OpenWebStart FAQ

Overview:
The following information does not describe the solution for an OpenWebStart problem, but for a launch problem of the applications EVA, Logbus and SPPS. These problems are often associated with OpenWebStart and result in support requests. Please perform the following steps first, before starting a support request for EVA, Logbus or SPPS due to launch problems.

Symptom:
The application launch works until the small black window with the Mercedes-Benz star is being displayed. After clicking on "Start application" some downloads may or may not occur, but then nothing else happens.

Deleting the RIAD appstarter cache:

1. Make sure no OpenWebStart process and no EVA, Logbus or SPPS application are running at the moment.
2. Perform a new start attempt for the application, but don't click on "Start application." in the black window!
3. Click on "Configuration and Extras".
   
   A dialog window opens.
4. On the left side in the new dialog click on the tab "Applications".
   
5. In the right pane unfold the row "aftersales.i.daimler.com" by clicking on the triangular arrow.
6. Click on your application, e.g. "EVA:EVA START EVA PROD", to highlight it in blue.
7. In the right bottom corner click on the button "Uninstall". This removes the program files which are stored in the cache directory on your computer for this application. Everything will be downloaded again with the next launch, you will not lose any data!
8. Click on the button "OK" to close this window.
9. Now click on "Start application." in the black window.

If the application still does not start after performing these steps, please contact your support unit. Problems, which occur after the grey window with the Mercedes-Benz star is already being displayed, usually are application specific and not caused by OpenWebStart.

Important information for support units and administrators!

Provide the link to this article to the affected user, to enable her/him to collect the information. If necessary, support the user with the steps. Thank you!

Important! When you are using a terminal server solution (e.g. Citrix), or when you're working on a managed workstation (your company has dedicated administrators), please always contact your administrator first. It's best practice if the administrator first inspects the problem and supports you with preparing the following information.

Overview

Sometimes OpenWebStart does not work as expected. In theses cases our support tries to help you to get your OpenWebStart setup up and running, but in most cases additional information is required. This article shows you how to enable logging and debugging, collect all available information and prepare it for our support units.

Enable debug logging:

1. Start "OpenWebStart/OpenWebStart settings" from the Windows start menu.
2. In the "OpenWebStart settings" change to the page "Logging".
3. Check the option "Activate debug logging".
4. Leave the option "Log to standard out" enabled (Default).
5. Check the option "Log to file".
6. Remember the path from "Log folder:". You will need the underlined part, as well as the full path later:
   
7. Click the "OK" button to commit the changes.

Clear log directory

The log directory of OpenWebStart may contain older logfiles, which are not related to the current problem. These older log files should be deleted before creating new log data:

8. Open a Windows explorer (file manager) and navigate to the full path from "Log folder:", which you remembered in step 6.
9. If there are any files inside the "log" folder, delete them.

Run OpenWebStart:

Next step is to run the application the way it fails.

10. E.g. start it from the application list page by pressing the respective tile, or start from use cases like "technical job" or "service management".
11. When beginning with the start steps, the browser usually offers to save or open a "JNLP" file. If possible, try to save the *.jnlp file and to remember the store location. This file should be sent to the support unit along with the other files.
12. In case an error dialog has popped up, please close it before continuing with the next steps.

Create ZIP archive and send email:

