Symptoms

When attempting to enable the SSL connector on Tomcat Server.xml file, the following appears in catalina.out during the startup:

SEVERE [main] org.apache.tomcat.util.net.SSLUtilBase.getStore Failed to load keystore type [JKS] with path [?C:\ConfluenceKeystore] due to [Illegal character in scheme name at index 0: ?C:\ConfluenceKeystore]
 java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Illegal character in scheme name at index 0: ?C:\ConfluenceKeystore

Cause

The Keystore path contains a non-printable unicode character which does not appear when editing the server.xml file. Copying the line and testing for invisible characters returned this result:

On this example, the U+202A unicode character was inserted before the path which caused the issue. The OS interpreted that unicode character and it was invisible when editing the server.xml file. You can use a tool or website to check for invisible unicode characters like https://www.soscisurvey.de/tools/view-chars.php for example.

Resolution

• Open the server configuration file located here: <CONFLUENCE-INSTALL>/conf/server.xml. Make a backup copy of the file for precaution.

• Check for any invisible character in the server.xml file and remove it. 

• Save the server.xml file.

• Restart Confluence to apply the changes.