org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardServer[8005]]A child container failed during start

Question

I am struggling for the past 6-7 hrs trying to figure out what went wrong with my Apache Tomcat Server. In all of my projects, the jdk version got switched to 1.6 from 1.8.

To solve the version conflict, I verified whether compiled version and JVM of Tomcat version are same by taking help from here.

For multiple contexts with the same path error, I know i need to remove duplicate Context tags in server.xml. So, first I check in Servers project (which gets created itself when you add Apache Tomcat Server in Eclipse) and find none there. So, I delve deep into the directory(Eclipse WorkSpace) metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp3\conf and removed the duplicate Context tags over there, with help taken from here.

Now when i create a new Dynamic Web Project, everything works fine and I am able to see the web page. But if I try to access any of the HTML, XHTML files of those old project in which the jdk got changed, this org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException continues to pop up and the server fails to start, and consequently these duplicate Context tags continues to build up again and again every time i start the server.

None of my old Web application projects seems to work now.

java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext [/EdBurns_ChrisSchalk]]..... SEVERE: A child container failed during start java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost]] .... Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected element value kind in annotation: 0

How to prevent these context tags being build up again and again in server.xml. Secondly, how to get back those old web projects to working state again?

This worked for me: https://stackoverflow.com/a/41499934/5848998 — Huntro, Jan 16 '18 at 14:18

score 18 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 22 '17 at 01:32

18

I had a similar error and fixed it by following steps: 1. Under Servers project (which gets created itself when you add Apache Tomcat Server in Eclipse), open server.xml 2. Comment out the line

<Context docBase=... />

answered Feb 22 '17 at 01:32

sofian

189
1
3

@sofian Commenting this element solved my errors too but when I launched my application it seems not working, so commenting this element is not right I guess – Suresh Aug 07 '18 at 15:12
I know it stops the project, but certainly gives a way out - this should be an accepted answer. Thanks mate. – nightfury Dec 28 '18 at 12:51
When we remove the context docbase, it just starts the server without any context so obviously the error will be resolved. We need to know how to start the server with the context and resolve the above mentioned error. Hence this solution should not be considered valid. – Tenzin Tridhe Jun 30 '22 at 12:28

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 04 '15 at 11:41

9

This will prevent multiple context tags to be created upon each request

1) Stop the server
2) Clean Tomcat's work directory

Screenshot for location:

answered Mar 04 '15 at 11:41

1

It worked for me, but I removed the synchronized application from it. – petre May 25 '16 at 12:53
4

This is not the correct solution. This might have worked under certain environments, but not all. – Mandar Pandit Dec 06 '16 at 18:33
Yes, this worked for me too when i used clean command... Thank you. – prem30488 Feb 21 '18 at 10:41
This is Not a Solution that work all time. It is not working for me even after follow the step same error. – Abhilash Arjaria Jul 16 '18 at 09:18
I'm using the tomcat from xampp – Akshatha S R Sep 24 '19 at 04:21
Could not publish server configuration for Tomcat v9.0 Server at localhost. Multiple Contexts have a path of "/Demo". – Stu_Dent Oct 04 '20 at 14:33

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered May 03 '16 at 06:24

If you are not using annotation based Servlet then please remove annotation @WebServlet("/YourServletName") from the starting of the servlet. This annotation confuses the mapping with web.xml, after removing this annotation Tomcat server will work properly.

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 02 '18 at 15:58

This seems to be an issue with local Maven repository. (i.e. .m2 folder) may be due to some corrupt .jar file

For me, the following actions helped to overcome this issue.

On my local file system, I've deleted the directory .m2 (Maven local repository)
In Eclipse, updated the project (select Maven > Update Project)
Ran the app again on Tomcat server.

score 1 · Answer 5 · edited Dec 19 '16 at 06:36

1

Went through the various resources on the net but none of them helped then i deleted the existing server and added the same server again and now it is working fine and the steps are

Window>>ShowView>>Servers>>RightClick>>Delete

and then add the server again as you have added previously.

edited Dec 19 '16 at 06:36

Panther

3,312
9
27
50

answered Dec 19 '16 at 06:16

Taleev Aalam

49
1
9

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 09 '19 at 11:41

If you are using the following stack: Server Version: Apache Tomcat/9.0.21 Servlet Version: 4.0 JSP Version: 2.3

Then try adding <absolute-ordering /> to your web.xml file. So your file looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee" xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_1.xsd" id="WebApp_ID" version="3.1">
  <display-name>spring-mvc-crud-demo</display-name>

  <absolute-ordering />

  <welcome-file-list>
    <welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
    <welcome-file>index.html</welcome-file>
  </welcome-file-list>

  ......

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jul 08 '18 at 18:32

0

In my case, the servlet-api.jar file in jre/lib/ext in the jdk directory conflicts with the servlet-api.jar file in tomcat, removing the servlet-api.jar in jre/lib/ext in the jdk directory can solve the problem.

answered Jul 08 '18 at 18:32

Sokranotes

1
2

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 27 '19 at 13:45

Just make sure build with correct web.xml configuration.I have update web.xml with tomcat configuration and it worked for me. Sample :-

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
 xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" xmlns:web="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd"
 xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd"
 id="WebApp_ID" version="2.5">
 <display-name>simulator</display-name>
 <description>simulator app</description>


    <!-- File upload  -->
    <welcome-file-list>
        <welcome-file>index.html</welcome-file>
    </welcome-file-list>
 <!-- excel simulation -->
    <display-name>simulator</display-name>
    <description>simulator app</description>
    <!-- File upload  -->
    <welcome-file-list>
        <welcome-file>InsertPage.html</welcome-file>
    </welcome-file-list>
    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>FileUploadServlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>clari5.excel.FileUploadServlet</servlet-class>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>
    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>FileUploadServlet</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/excelSimulator/FileUploadServlet</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>



</web-app>

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Jul 02 '19 at 12:31

0

One of the problems that can cause this is when you forget to put the / character in the WebServlet annotation @WebServlet("/example") @WebServlet("example") I hope it works, it worked for me.

answered Jul 02 '19 at 12:31

Rafael Fernandes Vieira

1

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jun 16 '20 at 05:36

0

Below solution worked for me: Navigate to Project->Clean.. Clean all the projects referenced by Tomcat server Refresh the project you're trying to run on Tomcat

Try to run the server afterwards

answered Jun 16 '20 at 05:36

Benjamin

21
3

score -1 · Answer 11 · answered Jan 03 '17 at 04:10

-1

I think it is jar file version problem. I had the same issue and I fixed it by changing the commons-codec-1.6.jar file from the build path. Earlier I was using latest version 1.10. Gradually I decreased the versions and 1.6 version fixed my issue.

answered Jan 03 '17 at 04:10

Shivaramakrishna Agapu

127
1
2

score -3 · Answer 12 · answered Dec 18 '16 at 18:42

-3

Go to the task manager, kill the java processes and turn the server back on. should work fine.

answered Dec 18 '16 at 18:42

ShreyJo10

27
5

org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardServer[8005]]A child container failed during start

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