Spring Boot - Unable to start web server ? here is the quick fix

Stuck with ApplicationContextException while starting spring boot application ? unable to start servletwebserverapplicationcontext due to missing servletwebserverfactory bean ? Unable to start web server ? getting ERROR o.s.b.SpringApplication - Application run failed error on windows 7 / Windows Vista / Windows 10 ?. Here are the step by step procedure on how to reproduce the issue and fix error.

		
		{spring.web.resources.chain.cache=false, spring.web.resources.cache.period=0}

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( ( )\___ | '_ | '_| | '_ \/ _` | \ \ \ \
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  '  |____| .__|_| |_|_| |_\__, | / / / /
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 :: Spring Boot ::                (v2.4.0)

2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] INFO  c.c.s.r.m.SVClientsApplication - Starting SVClientsApplication using Java 11.0.8 on LTIN226086 with PID 2224 (C:\avi\career\eclipsespacephoton\cts-sv-resource-mgmt\target\classes started by 798582 in C:\avi\career\eclipsespacephoton\cts-sv-resource-mgmt) 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG c.c.s.r.m.SVClientsApplication - Running with Spring Boot v2.4.0, Spring v5.3.1 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] INFO  c.c.s.r.m.SVClientsApplication - No active profile set, falling back to default profiles: default 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.SpringApplication - Loading source class com.cts.sv.resource.mgmt.SVClientsApplication 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.d.r.ChangeableUrls - Matching URLs for reloading : [file:/C:/avi/career/eclipsespacephoton/cts-sv-resource-mgmt/target/classes/] 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.d.s.DevToolsSettings - Included patterns for restart : [] 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.d.s.DevToolsSettings - Excluded patterns for restart : [/spring-boot-starter-[\w-]+/, /spring-boot/(bin|build|out)/, /spring-boot-starter/(bin|build|out)/, /spring-boot-devtools/(bin|build|out)/, /spring-boot-actuator/(bin|build|out)/, /spring-boot-autoconfigure/(bin|build|out)/] 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] INFO  o.s.b.d.e.DevToolsPropertyDefaultsPostProcessor - Devtools property defaults active! Set 'spring.devtools.add-properties' to 'false' to disable 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] INFO  o.s.b.d.e.DevToolsPropertyDefaultsPostProcessor - For additional web related logging consider setting the 'logging.level.web' property to 'DEBUG' 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.w.s.c.AnnotationConfigServletWebServerApplicationContext - Refreshing org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.AnnotationConfigServletWebServerApplicationContext@2015692d 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.f.s.DefaultListableBeanFactory - Creating shared instance of singleton bean 'org.springframework.context.annotation.internalConfigurationAnnotationProcessor' 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.f.s.DefaultListableBeanFactory - Creating shared instance of singleton bean 'org.springframework.context.event.internalEventListenerProcessor' 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.f.s.DefaultListableBeanFactory - Creating shared instance of singleton bean 'org.springframework.context.event.internalEventListenerFactory' 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.f.s.DefaultListableBeanFactory - Creating shared instance of singleton bean 'org.springframework.context.annotation.internalAutowiredAnnotationProcessor' 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.f.s.DefaultListableBeanFactory - Creating shared instance of singleton bean 'org.springframework.context.annotation.internalCommonAnnotationProcessor' 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.f.s.DefaultListableBeanFactory - Creating shared instance of singleton bean 'org.springframework.context.annotation.internalPersistenceAnnotationProcessor' 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.u.c.s.UiApplicationContextUtils - Unable to locate ThemeSource with name 'themeSource': using default [org.springframework.ui.context.support.ResourceBundleThemeSource@50d30170] 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] WARN  o.s.b.w.s.c.AnnotationConfigServletWebServerApplicationContext - Exception encountered during context initialization - cancelling refresh attempt: org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextException: Unable to start web server; nested exception is org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextException: Unable to start ServletWebServerApplicationContext due to missing ServletWebServerFactory bean. 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.d.r.Restarter - Creating new Restarter for thread Thread[main,5,main] 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.d.r.Restarter - Immediately restarting application 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.d.r.Restarter - Created RestartClassLoader org.springframework.boot.devtools.restart.classloader.RestartClassLoader@3f7018d9 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] DEBUG o.s.b.d.r.Restarter - Starting application com.cts.sv.resource.mgmt.SVClientsApplication with URLs [file:/C:/avi/career/eclipsespacephoton/cts-sv-resource-mgmt/target/classes/] 
2021-04-25 17:48:47 [restartedMain] ERROR o.s.b.SpringApplication - Application run failed 
org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextException: Unable to start web server; nested exception is org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextException: Unable to start ServletWebServerApplicationContext due to missing ServletWebServerFactory bean.
	at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext.onRefresh(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:162)
	at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:582)
	at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext.refresh(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:144)
	at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:767)
	at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:759)
	at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refreshContext(SpringApplication.java:426)
	at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:326)
	at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1309)
	at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1298)
	at com.cts.sv.resource.mgmt.SVClientsApplication.main(SVClientsApplication.java:20)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
	at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:566)
	at org.springframework.boot.devtools.restart.RestartLauncher.run(RestartLauncher.java:49)
Caused by: org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextException: Unable to start ServletWebServerApplicationContext due to missing ServletWebServerFactory bean.
	at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext.getWebServerFactory(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:209)
	at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext.createWebServer(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:179)
	at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext.onRefresh(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:159)
	... 14 common frames omitted