13. Open a Windows explorer (file manager) and navigate to the underlined part of the path from "Log folder:", which you remembered in step 6. E.g. "C:\Users\yourid" You will find two folders (among others) on this directory level, which are named ".cache" and ".config".
14. Right click on the ".config" folder. A context menu will open. Click on "Sent to... $gt; Compressed (zipped) folder".
15. Rename the file ".config.zip", which has been created, to "config.zip.txt". While renaming, confirm the warning "If you change a file name extension, the file might become unusable.", presented by Windows. The renaming is necessary, because the file will be sent as mail attachment and many mail servers remove .zip attachments from emails for security reasons.
16. Create a new email for your support unit. Describe the error briefly in your words, maybe one or two screenshots of the error messages will be helpful.
17. In case the file "config.zip.txt" is smaller than 10 Megabytes, attach it to the email draft.
18. In case the file "config.zip.txt" is bigger than 10 Megabytes, inform your support unit in the email, that an archive for analysis is available, but it's got oversize. The support unit will clarify with you, how the file can be transferred.
19. Attach the following files additionally to the email:
    1. Navigate to your "Downloads" folder and locate the *.jnlp file you remembered from the section "Run OpenWebStart:". Attach this file to the email.
    2. Go back to "C:\Users\yourid". Navigate to the sub folder ".cache\icedtea-web\jvm-cache". Attach the file "cache.json" to the email. Do not add any further file or sub folder from this level!
20. Now you can send the email to the support unit.

Disable debug logging:

After all log data has been collected, or after the incident has been solved, the logging should be switched of again to avoid unnecessary log data and performance impacts.

21. Start "OpenWebStart/OpenWebStart settings" from the Windows start menu.
22. In the "OpenWebStart settings" change to the page "Logging".
23. Set the "Show log window" drop down to "Disable".
24. Uncheck the option "Activate debug logging".
25. Leave the option "Log to standard out" enabled (Default).
26. Uncheck the option "Log to file".
27. Click the "OK" button to commit the changes.

Details:
You're using the Microsoft Edge browser on your computer. When trying to launch an Java Web Start application a message appears "<filename>.jnlp was blocked because this type of file can harm your device."

Cause:
Newer versions of the Edge browser are configured in a way to prevent the download of .jnlp files for security reasons. This inhibits the usage of .jnlp files for our applications, too.

Solution:
You can enter a key into the Windows registry which allows the download of .jnlp files from daimler.com and mercedes-benz.com websites. This requires administrative rights on your computer.

If required, contact your administrator to perform the following steps for you.

Please perform the following steps on your PC:

1. Perform a download of the following file: daimler-edge-jnlp01.zip - ZIP 1 kB)
2. Extract the ZIP archive using the Windows Explorer. This will result in a file named "daimler-edge-jnlp01.reg" with the following content:
   
   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
   
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\ExemptDomainFileTypePairsFromFileTypeDownloadWarnings]
   "254"="{\"domains\": [\"daimler.com\", \"mercedes-benz.com\"], \"file_extension\": \"jnlp\"}"
   
3. Double click on the extracted file "daimler-edge-jnlp01.reg".
4. Your Windows system will ask you now for administrative rights. Confirm this and enter the corresponding password if required.
5. The key from the .reg file will now be imported by Windows.
6. Now you will have to restart your Edge browser. When you launch one of our applications from our domains *.daimler.com or *.mercedes-benz.com, the .jnlp file now can be saved and started again.

References:
Details regarding the shown solution can be found at the following locations:

1. docs.microsoft.com: Description of ExemptDomainFileTypePairsFromFileTypeDownloadWarnings
2. docs.microsoft.com: Description of URL Filter Format

Notes:

• Please mind: These settings only affect the function of the Microsoft Edge browser based on Chromium. Other browsers may require diffent configuration to work correctly.
• Edge expects a discrete entry in the Windows registry for each file extension. If you want to reuse the solution for other extensions than .jnlp, please create one index entry for each file extension.
• In case of bigger installations it is recommended to not perform the registry configuration on your own, but instead let your administrator prepare and implement a central rollout of this change.
• For administrators: In case the name index "254" for the key collides with already existing entries, just change the index to some other suitable value.

Details:
When trying to start an application, only a small window appears without any content. This problem typically starts shortly after an OWS installation or after performing an update. When inspecting the file system of the affected computer (using the Windows file manager) one can find a file named ".appletTrustSettings" in the subdirectory "C:\Windows\Sun\Java\Deployment".

Cause:
Probable cause is, that OpenWebStart once has been started with administrative rights on the computer. This means, the administrator clicked on a JNLP file or launched it through the browser. In this case OWS creates a file named ".appletTrustSettings" at this special location. All standard user accounts on this computer aren't allowed to access this file read-write, which results in the error symptoms as described.

