Changing default user for project roles (Security) returns errors

[Karlay Tan]

When trying to change the default user for Project roles - Security in JIRA, the following error is returned.   Any insights as to what we need to do to modify the default user? 

An error occurred whilst rendering this message. Please contact the administrators, and inform them of this bug. Details: ------- org.apache.velocity.exception.MethodInvocationException: Invocation of method 'getUserPickerHtml' in class com.atlassian.jira.web.action.admin.roles.UserRoleActorAction threw exception java.lang.NullPointerException at com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.projectroleactors:atlassian-user-role-actor-action//templates/plugins/jira/projectroles/user-role-actor.vm[line 21, column 9] at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTIdentifier.execute(ASTIdentifier.java:223) at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTReference.execute(ASTReference.java:262) at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTReference.render(ASTReference.java:342) at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.SimpleNode.render(SimpleNode.java:336) at org.apache.velocity.Template.merge(Template.java:328) at org.apache.velocity.Template.merge(Template.java:235) at org.apache.velocity.app.VelocityEngine.mergeTemplate(VelocityEngine.java:381) at com.atlassian.velocity.DefaultVelocityManager.writeEncodedBodyImpl(DefaultVelocityManager.java:117) at com.atlassian.velocity.DefaultVelocityManager.writeEncodedBody(DefaultVelocityManager.java:97) at com.atlassian.jira.template.velocity.DefaultVelocityTemplatingEngine$DefaultRenderRequest.toWriterImpl(DefaultVelocityTemplatingEngine.java:122) at com.atlassian.jira.template.velocity.DefaultVelocityTemplatingEngine$DefaultRenderRequest.asHtml(DefaultVelocityTemplatingEngine.java:113) at com.atlassian.jira.web.dispatcher.JiraVelocityViewDispatcher.dispatch(JiraVelocityViewDispatcher.java:50) at com.atlassian.jira.web.dispatcher.JiraWebworkViewDispatcher.dispatchViaVelocityView(JiraWebworkViewDispatcher.java:89) at com.atlassian.jira.web.dispatcher.JiraWebworkViewDispatcher.dispatchView(JiraWebworkViewDispatcher.java:56) at com.atlassian.jira.web.dispatcher.JiraWebworkActionDispatcher.service(JiraWebworkActionDispatcher.java:184) at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:729) at com.atlassian.jira.servlet.WebExceptionCheckingServlet.delegate(WebExceptionCheckingServlet.java:86) at com.atlassian.jira.servlet.WebExceptionCheckingServlet.service(WebExceptionCheckingServlet.java:32) at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:292) at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:207) at com.atlassian.jira.web.filters.JiraAbstractHttpFilter.lambda$doFilter$0(JiraAbstractHttpFilter.java:32) at com.atlassian.jira.web.filters.steps.ChainedFilterStepRunner.doFilter(ChainedFilterStepRunner.java:75) at com.atlassian.jira.web.filters.JiraAbstractHttpFilter.doFilter(JiraAbstractHttpFilter.java:37) at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:240) at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:207) at com.atlassian.jira.web.filters.XContentTypeOptionsNoSniffFilter.doFilter(XContentTypeOptionsNoSniffFilter.java:20) at com.atlassian.core.filters.AbstractHttpFilter.doFilter(AbstractHttpFilter.java:30) at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:240) at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:207) at com.atlassian.core.filters.HeaderSanitisingFilter.doFilter(HeaderSanitisingFilter.java:35) at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:240) at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:207) at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.IteratingFilterChain.doFilter(IteratingFilterChain.java:39) at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.DelegatingPluginFilter$1.doFilter(DelegatingPluginFilter.java:64) at com.atlassian.jira.baseurl.IncludeResourcesFilter.doFilter(IncludeResourcesFilter.java:40) at com.atlassian.core.filters.AbstractHttpFilter.doFilter(AbstractHttpFilter.java:30) at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.DelegatingPluginFilter.doFilter(DelegatingPluginFilter.java:72) at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.IteratingFilterChain.doFilter(IteratingFilterChain.java:37) at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.DelegatingPluginFilter$1.doFilter(DelegatingPluginFilter.java:64) at com.atlassian.servicedesk.internal.web.ExternalCustomerLockoutFilter.doFilter(ExternalCustomerLockoutFilter.java:56) at com.atlassian.core.filters.AbstractHttpFilter.doFilter(AbstractHttpFilter.java:30) at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.DelegatingPluginFilter.doFilter(DelegatingPluginFilter.java:72) at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.IteratingFilterChain.doFilter(IteratingFilterChain.java:37) at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.DelegatingPluginFilter$1.doFilter(DelegatingPluginFilter.java:64) at com.atlassian.servicedesk.internal.web.PortalLanguageDetectionFilter.doFilter(PortalLanguageDetectionFilter.java:132) at com.atlassian.core.filters.AbstractHttpFilter.doFilter(AbstractHttpFilter.java:30) at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.DelegatingPluginFilter.doFilter(DelegatingPluginFilter.java:72) at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.IteratingFilterChain.doFilter(IteratingFilterChain.java:37) at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.DelegatingPluginFilter$1.doFilter(DelegatingPluginFilter.java:64) at com.atlassian.greenhopper.jira.filters.ClassicBoardRouter.doFilter(ClassicBoardRouter.java:56) at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.DelegatingPluginFilter.doFilter(DelegatingPluginFilter.java:72) at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.IteratingFilterChain.doFilter(IteratingFilterChain.java:37) at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.DelegatingPluginFilter$1.doFilter(DelegatingPluginFilter.java:64) at com.atlassian.mywork.client.filter.ServingRequestsFilter.doFilter(ServingRequestsFilter.java:41) at .......

[Vasiliy Zverev]

I am sure that it helps, but you could try to

1. Make blocking reindexing
2. Make healthcheck of your instance
3. Try to disable all plugins and do once again