectorForPerformance.
  5. It is likely that one of these values is greater than 4096. As highlighted below:


This value should be changed by adding a key to the Registry Editor because there is currently no SQL version that supports sector sizes greater than 4KB.


3.0 Update the Disk Sector Values

With the Command Prompt Window still open you can add a command that will change the PhysicalBytesPerSectorForAtomicity and PhysicalBytesPerSectorForPerformance to the acceptable values.

  1. At the command prompt, enter the following:

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

  2. You should see a notification that the operation has completed successfully.
  3. Next, enter the following command to verify that the sector values are now reported correctly:

    REG QUERY"HKLM\SYSTEM\Cur rentControlSet\Services\stornvme\Parameters\Device" /v "ForcedPhys icalSectorSizeInBytes"

    Important Note: In the console window the above command should be entered onto one line.

  4. The following information should appear.



  5. The host PC should now be rebooted and then the SQL Server should start without the error.

4.0 Check the Values via Command Prompt

You can now verify that the sector values have now been changed.
 
At the command prompt, enter fsutil fsinfo sectorinfo C: again

This time you should see the following values displayed.