If you've suffered the problem of CF not starting since CF2023 update 25--because you're on Windows and have implemented FusionReactor or another monitor, in this post I offer a workaround as well as an explanation of the root cause problem (a bug, which Adobe will need to fix).

Background

I had blogged here last week about the new CF2025 update 23 that came out (an update only for CF2023, not CF2025). Since then, there have been a couple of issues that I have been tracking in the "updates" section of my post.

But this one in particular has been significant for some, where CF won't start. Again it's only if you have CF set to use FusionReactor (or any other monitor that relies on a certain java "instrument" library). It also ONLY happens on Windows (not Linux nor in containers/docker images).

Before explaining and solving the problem, note that if you run CF as a Windows service, when it fails to start (for this or similar reasons), there is nothing in the CF logs to explain it--nor in the Windows Event logs, despite what the error in the service startup pop warning says.

Instead, to see what's really happening, you can go to the Windows Command prompt, and run the cfstart.bat found within your CF installation folder, such as:

If you have this problem, you should see it provide this error:

And FWIW, this problem HAS happened for some people even with CF2025...though it's not happened consistently, like this change in CF2023 update 25.

And back then or since last week some people have proposed various workarounds, which I found less than satisfactory because of factors that I will explain shortly.

The root cause bug

First, let me share what I have discovered to be the root cause (and a CF bug, I would assert).

Again, as of this CF2023 update 25 at least--and on Windows--CF is TRUNCATING a path environment variable which it sets internally. The issue (not new) is that it tries to append some CF folders to whatever is set (at CF startup) as the Windows system "path". Again, that's not new: but most folks have probably never noticed that CF was appending things to that path.

You can see it yourself (in a running CF instance) by outputting the CF variable:

For example, on one machine I had, the value of that server.system.environment.path for CF2023 update 24 was:

Don't focus on the first dozen or more values. Again they are simply what I have in my Windows system path (due to various software I've installed). Note instead the last few:

Notice especially that last one, D:\ColdFusion2023\jdk-17.0.20\bin. That D:\ColdFusion2023\jdk-17.0.20 is the java home I've set in my CF admin/jvm.config file, and notice CF added a \bin to that in addition to the other few before it.

But here is the value of that server.system.environment.path after update 25:

Notice how it's TRUNCATED! And the number of characters before that starts is 254. So somehow, something in CF is truncating this modified path that it's creating internally.

Most important, note that this does NOT end with a pointer to that bin folder within the CF java home value. THAT is why FR (or other java monitors looking for that instrument library) fail, because that's found in a file called instrument.dll which is located in that bin folder.

Finally, one subtlety about this appending is that I determined that CF appends its additional folders ONLY if the incoming path it finds is non-empty (and not null).

So, that's the background and root cause. How can we FIX this (to be able to run FR with CF2023 u25, until Adobe fixes the truncation problem)?

Workarounds I don't recommend

I'll note first that some people have proposed things like changing their Windows system path, hard-coding the path to that bin under the CF java home (because they found that did "work").

That's not only not necessary (as I will show) but it can have real unexpected ramifications. First, if you put the Java folder that CF uses on the front of the path, but then have some other program that relies on a DIFFERENT java version, that other app will now fail.

Also, if you later change the java version that you have set as CF's java home, you would need to remember to change this...or now CF will fail after that change, though a different error ("the procedure entry point jvm_isthreadalive could not be located in the dynamic link library").

Second, still others have proposed they found a workaround in changing the user running CF, but that can have undesirable ramifications (especially about security, or permissions, etc.)

The workaround I recommend, for now

Again, until Adobe may resolve this seeming bug, here is what I propose folks can do, which seems safer than those above, and is pretty simple--though it will take some explaining to benefit those who may not be too familiar with a couple of things.

To be clear, I am NOT proposing that you touch the Windows system path. Instead, I offer two approaches to modify the path ONLY for CF and with something that will work regardless of the CF java home value. And I offer here how to do it whether you are starting CF at the command prompt (such as for testing) or if you are starting CF as a Windows service.

In either case, I'll propose you set the path CF uses (and ONLY the path CF uses) to be some simple string. (It can't be the full path, because of the truncation problem. And it can't be null, because I explained above how CF doesn't even do the appending needed to name that java home bin folder if it finds the incoming path to be null/empty.)

Instead, it can literally be any string, like just xx (yes, literally that string, as I'll explain why).

Workaround a: if starting CF at the command line

While you may run CF as a service normally (which I cover below), you may only run CF from the command line--or perhaps you've been doing that as part of some other workaround to this problem. Here's mine. (Powershell folks should find all that I say to be easily translated if using that.)

So if you are starting CF from the command line, you could use:

And then start CF from the command line, such as with the cfusion/bin/cfstart.bat. That path will only affect the command line terminal windows where you set it. Now put the FR javaagent value back in place, if you'd taken it out.

Note that to stop CF when you've started it this way at the command line, you can either just close the command prompt window or logoff, or to keep the terminal window open just use ctrl-c (while your cursor focus is in that command prompt). In a moment messages will appear indicating that CF is shutting down. Then you will be asked if you want to terminate the batch file (cfstart.bat). Choose "y" for yes.

Let me know if somehow you find that CF does not start even after this change. (There are little mistakes one can make. I can't anticipate all of them here.)

Workaround b: when running CF as a service

But what if you're running CF as a service? Setting the path at the command prompt won't help--and again I am NOT recommending we change the system path--but I suspect people resorted to that as seemingly their only option. It's not.

Instead, it's possible to set the path value FOR THE CF SERVICE itself. You've likely never needed to do it, but it's a simple registry tweak--a single new entry defined for the registry key which holds the CF service definition, which by default would be found within:

Anyone familiar with regedit can find that (or you can find help online, or one can even use the command line "reg" tool to automate this. We'd want to create in there a new "multi-string value" (aka a "reg_multi_sz" value), with the name:

and the value:

I know that looks weird, but trust me on this.

(As an aside, while using regedit to add this, note that if you don't put an empty line after that value, you'll get a pop up "warning" saying "Data of type REG_MULTI_SZ cannot contain empty strings. Registry editor will remove all empty strings found." Just click ok on that, and it will add an empty line to the value (which doesn't make sense for the warning message, but oh well.)

And that's it.

Now try to start the CF2023 service, even with the javaagent for FR (or any other affected monitor) in place. It's worked for me on multiple machines.

Of course, fiddling with the registry is risky. I'm going to assume readers here are comfortable with that. We're just adding one key, after all.

Hope this works: let me know if it does not

I was thrilled to finally find the root cause for this problem, and to be able to offer what seems a "simple" and safe workaround. I'd been working on it off and on for a few days. Let me know if it works for you.

And of course if somehow this doesn't work, either add comments below or reach out to me for support via the contact info at carehart.org/consulting. We should be able to resolve any issue in less than 15 minutes (my minimum billable time).

I will now go report this to Adobe (well, I will add a pointer back to this post on a tracker ticket someone opened today.)

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