Unable to start Confluence "Unable to bootstrap application: Could not make directory/ies:"
Platform Notice: Data Center - This article applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.
Note that this knowledge base article was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center knowledge base articles for non-Data Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Symptoms
Unable to start Confluence
The following appears in the atlassian-confluence.log:
2013-08-19 09:19:03,741 INFO [main] [com.atlassian.confluence.lifecycle] contextInitialized Starting Confluence 5.2.3 [build 4394 based on commit hash a32f094df7825f58c6a417309475c6c954804a27]
2013-08-19 09:19:07,952 WARN [main] [com.atlassian.config.ApplicationConfig] setApplicationHome Application home does not exist. Creating directory: \\servername\confluence-data
2013-08-19 09:19:07,983 ERROR [main] [atlassian.config.bootstrap.DefaultAtlassianBootstrapManager] init Home is not configured properly:
com.atlassian.config.ConfigurationException: Could not make directory/ies: \\servername\confluence-data
at com.atlassian.config.ApplicationConfig.setApplicationHome(ApplicationConfig.java:69)
at com.atlassian.config.bootstrap.DefaultAtlassianBootstrapManager.init(DefaultAtlassianBootstrapManager.java:66)
at com.atlassian.config.util.BootstrapUtils.init(BootstrapUtils.java:36)
at com.atlassian.confluence.setup.ConfluenceConfigurationListener.initialiseBootstrapContext(ConfluenceConfigurationListener.java:87)
at com.atlassian.confluence.setup.ConfluenceConfigurationListener.contextInitialized(ConfluenceConfigurationListener.java:43)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4206)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4705)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1057)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:840)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1057)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:463)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:525)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:754)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:595)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:289)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:414)
2013-08-19 09:19:08,155 ERROR [main] [atlassian.confluence.setup.ConfluenceConfigurationListener] contextInitialized An error was encountered while bootstrapping Confluence (see below):
Unable to bootstrap application: Could not make directory/ies: \\servername\confluence-data
com.atlassian.config.bootstrap.BootstrapException: Unable to bootstrap application: Could not make directory/ies: \\servername\confluence-data
at com.atlassian.config.util.BootstrapUtils.init(BootstrapUtils.java:39)
at com.atlassian.confluence.setup.ConfluenceConfigurationListener.initialiseBootstrapContext(ConfluenceConfigurationListener.java:87)
at com.atlassian.confluence.setup.ConfluenceConfigurationListener.contextInitialized(ConfluenceConfigurationListener.java:43)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4206)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4705)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1057)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:840)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1057)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:463)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:525)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:754)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:595)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:289)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:414)
Cause
- This issue occurs when the user that is starting Confluence does not have full read/write permission to the Confluence Home and other important directories directory.
- The issue can occur if there is a trailing space behind the path to the confluence-home directory in <confluence-install-directory>/confluence/WEB-INF/classes/confluence-init.properties, as in screenshot below:
Resolution
Ensure that the user that is starting Confluence has full read/write permission to the Confluence Home and other important directories directory, including permission to create and delete subfolders.
Even if the permissions look correct, sometimes there can be a few errant files that have the wrong permissions, so it's a good idea to reset the permissions and force them to be reapplied to the Home directory and all subfolders and files.
Or check if there is a need to remove trailing space from the <confluence-install-directory>/confluence/WEB-INF/classes/confluence-init.properties path.