# Exiting: Could not start registrar: Error loading state: Error decoding states: EOF

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/exiting-could-not-start-registrar-error-loading-state-error-decoding-states-eof/74430>\
**Category:** Beats\
**Tags:** filebeat\
**Created:** [February 8, 2017, 8:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/exiting-could-not-start-registrar-error-loading-state-error-decoding-states-eof/74430 "2017-02-08T20:47:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alexus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alexus/32/12696_2.png) [@alexus](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/alexus)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 8:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/exiting-could-not-start-registrar-error-loading-state-error-decoding-states-eof/74430/1 "2017-02-08T20:47:45Z")

</div>

My environment:

```
# cat /etc/redhat-release 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.3 (Maipo)
# rpm -q filebeat
filebeat-5.2.0-1.x86_64
# 

```

systemctl:

```
# systemctl stop filebeat
# systemctl start filebeat
# echo $?
0
# systemctl status filebeat
● filebeat.service - filebeat
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/filebeat.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: start-limit) since Wed 2017-02-08 15:32:17 EST; 8min ago
     Docs: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/index.html
 Main PID: 5011 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Feb 08 15:32:16 X systemd[1]: filebeat.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Feb 08 15:32:16 X systemd[1]: Unit filebeat.service entered failed state.
Feb 08 15:32:16 X systemd[1]: filebeat.service failed.
Feb 08 15:32:17 X systemd[1]: filebeat.service holdoff time over, scheduling restart.
Feb 08 15:32:17 X systemd[1]: start request repeated too quickly for filebeat.service
Feb 08 15:32:17 X systemd[1]: Failed to start filebeat.
Feb 08 15:32:17 X systemd[1]: Unit filebeat.service entered failed state.
Feb 08 15:32:17 X systemd[1]: filebeat.service failed.
# 

```

manual start:

```
# /usr/share/filebeat/bin/filebeat -c /etc/filebeat/filebeat.yml -path.home /usr/share/filebeat -path.config /etc/filebeat -path.data /var/lib/filebeat -path.logs /var/log/filebeat
Exiting: Could not start registrar: Error loading state: Error decoding states: EOF
# 

```

I'm using default filebeat.yml (no changes after install, yet getting that error)

Please advise.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![andrewkroh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/andrewkroh/32/3784_2.png) [@andrewkroh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/andrewkroh)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/exiting-could-not-start-registrar-error-loading-state-error-decoding-states-eof/74430/2 "2017-02-08T22:14:43Z")

</div>

Did you have Filebeat working properly at one point? Did you experience any kind of power failure or hard shutdown?

You should be able to remove the registry file at /var/lib/filebeat/registry and Filebeat should start.

It sounds like you might be experiencing this issue: [https://github.com/elastic/beats/issues/3537](https://github.com/elastic/beats/issues/3537) Can you please leave a comment on the Github issue saying you are also affected by it if you think it's the same issue.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alexus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alexus/32/12696_2.png) [@alexus](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/alexus)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/exiting-could-not-start-registrar-error-loading-state-error-decoding-states-eof/74430/3 "2017-02-08T22:24:30Z")

</div>

filebeat _was_ working prior, but not after update, however after removing _/var/lib/filebeat/registry_, filebeat starts and works as it should be)

Thank you!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/exiting-could-not-start-registrar-error-loading-state-error-decoding-states-eof/74430/4 "2017-03-08T22:24:43Z")

</div>

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