Unable to start PostgreSQL in windows-2025

[kevinhorvatin-netwrix]

Description

The following will error with a permission error. This works in windows-2022

jobs:
- job: Database
  pool:
    vmImage: windows-2025
  steps:
  - checkout: self
    fetchDepth: 1
    clean: true

  - pwsh: |
      Push-Location "$($ENV:PGBIN)"
      &./pg_ctl.exe start -D $ENV:PGDATA
    displayName: "Start Postgres"

Platforms affected

• Azure DevOps
• GitHub Actions - Standard Runners
• GitHub Actions - Larger Runners

Runner images affected

• Ubuntu 22.04
• Ubuntu 24.04
• macOS 13
• macOS 13 Arm64
• macOS 14
• macOS 14 Arm64
• macOS 15
• macOS 15 Arm64
• macOS 26 Arm64
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2025

Image version and build link

Current image version: '20250907.19.1'

Is it regression?

windows-2022

Expected behavior

PostgreSQL starts without an error

Actual behavior

waiting for server to start.....postgres: could not access directory "C:/Program Files/PostgreSQL/17/data": Permission denied
pg_ctl: could not start server
stopped waiting
Examine the log output.

Repro steps

1. Create Azure Devops pipeline that trys to start PostgreSQL
2. add pwsh step

- pwsh: |
      Push-Location "$($ENV:PGBIN)"
      &./pg_ctl.exe start -D $ENV:PGDATA
    displayName: "Start Postgres"

3. Run pipeline

[RaviAkshintala]

@kevinhorvatin-netwrix Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. We will look into this issue and will update you after investigation.

[akilesh-amaran]

Hi @kevinhorvatin-netwrix ,
Could you please pull the latest code, rerun the job, and kindly share the updated workflow logs with us

[erik-bershel]

Hey @kevinhorvatin-netwrix !

Thanks for reaching out. You've actually caught a funny image bug related to changes in Windows 2025 compared to Windows 2022.

As a temporary workaround, you can use one of two options:

• change PGDATA to the path to a folder writable by the current user

  - pwsh: |
              $env:PGDATA = Join-Path $env:TEMP "pg\data"
              New-Item -Force -ItemType Directory -Path $env:PGDATA | Out-Null
              Push-Location "$($ENV:PGBIN)"
              & "$env:PGBIN\initdb.exe" -D "$env:PGDATA" -A trust
              & "$env:PGBIN\pg_ctl.exe" start -D "$env:PGDATA" -l "$env:PGDATA\server.log"

• run the instance as a service, bypassing the CLI:

  - pwsh: |
          $pgService = Get-Service -Name postgresql*
          $pgService | Set-Service -StartupType Manual
          Start-Service $pgService

In the meantime, we'll work on fixing the root cause of the issue by updating the default path to the PostgreSQL data.