In this article:  

• Issue description

• Prerequisites

• Possible causes

• Resolution

• Related topics and articles

• How to reach support

Issue description  

When starting ADAudit Plus, users may encounter an error message that prevents the service from launching:

Unable to start the service-wrapper.log  
Exception: Another instance running

This typically happens if the application is already running in console mode or a previous instance was not closed properly.

Prerequisites  

• You must have administrator access on the server where ADAudit Plus is installed.

• The ADAudit Plus service must be set to run as a Windows service, not in console mode.

• The application must be installed under its default directory or a valid custom location.

Possible causes  

• ADAudit Plus was previously launched in console mode, not as a service.

• One or more background processes (Java, database, or wrapper) are still running from an earlier session.

• The application was closed improperly or crashed, leaving processes behind.

• The desktop shortcut used to launch the application may point to console mode startup instead of the service URL.

Resolution  

Step 1: Open Command Prompt as an administrator  

1. Click Start, search for Command Prompt.

2. Right-click it and select Run as administrator.

3. Navigate to the ADAudit Plus bin directory  : cd <installation-directory>\ManageEngine\ADAudit Plus\bin.

Note: Replace <installation-directory> with your actual installation path.

4. Run the following commands one after the other:

stopADAP.bat  
stopDB.bat

5. Check for and terminate leftover processes  .

6. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.

7. Check if any of the following processes are still running:

• wrapper.exe

• postgres.exe

• java.exe

8. If found, end each process in the listed order.

9. Click Start, type services.msc, and press Enter.

10. Locate the ManageEngine ADAudit Plus Service.

11. Right-click the service and select Start.

Tip: Bookmark the ADAudit Plus application URL instead of using the desktop shortcut to avoid launching it in console mode.

Related topics and articles  

• Troubleshooting guide

How to reach support  

If the issue persists or the application crashes on startup, please contact support and share the following files from the logs directory:

• <installation directory>\ADAudit Plus\logs\wrapper.log

• serverOut.txt

• catalina.txt

• ProductFolderSizeDetails.txt