Re: BUG #6140: PostgreSQL Server Service Not Starting

On 2/08/2011 8:01 PM, Steve Boyd wrote:

> "could not open process token: error code 5"
>
> The service account is in the local administrators group and has full
> control over the data directory.

AFAIK PostgreSQL service account should *NOT* be part of the local
administrators group.

That said, the fact that it fails so ungracefully is definitely a bug
that bears investigation.

> Not sure what has changed. I even
> re-entered the password to confirm that the "logon as a service right" was
> granted.

The service account won't have been created as a local admin originally,
so something has been changed.

> I was going to try to upgrade to 8.3.15 but since pgdumpall won't work if
> the service is not running, that's not an option.

If you can't get it working normally, one option you have is to copy the
datadir to a normal user account (or change its permissions), then run
an instance of PostgreSQL against it manually under that user account
using pg_ctl - rather than launching it as a service under the service
account.

That'll at least get you a running instance to dump.

Given the state of the system, be sure to delete the postgres service
account after uninstalling 8.3 and before updating.

--
Craig Ringer

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