ActiveMQ as an x64 Windows 7 Service

I bought an SSD for my aging Thinkpad X61 (which has made it feel like a new computer again) and upgraded to 64-bit Windows 7. I’m reassembling my development environment and need to install Apache ActiveMQ (5.4.2) as part of the stack.

Unfortunately, once installed as a service, it would start and then immediately fail, unable to open a temporary file store according to the logs:

2011-08-04 11:00:26,817 | WARN  | tmpdir | org.eclipse.jetty.util.log | WrapperSimpleAppMain java.io.IOException: The system cannot find the path specified
        at java.io.WinNTFileSystem.createFileExclusively(Native Method)
        at java.io.File.checkAndCreate(File.java:1704)
        at java.io.File.createTempFile(File.java:1792)
        at java.io.File.createTempFile(File.java:1828)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebInfConfiguration.resolveTempDirectory(WebInfConfiguration.java:279)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebInfConfiguration.preConfigure(WebInfConfiguration.java:43)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext.doStart(WebAppContext.java:378)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:55)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.HandlerCollection.doStart(HandlerCollection.java:165)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:55)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.HandlerWrapper.doStart(HandlerWrapper.java:92)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.security.SecurityHandler.doStart(SecurityHandler.java:338)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.security.ConstraintSecurityHandler.doStart(ConstraintSecurityHandler.java:229)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:55)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.HandlerCollection.doStart(HandlerCollection.java:165)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:55)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.HandlerWrapper.doStart(HandlerWrapper.java:92)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.server.Server.doStart(Server.java:242)
        at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:55)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeCustomInitMethod(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1536)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1477)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1409)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:519)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:291)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:222)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:288)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:190)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:574)
        at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:895)
        at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:425)
        at org.apache.xbean.spring.context.ResourceXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ResourceXmlApplicationContext.java:64)
        at org.apache.xbean.spring.context.ResourceXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ResourceXmlApplicationContext.java:52)
        at org.apache.activemq.xbean.XBeanBrokerFactory$1.<init>(XBeanBrokerFactory.java:117)
        at org.apache.activemq.xbean.XBeanBrokerFactory.createApplicationContext(XBeanBrokerFactory.java:115)
        at org.apache.activemq.xbean.XBeanBrokerFactory.createBroker(XBeanBrokerFactory.java:71)
        at org.apache.activemq.broker.BrokerFactory.createBroker(BrokerFactory.java:71)
        at org.apache.activemq.broker.BrokerFactory.createBroker(BrokerFactory.java:54)
        at org.apache.activemq.console.command.StartCommand.startBroker(StartCommand.java:115)
        at org.apache.activemq.console.command.StartCommand.runTask(StartCommand.java:74)
        at org.apache.activemq.console.command.AbstractCommand.execute(AbstractCommand.java:57)
        at org.apache.activemq.console.command.ShellCommand.runTask(ShellCommand.java:143)
        at org.apache.activemq.console.command.AbstractCommand.execute(AbstractCommand.java:57)
        at org.apache.activemq.console.command.ShellCommand.main(ShellCommand.java:85)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
        at org.apache.activemq.console.Main.runTaskClass(Main.java:251)
        at org.apache.activemq.console.Main.main(Main.java:107)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
        at org.tanukisoftware.wrapper.WrapperSimpleApp.run(WrapperSimpleApp.java:240)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)
2011-08-04 11:00:26,873 | INFO  | ActiveMQ Message Broker (localhost, ID:brian-x61-57604-1312480826352-0:1) is shutting down | org.apache.activemq.broker.BrokerService | ActiveMQ ShutdownHook
2011-08-04 11:00:28,622 | INFO  | Connector openwire Stopped | org.apache.activemq.broker.TransportConnector | ActiveMQ ShutdownHook
2011-08-04 11:00:28,629 | INFO  | PListStore:C:\jrun4\apache-activemq-5.4.2\bin\win32\..\..\data\localhost\tmp_storage stopped | org.apache.activemq.store.kahadb.plist.PListStore | ActiveMQ ShutdownHook

I tried following these directions to modify the InstallService.bat but the same problem persisted. Instead, I modified the service to Run As “NT Authority\Local Service” instead of “Local System”. Now it starts up and runs and I can access the web admin at http://localhost:8161.

I’m new to Windows 7 – is this the right way to correct the problem or have I opened myself up to some kind of security problem?