The above errors usually indicate that the Microsoft SQL Express Database (used by NVivo Windows) has either not installed correctly or has experienced an issue. 

If you are running Windows 11, please see the article NVivo Crashes on Windows 11.  What is Happening

If you are not running Windows 11, we have seen Trellix Adaptive Threat Prevention cause this error.   We recommend disabling Trellix script scanning to fix the issue. 
Trellix software updates could cause the issue to repeat if the setting was already disabled. Make sure to confirm enhanced script scanning is disabled under the adaptive threat prevention section of the software.

If this software is not on the device, please follow the steps below:

1. Select Start and look for the NVivo app/program
2. Press and hold (or right-click) on the NVivo app, then select Uninstall.
3. After NVivo has been uninstalled, restart your computer
4. Re-install NVivo, you can download NVivo using the links below
   • NVivo 12 Windows
   • NVivo 13 (2020, R1) Windows (released March 2020)
   • NVivo 14 Windows
   • NVivo 15 Windows

Please also ensure that there are no pending or failing Windows updates because pending/failing Windows updates may cause the installation of Microsoft SQL Server to be affected. For more information, refer to Windows Updates and Fix Windows Update errors.

Note: NVivo installer file already contains a specific version Microsoft SQL Server, and it doesn’t need to be installed manually. Downloading and installing an incompatible version of Microsoft SQL Server is unlikely to resolve the issue.

If this fails, you can do the following (ask for IT help if needed):
Uninstall NVivo and the Microsoft SQL Server LocalDB
Delete the AppData Folders in the paths below (using File Explorer)
C:\Users\Username\Roaming\QSR
C:\Users\Username\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server

Reinstall NVivo using the links above