# Elasticsearch - can not run elasticsearch as root

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-can-not-run-elasticsearch-as-root/91616>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [July 3, 2017, 10:44am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-can-not-run-elasticsearch-as-root/91616 "2017-07-03T10:44:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![vivekam79](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/82dd89/32.png) [@vivekam79](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/vivekam79)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 10:44am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-can-not-run-elasticsearch-as-root/91616/1 "2017-07-03T10:44:04Z")

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All,  
I have installed elasticsearch as mentioned in guide. However, when I try to run ./bin/elasticsearch it errors as below: Please advise how to resolve this issue.

[WARN][o.e.b.ElasticsearchUncaughtExceptionHandler] [] uncaught exception in thread [main]  
org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.StartupException: java.lang.RuntimeException: can not run elasticsearch as root  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.init(Elasticsearch.java:127) ~[elasticsearch-5.4.3.jar:5.4.3]  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.execute(Elasticsearch.java:114) ~[elasticsearch-5.4.3.jar:5.4.3]  
at org.elasticsearch.cli.EnvironmentAwareCommand.execute(EnvironmentAwareCommand.java:67) ~[elasticsearch-5.4.3.jar:5.4.3]  
at org.elasticsearch.cli.Command.mainWithoutErrorHandling(Command.java:122) ~[elasticsearch-5.4.3.jar:5.4.3]  
at org.elasticsearch.cli.Command.main(Command.java:88) ~[elasticsearch-5.4.3.jar:5.4.3]  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.java:91) ~[elasticsearch-5.4.3.jar:5.4.3]  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.java:84) ~[elasticsearch-5.4.3.jar:5.4.3]  
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: can not run elasticsearch as root  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.initializeNatives(Bootstrap.java:106) ~[elasticsearch-5.4.3.jar:5.4.3]  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.setup(Bootstrap.java:194) ~[elasticsearch-5.4.3.jar:5.4.3]  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.init(Bootstrap.java:350) ~[elasticsearch-5.4.3.jar:5.4.3]  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.init(Elasticsearch.java:123) ~[elasticsearch-5.4.3.jar:5.4.3]  
... 6 more  
Thanks,  
Vishnu

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 10:48am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-can-not-run-elasticsearch-as-root/91616/2 "2017-07-03T10:48:20Z")

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Don't run ES as root, use another user.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 10:48am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-can-not-run-elasticsearch-as-root/91616/3 "2017-07-31T10:48:36Z")

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