CF2018 Update 12 - Service Won't Start

[jhansen-cf]

After installing the update 12 via CFAdminstrator, CF will not start. 😞

The log files shows...

Installation: Successful with errors.

3397 Successes
0 Warnings
1 NonFatalErrors
0 FatalErrors

The only error in the log file is...

Custom Action: com.adobe.ia.action.ServiceStopCheck
Status: ERROR
Additional Notes: ERROR - class com.adobe.ia.action.ServiceStopCheck.install() runtime exception:

When starting the service, Windows says... 

"Windows could not start ... blah blah blah ... contact the service vendor and refer to service-specific error code 2."

Windows event log says: The ColdFusion 2018 Application Server service could not be started. Check the server "cfusion" log files for more information.

The cf log files haven't been changed since the update. 

This is all I have to go on. 

[Charlie Arehart]

Fortunately, that's not really all you have to go on. Go to the command line, to the cfusion/bin folder (or instancename/bin, if you're running multiple instances), then run cfstart. By being at the cmdline, you'll see any error message that may appear (which may not have been logged, since cf never started), and which should explain what's amiss.

It may have nothing to do with the cf update, BTW. For example, perhaps you'd not restarted cf for some time, and perhaps a change was made that did not take effect until the cf restart. Could be that cf is set to use a JVM that had bren removed, for example. 

Let us know what you find. 

[BKBK]

The "com.adobe.ia.action.ServiceStopCheck" exception suggests that your Update 12 installation was unsuccessful. You could solve the problem as follows:

1.  Uninstall Update 12, for example, again via the ColdFusion Administrator. That is, roll back to Update 11. (I am assuming you were on Update 11 before. Were you?)
2.  Restart ColdFusion (Update 11);
3.  Install Update 12 as before (oh, and make sure you have the appropriate permissions to do so: ideally as Admin).

[Charlie Arehart]

Bkbk, with the reported 3000+ successes and only this one nonfatal error, I would disagree with your conclusion that the update failed. I still think what I suggested will get the explanation of why cf is not starting.

Why don't we wait to hear what that diagnostic shows us before proposing remedies to "try"?  This is a bit like proposing a surgerical procedure for what may be a pneumonia. 🙂 

[BKBK]

Why don't we wait to hear what that diagnostic shows us ...

By @Charlie Arehart

Why wait? The way I see it, that decision is up to @jhansen-cf, who now has a further option, should the diagnostic fail or be inconclusive.

I have a preference for clean installs. In any case I wouldn't want to go ahead with an installation that prevents ColdFusion from starting. Unless I can account 100% for the runtime exception. That's just my personal preference.

This is a bit like proposing a surgerical procedure for what may be a pneumonia. 🙂 

By @Charlie Arehart

You may be right. But pneumonia? 🙂 Nah, I was thinking of a different medical analogy.

All in all, the patient's operation has been successful. The patient has undergone 3397 successful procedures. One procedure was unsuccessful., but it is not fatal. The challenge at hand is that the patient cannot regain consciousness.

Luckily, in the present context, we have options:

1. diagnose the cause and, if successful, resolve it and bring the patient to. (Your suggestion)
2. revert all the procedures, bringing the patient back to the state in which the patient was before the operation, which is entirely possible in this context. Then perform the operation anew. (My suggestion)

[BKBK · Accepted solution]

@jhansen-cf , something you might want to try before anything else: restart Windows. There might perhaps be a pending Windows update. Oh, and log back into Windows using the credentials of the Windows account with which you installed ColdFusion.

[jhansen-cf · Accepted solution]

OK, now I feel silly. CF was able to start after a reboot. Update successful. Never had to do that in the past. Nothing to see here. Please move along. 

[Charlie Arehart]

So to wrap up the brief exchange BKBK and I had, this was like if "the patient simply needed a good night's sleep". While it's great that that "did it" for you, I will say I still stand by what I originally said: that if the CF service is not starting, the best thing is to run the cfstart from the command line, to see what THAT reports.

It may well be that it would have reported something that could EXPLAIN why "just a reboot" worked. But I press this point more for the sake of any others who may find this thread in the future, and may find that "just a reboot" does NOT help them...since it's marked as "the answer" here.

But I realize that for your specific issue, Justin, we can all "move along". (And I'd not noticed even the username of who raised this, like a fireman go goes into a burning building without noticing it's the address of a friend's house. Only as I wanted to refer to you in this paragraph by your username did I connect that dot.) Glad it's solved, of course.