Use SQLCMD instead of Management studio to do the restore and try this. (Since you are using a named instance make sure to use the -S switch for SQLCMD)
C:\> SQLCMD -S GINO\SQLEXPRESS
> RESTORE DATABASE master FROM DISK='C:\SQLBackups\master.bak' WITH REPLACE;
> GO
Obviously replacing the path to your backup with the real path of where your backup is.
Have a look here for (slightly) more information.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
- 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
- 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
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.
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
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
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.
Best Answer
Try downloading from AdventureWorks Databases – 2012, 2008R2 and 2008.
This might be due to corrupt installs.