Solution:
Please perform the following steps on your PC:

1. Open the Windows Explorer (File Manager) on your computer.
2. Navigate to the folder "C:\Windows\Sun\Java\Deployment"
3. Delete the file ".appletTrustSettings". Administrator-rights will be required for this step!
4. Start your JNLP file now as standard user. Please take care to never start JNLP files on your computer as administrator.

Overview:
Operating errors or malfunction can cause OpenWebStart to inhibit the start of an application. Instead of analysing the exact problem, the user can simply delete its OWS cache and config directories and try another launch of the application. This is quicker and often successful. The article describes how to delete these directories.

Not applicable for:

• If you are working on a Citrix / Windows terminal server: Please contact your local administrator and provide the information of this FAQ article. The administrator can perform the removal for you.
• If you are using the Aftersales applications through the Mercedes-Benz WCP platform: Please open an XSF ticket in XENTRY Portal, describing the problem in short. Press the copy button at the top of this FAQ article to copy a link to the clipboard, and paste this link into your XSF ticket details.

Recommendation:
Some errors have been fixed with OpenWebStart release 1.4.0. We strongly recommend to update to V1.4.0 or newer before applying workarounds.

Delete cache directory:

1. Make sure no OpenWebStart process is running at the moment.
2. Open the Windows Explorer (File Manager) on your computer.
3. Navigate to the folder "%USERPROFILE%\.cache"
   You can enter this string into the address bar of the Windows Explorer. On standalone PCs this location usually is "C:\Users\[userid]\.cache", Where [userid] is the id of the respective user.
4. Delete the folder "icedtea-web".
5. Try to launch the OpenWebStart application again.

Delete config directory:

1. Make sure no OpenWebStart process is running at the moment.
2. Open the Windows Explorer (File Manager) on your computer.
3. Navigate to the folder "%USERPROFILE%\.config"
   You can enter this string into the address bar of the Windows Explorer. On standalone PCs this location usually is "C:\Users\[userid]\.config", Where [userid] is the id of the respective user.
4. Delete the folder "icedtea-web".
5. Try to launch the OpenWebStart application again.

Prerequisite: Installed OWS release is 1.3.3

Details:
When trying to start an application, the OpenWebStart splash screen appears for a short moment. Then nothing else happens.

Cause:
OpenWebStart release 1.3.3 introduced new methods to improve data integrity in its caching directories, which was a problem in earlier OWS releases. The new locking mechanism uses a file "%USERPROFILE%\.cache\icedtea-web\cache\recently_used.lock" to gain exclusive access to the cached content. Sometimes the OWS process "fails" to remove this lock file after accessing the cache. All subsequent OWS processes now wait indefinitely for this file to disappear, because a method to detect and recover from a stale lockfile was missing until release 1.4.0.

Solution:

• You are working on a Citrix / Windows terminal server: Please contact your local administrator and provide the information of this FAQ article. The administrator should update to OWS V1.4.0 or newer as soon as possible.
• You are using the Aftersales applications through the Mercedes-Benz WCP platform: Please open an XSF ticket in XENTRY Portal, describing the problem in short. Press the copy button at the top of this FAQ article to copy a link into the clipboard, and paste this link into your XSF ticket details. Please note: The problem will be fixed on this platform very soon.
• Permanent solution if you are working on a local PC: Please update to OWS V1.4.0 or newer.
• Workaround: Perform the following steps on your PC:
  1. Open the Windows Explorer (File Manager) on your computer.
  2. Navigate to the folder "%USERPROFILE%\.cache\icedtea-web\cache"
  3. Delete the file "recently_used.lock". This will allow all already waiting OWS processes to continue their start.

Details:
When trying to start an application a dialog appears "Fatal: Initialization Error: Could not initalize application. The application has not been initialized, for more information execute javaws from the command line."
When clicking on "Show details", then one of the error messages states the following:
"Caused by: net.sourceforge.jnlp.LaunchException: The application uses non-codebase resources, which do match its Application-Library-Allowable-Codebase Attribute, but was blocked from running by the user."

