Troubleshooting Windows NT WebObjects 3.5.1 Installations
This document covers some of the most common problems encountered while installing WebObjects 3.5.1 on Windows NT 4.0.
Introduction
You can be confident that your WebObjects installation is correctly installed if:
+ You can run the install program without errors
+ You can successfully launch WebObjects Builder (Developer installations only)
+ You can run the scripted HelloWorld example that ships with WebObjects
Before you try any of these steps, please be sure you've read the post-installation instructions that are installed as part of WebObjects 3.5.1's online documentation. Certain web servers require special installation steps before they will run WebObjects applications correctly.
Before you install
If your Windows NT system has had a previous version of WebObjects or a previous installation of WebObjects 3.5.1 on it, WebObjects may not install correctly. Before installing WebObjeccts 3.5.1, follow the instructions in TIL article 72556 to completely remove the old WebObjects installation.
Problems installing WebObjects
There are a few common snags you should check for if you have a problem while running the WebObjects installer:
+ Check your Windows NT path variable; a space in your pathname can cause the installer to hang or exit
+ Be sure you're installing the software as the local machine administrator
+ Be sure you're using a developer license string to install developer software, and a deployment license string for deployment-only installations
+ Disable any unusual services you have running. Some services, such as Seagate Crystalinfo Sentinel, can prevent the WebObjects install from completing successfully.
Problems launching WebObjects Builder
The default installation will add WebObjects Builder, as well as a few other applications and documents, to your Windows NT start menu. Under some circumstances, the software will be installed correctly, but the appropriate Start Menu shortcuts will not be created. If this is the case, simply add WebObjectsBuilder, ProjectBuilder, EOModeler, and any other files you want to your Start menu manually. The WOBuilder executable is located under your WebObjects root directory (the default root directory is \\NeXT) at the path NeXTDeveloper\\Apps\\WebObjectsBuilder.app\\WebObjectsBuilder.exe. You may want to check the on-line Post-Install Instructions that were installed with WebObjects to make sure all of the WebObjects files are in the correct place.
If WebObjects Builder hangs or generates an error message when you try to launch it, you may have an incomplete WebObjects installation. You may be able to fix the problem without completely reinstalling WebObjects. First, see if the WebObjects services are running:
+ From the Start menu, select Settings, then Control Panel
+ In the Windows NT control panel, double-click on Services
Look through the list of services. You should see two services called "NeXT Mach Daemon" and "NeXT Netname Server". Both should have a Startup value of "Automatic." If either of these services is not present or is not starting automatically, you can try removing and reinstalling the individual services:
+ From a Windows NT command line, change to the NextLibrary\\System directory under your system's NeXT_ROOT directory
+ To remove and reinstall the NeXT Netname Server, type "nmserver -remove" and press return; then type "nmserver -install" and press return
+ To remove and reinstall the NeXT Mach Daemon, type "machd -remove" and press return; then type "machd -install" and press return
If these services are both present and running, check WebObjects' two required background processes:
+ Right-click on the Windows NT menu bar and select "Task Manager" from the menu that appears
+ Click on the "Processes" tab in the Task Manager window
You should see two WebObjects background apps running, WindowServer.exe and pbs.exe. These two programs should start up automatically when you start your computer. If they do not start up automatically, either start them manually or add them to your Startup program group. WindowServer.exe can be found under the NeXT_ROOT directory at NextLibrary\\System. pbs.exe can be found under the NeXT_ROOT directory at NextLibrary\\Frameworks\\AppKit.framework\\Resources.
Problems running the HelloWorld example
The easiest way to launch the HelloWorld example is to use one of the links from the Examples section of the documentation that is installed with WebObjects. There are three types of error messages you could get while running a WebObjects application.
A browser error message indicates that your browser can not communicate with your web server. Normally these messages will appear in their own panel and not in a browser window. These messages normally indicate a problem with your web server configuration. To test your web server setup, try pointing your browser at http://localhost or the address of your server machine's home page. Until you can communicate with your web server, you won't be able to communicate with WebObjects. Please contact your web server vendor for help with these problems.
A server error message usually indicates that the page you requested couldn't be found on the server or that you don't have permission to access it. It will often have a number along with the error message; for example, "404 not found" or "403 access forbidden". In the case of WebObjects, this means that the server couldn't find the WebObjects adaptor; that is, there is a problem with the path you've entered before the "/WebObjects/" or "/WebObjects.exe/" section. There are a few possible causes for this:
+ Your WebObjects adaptor was not installed. Follow the post-install instructions that installed with WebObjects to make sure that all of WebObjects' components were installed properly.
+ The cgi-bin directory you gave during the installation process was not your server's correct cgi-bin address. Copy the WebObjects and WebObjects.exe files to your server's correct cgi-bin directory.
If neither of these solutions seems to apply, try running another script (an example that came with your web server, for instance) from the cgi-bin directory. Unless you can run scripts in general from that directory, you won't be able to access WebObjects. Please contact your web server vendor for help setting up your web server to run cgi scripts.
There are only a few WebObjects error messages you are likely to encounter. "Could not find the application specified in the URL" is the most common; in this case, your server is pointing at the WebObjects adaptor correctly, but the application you specified did not exist. There are a few possible causes for this:
+ The application you're trying to run does not exist, possibly because the WebObjects examples were not installed. Follow the online post-install instructions that installed with WebObjects to make sure that all of WebObjects' components were installed properly.
+ The document root you gave during the installation process was not your server's correct document root. Copy the WebObjects directory to your server's correct document root.
Other WebObjects resources
For more detailed troubleshooting information, please see the online post-install documentation that is installed with WebObjects. To view the online documentation, just choose "WOHomePage" from your Windows NT Start menu.