ColdFusion Will Not Start After Changing Service Account
May 6, 2015
While creating a new ColdFusion server I attempted to change the Windows Service account to a domain service account. I’ve done this on almost every ColdFusion server I’ve ever setup because they typically need access to network resources and it makes it easy to manage the application rights.
This time however I was unable to do so. I received a generic error from the service manager:
The Coldfusion Service on local computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs
The ColdFusion server logs were not very helpful. They showed the server starting and stopping (just as the service manager error stated). I found this in the Windows Application Event Log:
Win32 API routinue "CreateEvent" failed: Access is denied.
Researching this error did not turn up any ColdFusion specific results, however I kept seeing references to the issue being present in other “Java Server” based software.
All the fixes listed for the the Java server software suggested installing the software “As Administrator”
I usually do this when installing any software, but failed to do so this time.
After uninstalling, then reinstalling with elevated permissions (As Administrator) I was able to get the service account change the ColdFusion service running steady.
Still not sure WHY this prevents the service account from being changed.
Scott RogersJanuary 27, 2022 at 1:42:50 pm
I just ran into this EXACT problem with a ColdFusion 2021 instance created through the CF Admin Instance Manager. Out of 4 instance, 3 update to a domain account without issue, but the 4th behaved 100% EXACTLY like you described. But our instances were created directly through CF, so I wasn't sure how I could possible have created it "as admin". We tried several things, including reaching out to Adobe for support. Ultimately, as a "why not" kind of response, we just rebooted the whole server, taking down multiple production instances to do so. But after rebooting the server, the instance happily accepted the new domain credentials and started as expected.
Jason HoldenJanuary 27, 2022 at 2:37:47 pm
@Scott Rogers
Glad it worked out. To clarify we operate in a Windows environment and I had to execute the ColdFusion installer using elevated permissions by right-clicking the installer file and selecting 'Run As Administrator'
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