Confluence does not start due to 'Error deploying configuration descriptor'
Platform notice: Server and Data Center only. This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Server and Data Center platforms.
Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Problem
Confluence does not start. The following appears in catalina.out:
"SEVERE: Error deploying configuration descriptor" in
This is more likely to happen in an EAR/WAR deployment.
Cause
The context descriptor is malformed, when Installing the Confluence EAR-WAR Edition. Usually it's because the context is using the incorrect case (i.e. context instead of Context). The tag is case-sensitive. It should have something like the following:
<Context path="" docBase="../confluence" debug="0" reloadable="false">
<!-- Logger is deprecated in Tomcat 5.5. Logging configuration for Confluence is specified in confluence/WEB-INF/classes/log4j.properties -->
<Manager pathname="" />
</Context>
Resolution
Correct the mistake in the Context line.