PostgreSQL: The database cluster initialization failed

postgresqlwindows

Both C:\PostgreSQL and C:\PostgreSQL\data have postgres user with full access and admin rights.

I ran postgresql-9.1.2-1-windows.exe from postgres user as admin. Target C:\PostgreSQL

Every way I try, I get "The database cluster initialization failed."

Questions

Is it OK to run everything w/o being a Windows Service?
Is there a work-around to install as Windows Service?

I am trying to setup PostGIS to work with GeoDjango.

I was able to manually install PostGIS. New to PostgreSQL and I am having a crisis of confidence over all of this. Coming from MySQL to PostgreSQL for the first time.

Pertinent log output from C:\Users\Larry\AppData\Local\Temp\install-postgresql.log:

WScript.Network initialized...
Called IsVistaOrNewer()...
    'winmgmts' object initialized...
    Version:6.1
    MajorVersion:6
Ensuring we can read the path C: (using icacls) to Larry:
    Executing batch file 'radA3CF7.bat'...
    Output file does not exists...
Called IsVistaOrNewer()...
    'winmgmts' object initialized...
    Version:6.1
    MajorVersion:6
Ensuring we can read the path C:\PostgreSQL (using icacls) to Larry:
    Executing batch file 'radA3CF7.bat'...
    Output file does not exists...
Called IsVistaOrNewer()...
    'winmgmts' object initialized...
    Version:6.1
    MajorVersion:6
Ensuring we can read the path C:\PostgreSQL\data (using icacls) to Larry:
    Executing batch file 'radA3CF7.bat'...
    Output file does not exists...
Called IsVistaOrNewer()...
    'winmgmts' object initialized...
    Version:6.1
    MajorVersion:6
Ensuring we can write to the data directory (using icacls) to  Larry:
    Executing batch file 'radA3CF7.bat'...
    Output file does not exists...
Failed to ensure the data directory is accessible (C:\PostgreSQL\data)
    Executing batch file 'radA3CF7.bat'...
    Output file does not exists...
Called Die(Failed to initialise the database cluster with initdb)...
Failed to initialise the database cluster with initdb

Suggestions?

Best Answer

I had the same issue installing 9.1.4 on Windows 7. I managed to find a solution online that worked.

The steps I followed are:

Uninstall PostgreSQL
Delete the postgres user if it still exists.
```
net user postgres /delete
```
Create the postgres user with a password you can remember
```
net user /add postgres <password>
```
Add the postgres user to the Administrators group
```
net localgroup administrators postgres /add
```
Add the postgres user to the Power Users group
```
net localgroup "power users" postgres /add
```
Run a command window as the postgres user
```
runas /user:postgres cmd.exe
```
Run the install file from within the command window.
```
C:\Download\postgresql-9.1.4-1-windows.exe
```
This should run the installation successfully.
Remove the postgres user from the Administrators group.
```
net localgroup administrators postgres /delete
```

Related Solutions

Postgresql – Pg install: “The database cluster initialisation failed”

It appears that the root cause of this issue may have been that @Celeritas's computer had an incorrect value for the COMSPEC environment variable. It had a trailing semicolon, so instead of the normal:

C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe

it was:

C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe;

This one-character difference is enough. The above isn't a valid command prompt path, so popen() calls were failing. Unfortunately, instead of something useful like:

'"C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe;"' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file

it instead reports the delightfully useful error No error:

initdb: could not execute command ""C:/Program Files/PostgreSQL/9.2/bin/postgres.exe" --boot -x1 -F ": No error

See related:

I've reported this to the installer team and written a wiki entry to describe it. See blog post.

The issue was eventually resolved by:

Editing the COMSPEC environment variable
Uninstalling PostgreSQL
Rebooting
Reinstalling PostgreSQL

though there was a lot more before that which shouldn't actually be necessary to resolve this, including doing a total manual clean uninstall of PostgreSQL by hand.

Now I just want to find the people who wrote the program that modified this environment variable.

Postgresql – Error: Unable to write inside TEMP environment variable path

I was having this issue on Windows 7 64-bit and the following solution is what worked for me (via http://igordcard.blogspot.com/2012/03/unable-to-write-inside-temp-environment.html):

Why
To understand why this error was happening, I went to my TEMP folder and read the log from the PostgreSQL installer: C:\Users\myuser\AppData\Local\Temp\bitrock_installer.log

Which mentioned an interesting detail:
Input Error: There is no script engine for file extension ".vbs".

So, I picked up another file from the TEMP folder, the actual script used by the installer:
C:\Users\myuser\AppData\Local\Temp\prerun_checks.vbs

And tried to run it through the console using cscript:
Input Error: There is no script engine for file extension ".vbs".

I researched a bit more and discovered that the type of file associated with the vbs extension had been changed. In my case, by Notepad++. After I installed Notepad++, I associated some file extensions with it (including vbs), thus causing problems when detecting the type of the script (which shouldn't happen).

Solution
Run regedit, navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vbs and change the (Default) key back to the string VBSFile. In my case it had been previously altered to Notepad++_file.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Postgresql – Pg install: “The database cluster initialisation failed”

Postgresql – Error: Unable to write inside TEMP environment variable path

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