Webtier failed to install on Windows Server
2 months ago
Originally Published: 2014-10-29
Article Number
000066897
Applies To
RSA Product Set: SecurID
RSA Product/Service Type: SecurID Appliance
RSA Version/Condition: 8.1.0
Platform: Windows
Platform (Other): null
O/S Version: Server 2012 R2
Product Name: RSA-0010810
Product Description: RSA-0010810
Issue

Issue Description:
During installation of the WebTier on a Windows Server 2012 R2 system, the installation fails when attempting to install the Windows service (used for the WebTier web server). The logs show a fatal wrapper error indicating that part of the file path—specifically Files\RSA\—is being interpreted incorrectly, causing the WebTier bootstrapper service installation to fail. 

214126 2014-10-29 02:27:46,264 INFO: Installing Windows services
214126 2014-10-29 02:27:46,264 INFO: Copying G:\Program Files\RSA Security\RSA Authentication M...
[copy] Copying 1 file to C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Temp\2
[exec] Installing windows services
[exec] IMS home: "G:\Program Files\RSA Security\RSA Authentication M...
[exec] IMS platform: windows-x86_64
[exec] webtier/webtierBootstrapper: webtierBootstrapper
[exec] IMS PLATFORM: windows-x86_64
[exec] WRAPPER_EXE: G:\Program Files\RSA Security\RSA Authentication...
[exec] FATAL | wrapper  | The argument 'Files\RSA\' is not a valid ...
[exec] Error: Unable to install webtier bootstrapper service: 1
Exception in thread "Main Thread": exec returned: 1
    at org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.ExecTask.runExecute(ExecTask.java:...)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.ExecTask.runExec(ExecTask.java:...)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.ExecTask.execute(ExecTask.java:...)

Resolution

Findings:

  • When the WebTier is installed on an NTFS file system, the installation completes successfully.
  • When installed on an exFAT file system, the installation fails with the same error reported by the customer.

Conclusion:

WebTier can only be installed on an NTFS file system.
This is because NTFS automatically generates the 8.3 short-path format (e.g., F:\PROGRA~1\RSASEC~1\RSAAUT~1), which removes spaces from directory names. The WebTier service wrapper depends on this short-path conversion to function correctly.

On an exFAT drive, 8.3 short names are not generated, so the wrapper path still contains spaces. This causes the wrapper to interpret part of the path (e.g., Files\RSA\) as an invalid argument during service installation, resulting in installation failure.

[exec] IMS PLATFORM: windows-x86_64
[exec] WRAPPER_EXE: F:\PROGRA~1\RSASEC~1\RSAAUT~1
[exec] wrapper | RSA Webtier Bootstrapper Server (devfull) install
[exec] Unable to get the current logfile size with stat: The filenam
[copy] Copying 1 file to F:\Program Files\RSA Security\RSA Authenti
[propertyfile] Updating property file: F:\Program Files\RSA Security\RSA
Configuration step WebtierBootstrapper:installAll [SUCCESS]