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Article - CS307146

"Unable to initialize and start system: null" is seen when deploying ThingWorx Platform

Modified: 30-Jul-2025   


Applies To

  • ThingWorx Platform 7.4 to 9.6

Description

  • Cannot start new ThingWorx instance, facing null error
  • Tomcat starts and presents home page but the ThingWorx Composer fails to start
  • Unable to initialize and start system: null prevents the system from starting
  • When attempting to start ThingWorx the following is observed in the respective logs:
    • ApplicationLog.log 
      [DATE_TIME] [L: ERROR] [O: c.t.s.m.BaseManager] [I: ] [U: SuperUser] [S: ] [T: [THREAD]] Unable To Initialize Entity System in Users: null
[DATE_TIME] [L: ERROR] [O: c.t.s.m.BaseManager] [I: ] [U: SuperUser] [S: ] [T: [THREAD]] Unable To Initialize Entity Administrator in Users: null
[DATE_TIME] [L: ERROR] [O: c.t.s.m.BaseManager] [I: ] [U: SuperUser] [S: ] [T: [THREAD]] Unable To Initialize Entity SuperUser in Users: null
...
[DATE_TIME] [L: ERROR] [O: c.t.s.ThingWorxBootstrapper] [I: ] [U: SuperUser] [S: ] [T: [THREAD]] [message: Unable to initialize and start system: null]
[DATE_TIME][L: ERROR] [O: c.t.s.ThingWorxBootstrapper] [I: ] [U: SuperUser] [S: ] [T: [THREAD]] *** CRITICAL ERROR ON STARTUP: Unable to initialize and start system: null
[DATE_TIME] [L: ERROR] [O: c.t.s.ThingWorxBootstrapper] [I: ] [U: SuperUser] [S: ] [T: [THREAD]] *** Web Application STATE is being set to ERROR! ***
    • catalina.out log 
      [DATE_TIME] [L: INFO] [O: c.t.p.p.PersistenceProvider] [I: ] [U: SuperUser] [S: ] [T: [THREAD]] Connection ThingworxPersistenceProvider, type NeoPersistenceProviderPackage stopped
java.lang.Exception: Unable to initialize and start system: null
    at com.thingworx.system.ThingWorxServer.loadModel(ThingWorxServer.java:606)
    at com.thingworx.system.ThingWorxServer.doHA(ThingWorxServer.java:207)
    at com.thingworx.system.ThingWorxBootstrapper.contextInitialized(ThingWorxBootstrapper.java:152)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4792)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5256)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:754)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:730)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:734)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:985)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployWar.run(HostConfig.java:1857)
    at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
  • The Tomcat service is started but no user can access the Composer with 500 error code
  • The issue observed after ThingWorx upgrade failure using Installer
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