Workflow error: The JIRA server was contacted but has returned an error response. We are unsure of the result of this operation.

[Michael Collier]

Hello! So the problem that I'm facing is that on a JIRA Cloud instance I am unable to assign a workflow to a project. The procedure that I am following is: 

1. Sign in. 
2. Go to settings>projects
3. Click on the name of the project to which I want to apply a workflow.
4. Click on workflows on the bar on the left side.

When I do this the whole screen is disabled and I get the following error: "The JIRA server was contacted but has returned an error response. We are unsure of the result of this operation."

Thanks for any help you may offer and let me know if I can provide more information.Screenshot from 2015-09-17 14:17:10.png

[Neal Slensker]

So I was getting the same issue for this problem after doing a restore of a system.  However, here is what I did to resolve my issue.

1.  I went and checked the atlassian-jira.log file.  (This location will vary depending on the OS you are using.  I am using Windows OS which that file is located at: C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Application Data\JIRA\log\ )

2.  I replicated the error and then went to the bottom of the log file.  Towards the bottom I found a possible culprit.

There are more than one workflows associated with 'BACKUP of TEST' in the database!

3.  Since my DB is running in a MSSQL instance I used SQL Server Management Studio and looked into the tables that the JIRA installer created.  I found the following table [jiraworkflows] and used the following query:

select * from [A].[jiraworkflows]

***MAKE NOTE OF THE RECORD ID WHICH IS THE DUPLICATE RECORD***

4.  I found the duplicate record entry and then ran the following query to delete one of the duplicate record ids:

delete from [A].[jiraworkflows] where id = 10508

5. After deleting that record ID I refreshed the page to see the workflows, and voila....it worked!

[Constant Percosky]

Was there ever a resolution offered?  I got this error from an XML import of a workflow on one of the statuses.  I get the error whenever I try to delete a status that it cannot resolve (for what reason I am unsure).

[Teja]

I had a same problem

[Shay Afek]

I have the same problem and I'm waiting for Atlassian help ...

What can I do in the meanwhile ?!

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

You might have a broken workflow. If you do no what was changed recently, you will have to raise a ticket with Atlassian to get the logs. Logs will hopefully have some detail on what is broken!