Cause:
OpenWebStart displays the user different security prompts when starting an application. In case the user decides to store the decisions permanently, they will be saved into the file "%USERPROFILE%\.config\icedtea-web\.appletTrustSettings". Unfortunately the default selection which is being saved is the option "For Applet". For unknown reasons this selection sometimes leads to the described error symptoms when continuing to use OpenWebStart.

Solution:

• You are working on a Citrix / Windows terminal server: Please contact your local administrator and provide the information of this FAQ article. The administrator can fix this for you.
• You are using the Aftersales applications through the Mercedes-Benz WCP platform: Please open an XSF ticket in XENTRY Portal, describing the problem in short. Press the copy button at the top of this FAQ article to copy a link to clipboard, and paste this link into your XSF ticket details.
• You are working on a local PC: Please perform the following steps on your PC:
  1. Open the Windows Explorer (File Manager) on your computer.
  2. Navigate to the folder "%USERPROFILE%\.config\icedtea-web"
  3. Delete the file ".appletTrustSettings". This file contains the security prompt decisions the user has made so far when starting applications via OWS. Wrong decisions can inhibit the start. As there is no way to edit the decisions, the easiest way is to delete the file containing all stored decisions.
  4. Now start an application through OWS. IMPORTANT: When saving security prompt decisions, the radio button in the dialog must be switched from "( ) For Applet" to "( ) For Website ...". This is described in our online documentation for OWS usage.

Cause:
For unknown reasons sometimes errors occur in one of the files, which store user specific certificates during the usage of OpenWebStart.

Solution:

1. Open the Windows Explorer (File Manager) on your computer.
2. Navigate to the folder "%USERPROFILE%\.config\icedtea-web\security":
   
3. Delete all the trusted.* files in this folder (marked yellow).
4. Launch the desired application again from the application list or from XENTRY. The deletion removed the broken file, OpenWebStart will recreate the files with the next start without errors.

In case the application start fails on a terminal server system, please contact your administrator for help, referring to this support article.

Cause:
Oracle Java is installed on your system, and OpenWebStart wasn't installed at all, or it was installed additionally, without removing Oracle Java. The Java Web Start of Oracle can't process some attributes of the JNLP file and asks the user how to proceed further:

Solution:

1. Click on "Run with the latest version". The application will be launched with Oracle JRE. Currently it is still compatible. This dialog box usually only appears once.
2. On occasion install OpenWebStart according to our installation instructions. If OpenWebStart is already installed, consider uninstallation of Oracle JRE if it's no longer used.

Possible cause(s):

1. In the OpenWebStart settings the settings of the JVM Manager have been changed in a way, that the Java Virtual Machine required for Aftersales applications can't be downloaded and used by OWS.
2. Your proxy settings might be incorrect, OWS can't access the internet as required. In this case please mind the information on the Configuration page.

Solution:
To run Aftersales applications, OpenWebStart downloads the necessary Java Virtual Machine (JVM) autonomously. Details, which JVM is necessary and where OpenWebStart can download it, are defined in the JNLP file, which you start out of the browser after its download. Therefore OWS must be configured in a way that it can download this content and is allowed to store it in the cache directory of the user.

1. Start "OpenWebStart/OpenWebStart settings" from the Windows start menu.
2. In the "OpenWebStart settings" change to the page "JVM Manager".
3. In the bottom right corner click on "Settings".
4. Following values must be set for a correct function:
   
   Update strategy: "Always download newer version"
   Allow server from JNLP file: [V] (checked)
   
5. Save any changes and close the OpenWebStart settings

If you click now again on an Aftersales rich client application in the application list and open the JNLP file, the required JVM package should be downloaded from xentryportal.i.daimler.com and the application should be started.

Possible cause(s):

• The OpenWebStart installation "for the current user only" sometimes leaves artefacts, which inhibit the "For all users" installation to work correctly.

