java.io.FileNotFoundException: C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\logs\localhost_access_log.2012-07-12.txt (Access is denied)

Question

I'm trying to test my servlet by running it on Tomcat. However, I get the above error (sometimes this error occurs, but earlier the servlet was running fine). A few facts:

1. I've looked thoroughly at the explanations given by this similar problem, as well as in here, and here

2. When I attempt to restart Tomcat (from within Eclipse's "Servers" tab), I get some error log from the console:

"SEVERE: Failed to open access log file [~\Tomcat 7.0\logs\localhost_access_log.2012-07-12.txt]" and at the very end of the log output, there's "INFO: SessionListener: sessionDestroyed('E9A6117FDF54752D80A1B9B72F2B83D3') -- see more info at the bottom of this text

3. I've looked at my log files at " C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\logs" and there is not file with contents similar to the ones in item (2) above

4. I 'deploy' my application through Eclipse (that is, during development, I depend on Eclipse to start Tomcat), only doing a real deployment when I have a stable version of my project by copying the appropriate java class files into Tomcat's /webapps/WEB-INF/classes folder and restarting Tomcat

and most importantly, 5. Typing in "http://localhost:8080" leads me to the Tomcat homepage (so I'm pretty sure the server is running), whereas "http://localhost:8080/MyProjectName/MyServlet" in the browser leads to the error shown this question's title.

Any ideas/help? Thank you very much!

See more of the error logs here

>!Jul 12, 2012 6:18:18 PM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener init
INFO: The APR based Apache Tomcat Native library which allows optimal performance in production environments was not found on the java.library.path: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0\jre\bin;C:\Windows\Sun\Java\bin;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:/Program Files/Java/jre7/bin/client;C:/Program Files/Java/jre7/bin;C:/Program Files/Java/jre7/lib/i386;C:\Users\Kiptoo\introcs\java\bin;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\system32\wbem;C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.8\miktex\bin;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files\Matlab\R2010a\runtime\win32;C:\Program Files\Matlab\R2010a\bin;C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin;C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTSystem;C:\Users\Kiptoo\introcs\bin;C:\Users\Kiptoo\introcs\java\bin;C:\Python27;C:\Program Files\Eclipse;;.
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:20 PM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol init
INFO: Initializing ProtocolHandler ["http-bio-8080"]
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:20 PM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol init
INFO: Initializing ProtocolHandler ["ajp-bio-8009"]
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:20 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
INFO: Initialization processed in 2050 ms
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:20 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService startInternal
INFO: Starting service Catalina
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:20 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine startInternal
INFO: Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/7.0.25
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:20 PM org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve open
SEVERE: Failed to open access log file [C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\logs\localhost_access_log.2012-07-12.txt]
java.io.FileNotFoundException: C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\logs\localhost_access_log.2012-07-12.txt (Access is denied)
    at java.io.FileOutputStream.open(Native Method)
    at java.io.FileOutputStream.<init>(FileOutputStream.java:212)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.open(AccessLogValve.java:1115)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.startInternal(AccessLogValve.java:1222)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.startInternal(StandardPipeline.java:185)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:1144)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.startInternal(StandardHost.java:782)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1568)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1558)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:334)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:166)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1110)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:603)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)

Jul 12, 2012 6:18:20 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deploying web application directory C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\webapps\AndroidTest
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:20 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext postWorkDirectory
WARNING: Failed to create work directory [C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\work\Catalina\localhost\AndroidTest] for context [/AndroidTest]
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:21 PM org.apache.catalina.util.SessionIdGenerator createSecureRandom
INFO: Creation of SecureRandom instance for session ID generation using [SHA1PRNG] took [175] milliseconds.
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:21 PM org.apache.jasper.EmbeddedServletOptions <init>
SEVERE: The scratchDir you specified: C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\work\Catalina\localhost\AndroidTest is unusable.
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:21 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deploying web application directory C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\webapps\docs
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:21 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deploying web application directory C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\webapps\examples
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:21 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: ContextListener: contextInitialized()
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:21 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: SessionListener: contextInitialized()
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:21 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: ContextListener: attributeAdded('org.apache.jasper.compiler.TldLocationsCache', 'org.apache.jasper.compiler.TldLocationsCache@ff8399')
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:21 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deploying web application directory C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\webapps\host-manager
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:22 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deploying web application directory C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\webapps\manager
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:22 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deploying web application directory C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\webapps\ROOT
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:22 PM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start
INFO: Starting ProtocolHandler ["http-bio-8080"]
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:22 PM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start
INFO: Starting ProtocolHandler ["ajp-bio-8009"]
Jul 12, 2012 6:18:22 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
INFO: Server startup in 2225 ms
Jul 12, 2012 6:19:22 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: SessionListener: sessionDestroyed('E9A6117FDF54752D80A1B9B72F2B83D3')

Answer 1

only doing a real deployment when I have a stable version of my project by copying the appropriate java class files into Tomcat's /webapps/WEB-INF/classes folder and restarting Tomcat

Stop right there: you should never put any files into webapps/WEB-INF and expect anything good to come of it. Deploy your webapp properly, using a well-accepted packaging such as a WAR file or an exploded-WAR structure into the webapps directory.

Second, the problem is obvious: java.io.FileNotFoundException: C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 7.0\logs\localhost_access_log.2012-07-12.txt (Access is denied). Your Tomcat can't write to that file. Just because you are an admin doesn't mean that Tomcat can write to that directory: Tomcat doesn't play well with UAC as far as I know and you are trying to write to Program Files which generally requires some ugly UI credentials-entry hack.

So, check your file (and directory) permissions. Check the uid of the Tomcat process: make sure they are all good. Finally, consider using CATALINA_HOME and CATALINA_BASE (read the documentation for how to do that) to fix all of your permissions issues.