# When starting elasticsearch - 'can not run elasticsearch as root'

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-starting-elasticsearch-can-not-run-elasticsearch-as-root/166914>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [February 4, 2019, 8:07am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-starting-elasticsearch-can-not-run-elasticsearch-as-root/166914 "2019-02-04T08:07:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Amitittech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Amitittech](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Amitittech)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 8:07am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-starting-elasticsearch-can-not-run-elasticsearch-as-root/166914/1 "2019-02-04T08:07:41Z")

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How to resolve ??

I am centos 6...  
just removed elasticsearch older version and installed v6.5.4

now trying to start service as -  
[root@localhost elasticsearch]# bin/elasticsearch &

but getting error as -  
[1] 10317  
[root@localhost elasticsearch]# [2019-02-04T13:24:23,997][WARN][o.e.b.ElasticsearchUncaughtExceptionHandler] [unknown] 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:140) ~[elasticsearch-6.5.4.jar:6.5.4]  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.execute(Elasticsearch.java:127) ~[elasticsearch-6.5.4.jar:6.5.4]  
at org.elasticsearch.cli.EnvironmentAwareCommand.execute(EnvironmentAwareCommand.java:86) ~[elasticsearch-6.5.4.jar:6.5.4]  
at org.elasticsearch.cli.Command.mainWithoutErrorHandling(Command.java:124) ~[elasticsearch-cli-6.5.4.jar:6.5.4]  
at org.elasticsearch.cli.Command.main(Command.java:90) ~[elasticsearch-cli-6.5.4.jar:6.5.4]  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.java:93) ~[elasticsearch-6.5.4.jar:6.5.4]  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.java:86) ~[elasticsearch-6.5.4.jar:6.5.4]  
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: can not run elasticsearch as root  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.initializeNatives(Bootstrap.java:103) ~[elasticsearch-6.5.4.jar:6.5.4]  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.setup(Bootstrap.java:170) ~[elasticsearch-6.5.4.jar:6.5.4]  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.init(Bootstrap.java:333) ~[elasticsearch-6.5.4.jar:6.5.4]  
at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.init(Elasticsearch.java:136) ~[elasticsearch-6.5.4.jar:6.5.4]  
... 6 more

`can not run elasticsearch as root`  
then _How to run?_

when i'm checking version  
Version: 6.5.4, Build: default/tar/d2ef93d/2018-12-17T21:17:40.758843Z, JVM: 1.8.0\_161

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [February 4, 2019, 8:21am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-starting-elasticsearch-can-not-run-elasticsearch-as-root/166914/2 "2019-02-04T08:21:24Z")

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How did you install it? Did you read and follow the installation guide?  
Elasticsearch must run as a user like elasticsearch but not root.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Amitittech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Amitittech](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Amitittech)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 10:55am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-starting-elasticsearch-can-not-run-elasticsearch-as-root/166914/3 "2019-02-04T10:55:40Z")

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ok let me reinstall it.

please let me know the proper steps for the same..

i want to use is as rpm

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [February 4, 2019, 11:55am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-starting-elasticsearch-can-not-run-elasticsearch-as-root/166914/4 "2019-02-04T11:55:33Z")

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I don't have much to say then what is available in the documentation. See [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/rpm.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/rpm.html)

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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:** [March 4, 2019, 11:58am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-starting-elasticsearch-can-not-run-elasticsearch-as-root/166914/5 "2019-03-04T11:58:50Z")

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