ConfigMgr.exe crash on load

[OL-Lachance]

I have Robohelp server installed on a Windows 2008 R2 x64 machine with IIS7, Tomcat 7 and Java 7. This is an ESX virtual machine accessed through the vSphere client.

IT installed this for me and as far as I know there were no errors when installing and configuring RoboHelp server the first time. Everything works as expected with the default context (robohelp), I can access the admin, publish my documentation, and I even have legacy HTML documentation being served and it's all fine and dandy.

However, I need to create a new context and I simply cannot. Whenever I open the Configuration Manager, it crashes with the following details:

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:    APPCRASH
  Application Name:    ConfigMgr.exe
  Application Version:    1.0.0.1
  Application Timestamp:    4d08d1d2
  Fault Module Name:    ConfigMgr.exe
  Fault Module Version:    1.0.0.1
  Fault Module Timestamp:    4d08d1d2
  Exception Code:    c0000005
  Exception Offset:    0000000000049e8d
  OS Version:    6.1.7601.2.1.0.272.7
  Locale ID:    4105
  Additional Information 1:    4238
  Additional Information 2:    4238e836a2320692f474efd7694039a5
  Additional Information 3:    e027
  Additional Information 4:    e02751af75d66a9fc8c6059c5cb41685

As a test, I tried reproducing the setup myself on the same OS, but in a local virtual machine through VMWare workstation. Oddly enough, I get the same problem (not sure if the exception codes are the same however). I'd like to know how to resolve this problem of course, but in the meantime is there any way to create a context manually by editing files directly?

[RoboColum_n_]

You really don't want to going down the manual creation route. Even if it is possible it would involve the editing / creation of so many files in different locations that you'd need a PhD to follow the instructions.

The fact that you have replicated the problem points to an issue with the Configuration Manager itself. What exactly I'm not sure. It's installation is fairly straightforward so it should work. I'd suggest it has something to do with being a virtual machine accessed through a client. It is certainly a configuration I haven't come across. Could you get your IT people to double check the setup and let us know if they find anything. The c0000005 exception code seems to point to an access violation. Perhaps you can get them to focus on this area.

[OL-Lachance · Accepted solution]

If anyone ever has this issue, it has now been fixed.

The problem seemed to be that in both machines, RoboHelp Server was not activated - I was getting the activation/registration screen at the same time as the selector to choose between tomcat6 and tomcat7. I was skipping that dialog because I was waiting on IT to activate the server, and the config manager would constantly crash.

However, activating RoboHelp Server resolved that issue.