# Can't start elasticsearch with Ubuntu 16.04
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [April 28, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730 "2016-04-28T20:22:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@rubys](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rubys)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/1 "2016-04-28T20:22:43Z")
I'm hoping that somebody can tell me what step I skipped.
# From a fresh install of Ubuntu 16.04:
sudo apt-get install elasticsearch
# After that, the following should work but doesn't:
sudo /bin/systemctl daemon-reload
sudo /bin/systemctl enable elasticsearch.service
sleep 10
curl [http://localhost:9200/](http://localhost:9200/)
# Despite that, the following does work:
sudo -u elasticsearch /usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch &
sleep 10
curl [http://localhost:9200/](http://localhost:9200/)
---
### Author:  [@rubys](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rubys)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/2 "2016-04-28T20:27:09Z")
Additional information:
```auto
$ service elasticsearch status
● elasticsearch.service - LSB: Starts elasticsearch
Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/elasticsearch; bad; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (exited) since Thu 2016-04-28 16:03:54 EDT; 22min ago
Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
Process: 1192 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/elasticsearch start (code=exited, status=0
Tasks: 0 (limit: 512)
Apr 28 16:03:54 rubix2 systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Starts elasticsearch...
Apr 28 16:03:54 rubix2 systemd[1]: Started LSB: Starts elasticsearch.
```
---
### Author:  [@rubys](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rubys)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/3 "2016-04-28T20:38:48Z")
No logs are produced by the service
```auto
root@rubix2:/usr/share/elasticsearch# ls -l logs
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Dec 24 00:15 logs -> /var/log/elasticsearch
root@rubix2:/usr/share/elasticsearch# cd /var/log/elasticsearch/
root@rubix2:/var/log/elasticsearch# rm *
root@rubix2:/var/log/elasticsearch# ls
root@rubix2:/var/log/elasticsearch# service elasticsearch start
root@rubix2:/var/log/elasticsearch# ls
root@rubix2:/var/log/elasticsearch# service elasticsearch status
● elasticsearch.service - LSB: Starts elasticsearch
Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/elasticsearch; bad; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (exited) since Thu 2016-04-28 16:03:54 EDT; 32min ago
Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
Process: 1192 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/elasticsearch start (code=exited, status=0
Tasks: 0 (limit: 512)
Apr 28 16:03:54 rubix2 systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Starts elasticsearch...
Apr 28 16:03:54 rubix2 systemd[1]: Started LSB: Starts elasticsearch.
Apr 28 16:36:19 rubix2 systemd[1]: Started LSB: Starts elasticsearch.
root@rubix2:/var/log/elasticsearch# ls
root@rubix2:/var/log/elasticsearch#
```
---
### Author:  [@nik9000](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nik9000)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/4 "2016-04-28T21:18:44Z")
> [@rubys](#):
>
> sudo apt-get install elasticsearch
Did you setup the repository like in the instructions [here](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/setup-repositories.html)?
What version do you have installed?
---
### Author:  [@rubys](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rubys)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/5 "2016-04-28T21:37:36Z")
I tried with [https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/xenial/+source/elasticsearch](https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/xenial/+source/elasticsearch), so 1.7.3.
I would think that others are likely to try this, so if that version shouldn't be used, perhaps a blog post or some such is in order? I'll try the latest from [packages.elastic.co](http://packages.elastic.co) next (probably tomorrow morning).
---
### Author:  [@rubys](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rubys)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2016, 1:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/6 "2016-04-29T13:28:27Z")
Now I followed the instructions, again from a fresh install of Ubuntu 16.04. Still no success:
```auto
root@rubix2:~# dpkg -l elasticsearch
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============-=================================
ii elasticsearch 2.3.2 all Elasticsearch is a distributed RE
root@rubix2:~# /bin/systemctl daemon-reload
root@rubix2:~# /bin/systemctl enable elasticsearch
Synchronizing state of elasticsearch.service with SysV init with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install...
Executing /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable elasticsearch
root@rubix2:~# curl http://localhost:9200/
curl: (7) Failed to connect to localhost port 9200: Connection refused
root@rubix2:~# sleep 10
root@rubix2:~# curl http://localhost:9200/
curl: (7) Failed to connect to localhost port 9200: Connection refused
```
---
### Author:  [@rubys](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rubys)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/7 "2016-04-29T13:57:30Z")
Information when run directly:
```auto
root@rubix2:/usr/share/elasticsearch# ls /etc/elasticsearch/
elasticsearch.yml logging.yml scripts
root@rubix2:/usr/share/elasticsearch# ls
bin lib modules NOTICE.txt plugins README.textile
root@rubix2:/usr/share/elasticsearch# bin/elasticsearch
Exception in thread "main" ElasticsearchException[Failed to load logging configuration]; nested: NoSuchFileException[/usr/share/elasticsearch/config];
Likely root cause: java.nio.file.NoSuchFileException: /usr/share/elasticsearch/config
at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.translateToIOException(UnixException.java:86)
at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(UnixException.java:102)
at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(UnixException.java:107)
at sun.nio.fs.UnixFileAttributeViews$Basic.readAttributes(UnixFileAttributeViews.java:55)
at sun.nio.fs.UnixFileSystemProvider.readAttributes(UnixFileSystemProvider.java:144)
at sun.nio.fs.LinuxFileSystemProvider.readAttributes(LinuxFileSystemProvider.java:99)
at java.nio.file.Files.readAttributes(Files.java:1737)
at java.nio.file.FileTreeWalker.getAttributes(FileTreeWalker.java:225)
at java.nio.file.FileTreeWalker.visit(FileTreeWalker.java:276)
at java.nio.file.FileTreeWalker.walk(FileTreeWalker.java:322)
at java.nio.file.Files.walkFileTree(Files.java:2662)
at org.elasticsearch.common.logging.log4j.LogConfigurator.resolveConfig(LogConfigurator.java:142)
at org.elasticsearch.common.logging.log4j.LogConfigurator.configure(LogConfigurator.java:103)
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.init(Bootstrap.java:243)
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.java:35)
Refer to the log for complete error details.
