# Elasticsearch won't start first use - 8.1.0 **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Tags:** elastic-stack-alerting\ **Created:** [March 15, 2022, 1:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741 "2022-03-15T13:53:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![itzikyis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a5b964/32.png) [@itzikyis](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/itzikyis)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 1:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741/1 "2022-03-15T13:53:18Z")
After downloading Elasticsearch from zip to windows. run bin\Elasticsearch.bat getting Error: skipping security auto configuration because the configuration file [C:\Program Files\Elasticsearch-8.1.0\bin\Elasticsearch\Elasticsearch.yml] is missing or is not a regular file. The Elasticsearch.yml file is located in the config folder ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 2:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741/2 "2022-03-15T14:25:04Z")
Welcome! That's looking weird. Could you open an issue with your findings (all the exact steps you followed)? I'd try to move the `Elasticsearch-8.1.0` to another dir like: `c:\Elasticsearch-8.1.0`. I have seen in the past that having spaces in the dir name could lead to issues. ---
**Author:** ![itzikyis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a5b964/32.png) [@itzikyis](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/itzikyis)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 6:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741/3 "2022-03-15T18:18:50Z")
Hi David, Thank you for the quick reply. I try everything possible. I have follow the website instructions: 1. Download the Elasticsearch 8.1.0 Windows zip file from the [Elasticsearch download](https://www.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch) page. 2. Extract the contents of the zip file to a directory on your computer, to C:\Elasticsearch-8.1.0 (No spaces) 3. Open a command prompt as an Administrator and navigate to the directory that contains the extracted files. cd C:\Elasticsearch-8.1.0 1. Start Elasticsearch: bin\Elasticsearch.bat getting this Error: skipping security auto configuration because the configuration file [C:\Elasticsearch-8.1.0\bin\Elasticsearch\Elasticsearch.yml] is missing or is not a regular file. Thank you, Itzik ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 7:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741/4 "2022-03-15T19:37:17Z")
So please open an issue. ---
**Author:** ![itzikyis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a5b964/32.png) [@itzikyis](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/itzikyis)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2022, 6:21pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741/5 "2022-03-19T18:21:59Z")
Hi david, As you said I opened an issue, but they closed it immediately . Their answer is attached. itzik Thanks very much for your interest in Elasticsearch. This appears to be a user question, and we'd like to direct these kinds of things to the [forums](https://discuss.elastic.co/). If you can stop by there, we'd appreciate it. This allows us to use GitHub for verified bug reports, feature requests, and pull requests. There's an active community in the [forums](https://discuss.elastic.co/) that should be able to help get an answer to your question. As such, I hope you don't mind that I close this. ‫בתאריך יום ג׳, 15 במרץ 2022 ב-21:47 מאת ‪David Pilato via Discuss the Elastic Stack‬‏ \<‪[elastic@discoursemail.com](mailto:elastic@discoursemail.com)‬‏\>:‬ ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741/6 "2022-03-19T18:54:52Z")
Could you share the link to the issue? ---
**Author:** ![itzikyis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a5b964/32.png) [@itzikyis](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/itzikyis)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2022, 7:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741/7 "2022-03-19T19:28:49Z")
[https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/85009#event-6253553705](https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/85009#event-6253553705) ---
**Author:** ![ikakavas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/ikakavas/32/34430_2.png) [@ikakavas](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ikakavas)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2022, 7:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741/8 "2022-03-19T19:32:41Z")
This is not an error, this is logged as an informational message. The actual issue is that the Elasticsearch.yml seems to be missing. Please share the entire output from starting Elasticsearch, not just this line. Also please share the output of running `dir C:\elasticsearch-8.1.0\config` Just after you download and unzip the archive ---
**Author:** ![itzikyis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a5b964/32.png) [@itzikyis](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/itzikyis)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 5:38am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741/9 "2022-03-20T05:38:01Z")
Hi, The problem is the program looks for Elasticsearch.yml in the wrong folder -\> c:\Elasticsearch-8.1.0\bin\Elasticsearch\Elasticsearch.yml instead of C:\Elasticsearch-8.1.0\config The Error: ![image.png](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/d/2/d252bd3df38e734375b106373f62f6144270f4f8.png) The config dir: ![image.png](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/b/2/b21c23c63876b209edff1542666adfcf0ac48ce2.png) ‫בתאריך שבת, 19 במרץ 2022 ב-21:43 מאת ‪Ioannis Kakavas via Discuss the Elastic Stack‬‏ \<‪[elastic@discoursemail.com](mailto:elastic@discoursemail.com)‬‏\>:‬ ---
**Author:** ![ikakavas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/ikakavas/32/34430_2.png) [@ikakavas](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ikakavas)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 6:53am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741/10 "2022-03-20T06:53:46Z")
Thanks you for the additional information, this does look like a bug. I’ll try and reproduce this and I’ll open an issue. I’m the meantime, can you try to ```auto cd c:\Elasticsearch-8.1.0\bin ``` And start elastisearch from there with ```auto elasticsearch.bat ``` and see if that works ? ---
**Author:** ![itzikyis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a5b964/32.png) [@itzikyis](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/itzikyis)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 7:59am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741/11 "2022-03-20T07:59:00Z")
same ![image.png](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/a/9/a958aa33b43bafe922391aaa0d331055cfc7d5c8.png) ‫בתאריך יום א׳, 20 במרץ 2022 ב-9:03 מאת ‪Ioannis Kakavas via Discuss the Elastic Stack‬‏ \<‪[elastic@discoursemail.com](mailto:elastic@discoursemail.com)‬‏\>:‬ ---
**Author:** ![TimV](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/timv/32/13162_2.png) [@TimV](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/TimV)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2022, 1:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741/12 "2022-03-21T01:29:35Z")
Can you check whether you the environment variable `ES_PATH_CONF` is set in your terminal? Two different parts of the startup process (security auto configuration & JVM options parsing) are both trying to read files relative to the bin directory, so it looks like you (or some other process) might have configured Elasticsearch to look there. Of note, the path in the error message changed when you ran it from the `bin` directory. It looks like Elasticsearch has been configured to use `bin/elasticsearch` as the config directory (relative to the current working directory). ---
**Author:** ![itzikyis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a5b964/32.png) [@itzikyis](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/itzikyis)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2022, 7:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741/13 "2022-03-21T07:29:35Z")
When nothing worked I tried to add it. like this: For the archive distributions, the config directory location defaults to `$ES_HOME/config`. The location of the config directory can be changed via the `ES_PATH_CONF` environment variable as follows: ```auto ES_PATH_CONF=/path/to/my/config ./bin/elasticsearch ``` ```auto ``` ```auto ``` ```auto ``` ```auto ``` ```auto ``` but after it didn't i removed it. ‫בתאריך יום ב׳, 21 במרץ 2022 ב-3:39 מאת ‪Tim Vernum via Discuss the Elastic Stack‬‏ \<‪[elastic@discoursemail.com](mailto:elastic@discoursemail.com)‬‏\>:‬ ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 7:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-wont-start-first-use-8-1-0/299741/14 "2022-04-18T07:30:14Z")
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