		

# Resolving Unable to start web server, ApplicationContextException ERROR

Here is the workaround:
You can try below Solutions:

Solution #1: Make sure all spring starter dependancies are in place.

• Add all springboot dependancies, viz spring boot starter web..
• Once dependancies are added, perform maven clean and build if required.
• Run the spring boot app

<dependency>
			<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
			<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
		</dependency>

Solution #2: Make sure .m2 directory contains valid springboot jar files.

Solution #3 Just add @EnableAutoConfiguration to main class

Make sure that spring boot main class is annotated with @EnableAutoConfiguration or @SpringBootApplication if you are using latest spring boot version. this might be the reason behind the Exception "Unable to start ServletWebServerApplicationContext due to missing ServletWebServerFactory bean"

Solution #4 For Non Web Application, Disable web application type

For non web application, disable web application type in properties file:

In application.properties:

spring.main.web-application-type=none

Find more details about ApplicationContextException here:

ApplicationContextException Springboot API doc

Leave a Comment:

Comment

 

Ranjin:

I was getting the "unable to start servletwebserverapplicationcontext due to missing servletwebserverfactory bean" error and
"org.springframework.context.applicationcontextexception: unable to start web server" errors,
it was later that i found missing @SpringBootApplication annotation, stupid mistake. but yeah.. it worked like charm after i added @SpringBootApplication.

Cheers!!!

---

 

Anonymous:

It was different in my case, even after following above solutions i had no luck!!

But i didn't leave it there, tried changing the spirng boot version and tried refreshing the m2 directory and it worked!!!

---

 

Anonymous:

iam stuck with below error please help

							
Exception in thread “main” org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextException: 
Unable to start embedded container; 

nested exception is org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextException: 
Unable to start EmbeddedWebApplicationContext due to 
missing EmbeddedServletContainerFactory bean.

at org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.EmbeddedWebApplicationContext
.onRefresh(EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.java:140)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext
.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:476)

---

 

Anonymous:

I have already added @SpringBootApplication in the starter class, still i am getting below error.

unable to start servletwebserverapplicationcontext due to missing servletwebserverfactory bean.

---

 

TechX

Make sure spring-boot-starter-web and spring-boot-starter-tomcat dependancies are added in the classpath!

---

 

Anonymous:

thanks it worked!!

---

 

smallTed:

Not sure how it worked for you!! i am getting same error if am adding the spring-boot-starter-tomcat dependancy.
everything works fine when i keep only spring-boot-starter-web in my POM.xml.

---

 

newb:

started to learn spring boot,stuck with very first programm !!

							
Caused by: org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextException: 
Unable to start ServletWebServerApplicationContext due to missing 
ServletWebServerFactory bean.

at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext
.getWebServerFactory(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:209)
at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext
.createWebServer(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:179)
at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext
.onRefresh(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:159)
... 14 common frames omitted

---

 

xjx:

refer the stackoverflow post: applicationcontextexception error

---

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