Problem –

I was setting up always-on availability group in SQL server 2016 developer edition in my Test Lab. The process threw me an error of 35220.

Here is a complete error message-

Could not process the operation. Always-On Availability Groups replica manager is waiting for the host computer to start a Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) cluster and join it. Either the local computer is not a cluster node, or the local cluster node is not online. If the computer is a cluster node, wait for it to join the cluster. If the computer is not a cluster node, add the computer to a WSFC cluster. Then, retry the operation.

Solution –

The error message comes when the Availability group is not able to find WSFC (Windows Server failover cluster) for it to function. In my research, I found out that this error was coming in my case because I had enabled the availability group before setting up WSFC.

Therefore, I should have waited for WSFC to be set up before enabling Availability Group from SQL server configuration Manager.

Here is a simple sequence of steps to solve this error -

Disable Availability Group
Go to SQL Server Configuration Manager >> Services >> SQL Server >> Properties >> Always on high availability Tab >> Uncheck box Enable Always-on Availability Groups.
Restart SQL Service
Enable Availability Group
Go to SQL Server Configuration Manager >> Services >> SQL Server >> Properties >> Always on high availability Tab >> Check box Enable Always-on Availability Groups.
Restart SQL Service

Start setting up the now availability group again, it should work without an error this time. Hopefully, this article helps you solve your problem.

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