Installing SQL Server 2012 Express fails with error " Could not find the Database Engine startup handle."

A simple and complete solution to error ' Could not find database engine startup handle' in below link Reason for the error can be

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

Solution can be.

Uninstall SQL server completely from Add remove program

Launch setup by right click on it and select run as administrator. After launching the setup and providing necessary details you would reach to Server Configuration page . 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.

Complete details in SQL Server Installation Error:Could not find database engine startup handle

After working with Microsoft Technical Support on this issue, we determined that the act of uninstalling SQL Server Standard and re-installing SQL Server Express leaves the service account (in this case, NT Service\MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS) in a state in which it doesn't have the permissions needed to run the service.

To fix the problem, we manually went through and added the permissions required as specified in Configure Windows Server Accounts and Permissions in the SQL Server documentation. Note that only some of the permissions were missing.