# ES\_PATH\_CONF ignored

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-path-conf-ignored/379262>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [June 17, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-path-conf-ignored/379262 "2025-06-17T16:23:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![h.koehler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@h.koehler](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/h.koehler)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-path-conf-ignored/379262/1 "2025-06-17T16:23:10Z")

</div>

What the title says. I already tried commenting out the source line in /usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-env.

My unit file:

```auto
[Unit]
Description=Elasticsearch %i Server
Documentation=https://www.elastic.co
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=notify
RuntimeDirectory=elasticsearch
RuntimeDirectoryPreserve=yes
PrivateTmp=true
Environment=LOG_DIR=/var/log/elasticsearch/%i
Environment=DATA_DIR=/var/lib/elasticsearch/%i
Environment=WORK_DIR=/usr/share/elasticsearch/%i
Environment=ES_PATH_CONF=/etc/elasticsearch/%i
EnvironmentFile=-/etc/sysconfig/elasticsearch

WorkingDirectory=/usr/share/elasticsearch

User=elasticsearch
Group=elasticsearch

ExecStart=/usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/systemd-entrypoint -p ${PID_DIR}/%i.pid --quiet

StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=inherit

LimitNOFILE=65535
LimitNPROC=4096
LimitAS=infinity
LimitFSIZE=infinity
TimeoutStopSec=0
KillSignal=SIGTERM
KillMode=process
SendSIGKILL=no
SuccessExitStatus=143
TimeoutStartSec=75

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

```

My /etc/sysconfig/elasticsearch:

```auto
ES_HOME=/usr/share/elasticsearch
PID_DIR=/var/run/elasticsearch
ES_STARTUP_SLEEP_TIME=5
ES_SD_NOTIFY=true

```

It still complains in /var/log/elasticsearch//elasticsearch.log about default config from /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml:

```auto
org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchSecurityException: invalid configuration for xpack.security.transport.ssl - [xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled] is not set, but the following settings have been configured in elasticsearch.yml : [xpack.security.transport.ssl.keystore.secure_password,xpack.security.transport.ssl.truststore.secure_password]

```

What am I doing wrong?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RainTown](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/raintown/32/140206_2.png) [@RainTown](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/RainTown)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-path-conf-ignored/379262/2 "2025-06-17T16:35:40Z")

</div>

What are you trying to do, and what OS/distribution are you trying to do it on, and (sorry if this sounds rude) why ?

( maybe what you are trying to do something which is actually straightforward but you've found a complicated way to do it )

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![h.koehler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@h.koehler](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/h.koehler)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 10:54am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-path-conf-ignored/379262/3 "2025-06-18T10:54:01Z")

</div>

Thank you for your reply.  
I'm trying to have SystemD manage multiple instances of Elasticsearch.  
I just found out that I was wrong about Elasticsearch reading the default configuration file. The options it was complaining about in the log were cached in the keystore. When I cleared those, everything started working fine.