```
---
### Author:  [@eff](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/eff)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2016, 8:34am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/8 "2016-05-26T08:34:31Z")
The int script does work, but only after you enable it in systemd (in disabled/bad state it doesn't use the sysv wrapper).
> root@xenial-sandbox:~# systemctl enable elasticsearch
> elasticsearch.service is not a native service, redirecting to systemd-sysv-install
> Executing /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable elasticsearch
> insserv: warning: current start runlevel(s) (empty) of script `elasticsearch' overrides LSB defaults (2 3 4 5). insserv: warning: current stop runlevel(s) (0 1 2 3 4 5 6) of script `elasticsearch' overrides LSB defaults (0 1 6).
> root@xenial-sandbox:~# systemctl start elasticsearch
> root@xenial-sandbox:~# systemctl status elasticsearch
> ● elasticsearch.service - LSB: Starts elasticsearch
> Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/elasticsearch; bad; vendor preset: enabled)
> Active: active (running) since Thu 2016-05-26 10:26:36 CEST; 5s ago
> Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
> Process: 1528 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/elasticsearch start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
> Tasks: 29 (limit: 512)
> Memory: 213.0M
> CPU: 4.960s
> CGroup: /system.slice/elasticsearch.service
> └─1560 /usr/bin/java -Xms256m -Xmx1g -Djava.awt.headless=true -XX:+UseParNewGC -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -XX:CMSInitiatingOccupancyFraction=75 -XX:+UseCMSInitiatingOccupancyOnly -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMe
Edit: the 1.7.3 init script refuses to work, i copied the one from the 2.3.1 package, which does.
Edit2: just upgraded systemd to 229-4ubuntu6 and now both init scripts are "broken".
---
### Author:  [@fcoelho](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/fcoelho)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/9 "2016-06-01T02:47:25Z")
It seems that to get Elasticsearch to run on 16.04 you have to set `START_DAEMON` to `true` on `/etc/default/elasticsearch`. It comes commented out by default, and uncommenting it makes Elasticsearch start again just fine.
Be sure to use `systemctl restart` instead of just `start` because the service is started right after installation, and apparently there's some socket/pidfile/something that systemd keeps that must be released before being able to start the service again --- I didn't bother to track that down, feel free to look for it 🙂
Here's a sample `Vagrantfile` for it:
```ruby
Vagrant.configure(2) do |config|
config.vm.box = 'ubuntu/xenial64'
config.vm.provision 'shell', inline: <<-SHELL
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install elasticsearch -y
sudo sed -i 's/#START_DAEMON/START_DAEMON/' /etc/default/elasticsearch
sudo systemctl restart elasticsearch
systemctl status elasticsearch
SHELL
end
```
---
### Author:  [@krisleech](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/krisleech)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/10 "2016-08-11T16:07:30Z")
Thank-you this works for me.
---
### Author:  [@cheesepaulo](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/cheesepaulo)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/11 "2016-11-05T16:38:59Z")
And the Oscar goes to... @fcoelho
Thank you, there are two days I try to make it work.
🙂 YEAH! IT WORKS!
---
### Author:  [@phpremedy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/phpremedy)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/12 "2016-12-26T13:46:17Z")
@fcoelho Thanks for the [solution.It](http://solution.It) really works!.
---
### Author:  [@bob-zhao-work](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/bob-zhao-work)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2016, 6:48am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/13 "2016-12-29T06:48:04Z")
Thanks for the script. It really works.
But the guide in online doc is still wrong :
[https://www.elastic.co/start](https://www.elastic.co/start)
---
### Author:  [@Gunter\_Reinitzer](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Gunter_Reinitzer)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 7:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/14 "2017-01-17T19:28:01Z")
This is still not fixed. On a clean install elasticsearch is not able to start.
---
### Author:  [@agenthampton](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/agenthampton)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2017, 4:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/15 "2017-04-02T16:27:04Z")
This was a pain to trouble shoot. Thanks fcoelho. All my other installs and versions were fine was specific to this apt-get package that it just, no logs, no nothing, said was active, etc, so seemed normal.
---
### Author:  [@askrynnikov](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/askrynnikov)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2017, 8:54am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/16 "2017-04-09T08:54:58Z")
🎉 IT WORKS!
---
### Author:  [@dev\_disola](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dev_disola)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/17 "2017-05-12T18:19:19Z")
Works for me too! Thanks =D
---
### Author:  [@bDrwx](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/bDrwx)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/18 "2017-06-02T19:13:14Z")
I am lucky. I was spent 3 hours.
---
### Author:  [@Jamie\_McLaughlin](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Jamie_McLaughlin)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2017, 2:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/19 "2017-06-13T14:06:47Z")
I'd like my hour back. How can this possibly not be fixed yet? Your default install on probably your most popular platform fails with no error message and no logs. It hardly inspires faith in the platform.
---
### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2017, 4:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730/20 "2017-08-10T04:18:41Z")
I just tried the documented method of install and things started without a problem - I only needed to adjust the default heap use cause my VM was small.
If you can provide details on what is happening we can work to fix it, simply saying it's broken makes that very difficult.
[Next page](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-start-elasticsearch-with-ubuntu-16-04/48730.md?page=2)