Problem

After security patches were applied to the Windows host, the Activator service fails to start.

Error message within "C:\Axway\Synchrony\Activator\service\serviceActivator.log" shows:

C:\Axway\Synchrony\Activator\bin>"C:\Axway\Synchrony\Java\win-x86\jre6\bin\java"     -classpath ..\classes;..\conf;..\corelib\com.axway.cluster.executive-1.3.2-SNAPSHOT.jar     
-Daxway.cluster.logDir=C:\Axway\Synchrony\Activator\logs     -Dlog4j.configuration=     -Daxway.network.machineName=hostname
-Daxway.network.shortName=hostname -Daxway.network.longName=hostname.domain.com
-Daxway.network.name=hostname     com.axway.cluster.executive.ExecutiveStopper
There was an error connecting to the Executive, it does not appear to be running: null
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.axway.cluster.executive.ExecutiveClient.<init>(ExecutiveClient.java:80)
    at com.axway.cluster.executive.ExecutiveStopper.main(ExecutiveStopper.java:25)

Resolution

Some Windows Security patches may alter permissions on directory structure.

Make sure that the user and group running Activator has access to the directory structure.

Try to re-grant the access to the required USER / GROUP over the entire Axway Activator directory.