Can't set up crowd as windows service

[Aleks G]

After struggling with performance of Crowd 3.2.3 post upgrade from 2.5, we upgraded to 3.2.5 using a new install and import of backup. Upon configuring, everything is fine and I can start crowd using start_crowd.bat file. Yet, I am unable to set it up to run as a service. Following the instruction from https://confluence.atlassian.com/crowd/installing-crowd-as-a-windows-service-82870454.html, I execute command

service.bat install Crowd

And the service is installed. However when I try to start the service, I get an error message and the following appears in the tomcat logs:

[2018-08-31 16:12:05] [info] [15088] Commons Daemon procrun (1.1.0.0 32-bit) started
[2018-08-31 16:12:05] [info] [15088] Running 'Crowd' Service...
[2018-08-31 16:12:05] [info] [14700] Starting service...
[2018-08-31 16:12:05] [error] [14700] %1 is not a valid Win32 application.
[2018-08-31 16:12:05] [error] [14700] Failed creating Java C:\jdk-8u162\jre\bin\server\jvm.dll
[2018-08-31 16:12:05] [error] [14700] %1 is not a valid Win32 application.
[2018-08-31 16:12:05] [error] [14700] ServiceStart returned 1
[2018-08-31 16:12:05] [error] [14700] %1 is not a valid Win32 application.
[2018-08-31 16:12:05] [info] [15088] Run service finished.

Any suggestions on how I can get this fixed?

[AhmadDanial · Accepted solution]

Hi there, Aleksandr.

The error messages you shared looks similar to the question asked in Always Crowd ('s tomcat) is not starting caused by a 'not a valid Win32 application' error.

Can you please give the workaround mentioned in the Problems Installing JIRA applications as a service on Windows 64bit a shot and complete the steps below?

1. Start CMD as administrator

2. Remove the existing Crowd service (if it was installed already)

3. Install Crowd service again

Let me know how it goes on your end.

[Aleks G]

Ah! That was it! Thanks!