How to Fix SQL Server Error 3417?

When connecting to the SQL Server instance in the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), you may encounter an error message similar to the below.

“A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 40 – Error Locating Server/Instance Specified)”

As directed in the error message, when you verify the instance name, check the SQL Server service, and try to start the SQL Server Express service manually, you will get another error message with the code 3417. The complete error message reads as:

“Windows could not start the SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) on Local Computer. For more information, review the System Event Log. If this is a non-Microsoft service, contact the service vendor and refer to service-specific error code 3417.”

The SQL Server error 3417 usually occurs when the SQL server fails to load the master database file due to some issue with the file or server configuration settings. The master database contains all the SQL server’s configuration settings required for the functioning of the SQL instance.

Causes for the SQL Server Error 3417

You may encounter this error due to any of these reasons:

• Database is damaged due to hardware or software failure.
• The folder containing MDF and NDF files is compressed.
• Folder permission issues where the database file resides.
• Changes in Windows settings.
• Issue with the upgrade scripts.
• Master database file is corrupted.

Solutions to Resolve the SQL Server Error 3417

You can try the following solutions to resolve the MS SQL error 3417.

1: Decompress SQL Database MDF File

The first thing you need to do is check if the master database file (.mdf) is compressed. If the file is compressed, you need to decompress it. To do so, follow these steps:

Step 1: Browse and locate the Microsoft SQL Server data folder containing database (MDF and NDF) files.

Note: The default location of SQL server data folder is “C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data”.

Step 2: Right-click on the SQL Server data folder and click Properties. In the Microsoft SQL Server Properties window, click Advanced.

Step 3: In the Advanced Attributes dialog box that appears, uncheck the Compress contents to save disk space checkbox and then click OK.

Step 4: The Microsoft SQL Server Properties dialog box opens again. Click on the Apply button and then click OK. When the Confirm Attribute Changes box pops up, click OK.

Step 5: Click Continue to proceed.

Step 6: Once the changes are applied, click OK.

After performing these steps, try starting the SQL Server service. If the error persists, proceed to the next solution.

2: Check Folder Permissions

Note: This applies to users who received the error while moving the SQL Server folder to another drive.

Make sure the account that runs the SQL Server service has access permissions (network permissions) to the folder containing the SQL database files. If not, follow these steps to grant the permissions:

Step 1: Go to the SQL database files folder, right-click on it, and then choose Properties.

Step 2: From the Properties box, click the Security tab.

Step 3: In the dialog box that pops up, choose the Network Service account under the Group or user names: section.

Step 4: Select the Full control checkbox under the Permissions for Authenticated Users section, and click the OK button.

Now check if the error is fixed or not.

3: Check and Troubleshoot SQL Server Cumulative Update Installation Issues

The SQL Server error 3417 can occur while upgrading/installing SQL server cumulative updates. It usually occurs when the SQL server fails to bring the master database online due to incorrect upgrade scripts. You can check and troubleshoot common SQL Server Cumulative Update installation issues.

4: Rebuild Master Database

If master database has issues, then you can restore the master database from the recent full backup. But you can restore the database from backup, if the SQL Server instance is running. Since you cannot start the server instance, you need to rebuild the master database. Here are the steps:

Note: Before rebuilding the master database, check the limitations and restrictions.

• First, open the command prompt with admin rights on the local server.
• Next, change the directories in the command prompt to the location where your setup.exe file is saved on the local server. The default location is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\160\Setup Bootstrap\SQLServer2022.
• Now, type the below command in the command prompt window:

setup /QUIET /ACTION=REBUILDDATABASE /INSTANCENAME=InstanceName /SQLSYSADMINACCOUNTS=accounts [ /SAPWD= StrongPassword ] [ /SQLCOLLATION=CollationName ]

Note: Don't enter the square brackets. These brackets indicate optional parameters.

This command will rebuild the master database.

To verify this, you can check the Summary.txt log file. The log file path is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\160\Setup Bootstrap\Logs.

5: Repair MDF File

If rebuilding the master database doesn’t help resolve the error, the chances are that the database file is corrupted. In that case, you can use the DBCC CHECKDB command to repair the corrupted MDF file. Here’s the code:

USE master;
GO
ALTER DATABASE stellar
SET SINGLE_USER
WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;
GO

DBCC CHECKDB('stellar',REPAIR_REBUILD)
GO
ALTER DATABASE stellar
SET MULTI_USER;
GO

The above command will set the database in single-user mode, repair it, and then change it to multi-user mode.

If the DBCC CHECKDB command fails to repair the database, then you can use a third-party SQL repair software, like Stellar Repair for MS SQL. This software can easily repair highly corrupted SQL Server database (mdf and ndf) files. It can recover all the objects, like tables, indexes, keys, triggers, etc., from the corrupt database with complete integrity. The software helps you resolve the error 3417 if it has occurred due to corruption in the database (MDF) file.

Conclusion

You may encounter SQL Server error 3417 when trying to start the SQL Server service. The error may occur when the folder containing the database (.mdf or .ndf) files is compressed, you don’t have access rights on the folder, and due to various other reasons. You can try to resolve the error by following the solutions discussed in this post. If the error has occurred due to corruption in master database, the best option is to use a specialized SQL database repair tool, such as Stellar Repair for MS SQL to repair the MDF file and fix the error.

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About The Author

Monika Dadool

Monika Dadool is a Senior Content Writer at Stellar with over 5 years of experience in technical writing. She is a tech enthusiast and expert who specializes in writing about SQL Server, MySQL Server, MariaDB Server, Microsoft Access, Active Directory, email recovery, Microsoft 365, pattern recognition, machine learning, data recovery, file repair, and operating systems like Linux, Windows, and Mac. She also writes about accounting software such as QuickBooks and Sage 50, as well as web-scripting languages like HTML, JavaScript, Python, PHP, Visual Basic, ASP.NET, and AJAX. Monika is passionate about researching and exploring new technologies, and she enjoys developing engaging technical blogs that help organizations and database administrators resolve various issues. When she's not creating content, you can find her on social media, watching web series, reading books, or exploring new food recipes.