Symptoms

Confluence Data Center fails to startup, with the following error in the console:

2014-08-06 21:10:42,588 ERROR [localhost-startStop-1] [atlassian.config.bootstrap.DefaultAtlassianBootstrapManager] init Home 
is not configured properly: com.atlassian.config.ConfigurationException: Exception bootstrapping cluster:Shared home directory 
is not configured correctly: location=C:\reproduce\confluence-standalone-cluster-distribution-5.6-m8-cluster\sharefresh, 
exists=false, isDirectory=false, canRead=false

Cause

Confluence is unable to read/write into the shared home directory, that is defined in the node's ConfluenceHome/confluence.cfg.xml. Example:

<property name="confluence.cluster.home">/home/foo/sharehome</property>

Resolution

• Identify the path to the shared home directory, as per defined in the node's ConfluenceHome/confluence.cfg.xml, in the confluence.cluster.home parameter as per the one shown above

• Make sure that the node is able to read/write to that directory, and that the directory exists (either modify the filesystem permission, or create the directory manually)