# Debug elasticsearch without basic auth (xpack.security.enabled=false)

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/debug-elasticsearch-without-basic-auth-xpack-security-enabled-false/379566>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [June 27, 2025, 1:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/debug-elasticsearch-without-basic-auth-xpack-security-enabled-false/379566 "2025-06-27T13:48:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![softwaredoug](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/softwaredoug/32/22681_2.png) [@softwaredoug](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/softwaredoug)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 1:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/debug-elasticsearch-without-basic-auth-xpack-security-enabled-false/379566/1 "2025-06-27T13:48:38Z")

</div>

Hi!

I'm trying to startup Elasticsearch in a debugger via:

```auto
./gradlew run --debug-jvm

```

I'm trying to also pass `-Dxpack.security.enabled=false` and I've tried a few things, including:

```auto
 export ES_JAVA_OPTS="-Dxpack.security.enabled=false"

```

But Elasticians must pass JVM args all the time to Elastic when starting up, so I thought I'd ask.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DavidTurner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/davidturner/32/22453_2.png) [@DavidTurner](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DavidTurner)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 2:12pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/debug-elasticsearch-without-basic-auth-xpack-security-enabled-false/379566/2 "2025-06-27T14:12:43Z")

</div>

> [@softwaredoug](#):
>
> But Elasticians must pass JVM args all the time to Elastic when starting up, so I thought I'd ask.

Not very often tbh, we almost always run Elasticsearch in the context of some test or other rather than just running a bare node with `./gradlew run`.

There's some guidance in [TESTING.asciidoc](https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/blob/main/TESTING.asciidoc) about how to configure `./gradlew run`. In your case I think you want this:

```auto
./gradlew run -Dtests.es.xpack.security.enabled=false

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![softwaredoug](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/softwaredoug/32/22681_2.png) [@softwaredoug](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/softwaredoug)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 2:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/debug-elasticsearch-without-basic-auth-xpack-security-enabled-false/379566/3 "2025-06-27T14:27:34Z")

</div>

Thank you that is what I was missing!