Spark won't start - Null Pointer Exception

Greetings,

I am running

  • Openfire 3.4.1 on WinXP Pro with LDAP to a MS AD Domain

  • Spark 2.5.7 on WinXP Pro

  • Java JRE 1.6.0.30 (Java 6 Update 3)

I have been experiencing an issue where Spark won’t start and I have the following in my error.log:

java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException

at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)

at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)

at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)

at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)

at org.jivesoftware.launcher.Startup.start(Startup.java:83)

at org.jivesoftware.launcher.Startup.main(Startup.java:33)

at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)

at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)

at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)

at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)

at com.exe4j.runtime.LauncherEngine.launch(Unknown Source)

at com.exe4j.runtime.WinLauncher.main(Unknown Source)

Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException

at java.util.Hashtable.put(Unknown Source)

at java.util.Properties.setProperty(Unknown Source)

at java.lang.System.setProperty(Unknown Source)

at org.jivesoftware.LoginDialog$LoginPanel.useSSO(LoginDialog.java:709)

at org.jivesoftware.LoginDialog$LoginPanel.<init>(LoginDialog.java:390)

at org.jivesoftware.LoginDialog.invoke(LoginDialog.java:133)

at org.jivesoftware.Spark.startup(Spark.java:165)

… 12 more

I have deleted the entire C:\Documents and Settings\User\Spark directory separately and in combination with uninstalling and reinstalling Spark.

Spark works when I delete the Spark directory and reinstall, but as soon as I logout and try to log back in the error occurs again. Additionally after Spark is running for awhile duplicates appear in the user lists. I don’t know if it is related, but it is very strange behavior. Others in our company are not experiencing this as I am.

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Mark