ERROR MESSAGE:
Error 3(The system cannot find the path specified.) occurred while opening file ‘C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\DATA\master.mdf’ to obtain configuration information at startup. An invalid startup option might have caused the error. Verify your startup options, and correct or remove them if necessary.
EXPLANATION:
When you want to start SQL Server, you may receive such an error in Event Viewer.
The reason I encounter this error is that the account used for the SQL Server service did not have sufficient permissions for the path specified in the error.
The SQL Server service account did not have access to the DATA folder in the example.
Note: You may need to check the access rights of all folders related to Instance.
SOLUTION:
This problem will be resolved when you grant the necessary access rights to the SQL Server service account.