Solution:
If OpenWebStart has been installed "for the current user only", it must be uninstalled again and some registry keys must be deleted carefully. Perform the following steps for check and removal of these artefacts.

A. Uninstall OWS
If it is still installed, it is recommended to uninstall the OpenWebStart application from the user's profile. Important: Although OpenWebStart is being displayed in the "Apps & Features" in the "Windows Settings", it cannot be uninstalled correctly there. Please follow exactly the following steps for a proper removal of your "non admin" installation:

1. Make sure, you are logged in as the correct "non admin" user.
2. Make sure, that no instance of OpenWebStart is running for your user anymore.
3. Open a Windows Explorer (file manager).
4. Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local
5. Open the folder "OpenWebStart". If it does not exist, either you don't have a "non admin" installation, or you have to contact your local administrator for further help.
6. In the "OpenWebStart" folder, launch the application "uninstall"
7. Perform the uninstallation steps as requested by the application.

B. Check and clean Windows registry

1. In the bottom left corner press the Windows start icon.
2. Start typing "cmd" (without double quotes). Windows suggests you "Command Prompt" as search result. Launch this application.
3. Remove user level javaws definition
   Enter the following command (yellow text) into the command prompt:
   
   c:\Windows\System32>reg query "HKCU\Software\Classes\javaws\shell\open\command"
   
   If the command results in a "key or value not found" error, the setting is fine and you can continue with the next step.
   If the command results in an output like...
   
   
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\javaws\shell\open\command
       (Standard)   REG_SZ    "C:\Users\userid\AppData\Local\OpenWebStart\javaws.exe" "%1"
   
   ... then you will have to delete this key. Please perform the following commands (yellow text):
   
   c:\Windows\System32>reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\javaws\shell\open\command" /va /f
   c:\Windows\System32>reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\javaws\shell\open\command" /f
   c:\Windows\System32>reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\javaws\shell\open" /f
   c:\Windows\System32>reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\javaws\shell" /f
   c:\Windows\System32>reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\javaws" /f
   
   
4. Remove user level .jnlp association:
   Enter the following command (yellow text) into the command prompt:
   
   c:\Windows\System32>reg query "HKCU\Software\Classes\.jnlp"
   
   If the command results in a "key or value not found" error, the setting is fine and you can continue with the next step.
   If the command results in an output like...
   
   
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.jnlp
       (Standard)    REG_SZ    javaws
   Content Type    REG_SZ    application/x-java-jnlp-file
   AlternativeHandler   REG_SZ    JNLPFile
   
   ... then you will have to delete this key. please perform the following command (yellow text):
   
   c:\Windows\System32>reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\.jnlp" /va /f
   
   
5. Remove user level javaws 1 definition
   Enter the following command (yellow text) into the command prompt:
   
   c:\Windows\System32>reg query "HKCU\Software\Classes\javaws 1\shell\open\command"
   
   If the command results in a "key or value not found" error, the setting is fine and you can continue with the next step.
   If the command results in an output like...
   
   
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\javaws 1\shell\open\command
       (Standard)   REG_SZ    "C:\Users\userid\AppData\Local\OpenWebStart\javaws.exe" "%1"
   
   ... then you will have to delete this key. please perform the following commands (yellow text):
   
   c:\Windows\System32>reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\javaws 1\shell\open\command" /va /f
   c:\Windows\System32>reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\javaws 1\shell\open\command" /f
   c:\Windows\System32>reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\javaws 1\shell\open" /f
   c:\Windows\System32>reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\javaws 1\shell" /f
   c:\Windows\System32>reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\javaws 1" /f
   
   
6. Remove user level .jnlpx association:
   Enter the following command (yellow text) into the command prompt:
   
   c:\Windows\System32>reg query "HKCU\Software\Classes\.jnlpx"
   
   If the command results in a "key or value not found" error, the setting is fine and you can continue with the next step.
   If the command results in an output like...
   
   
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.jnlpx
       (Standard)    REG_SZ    javaws 1
   Content Type    REG_SZ    application/x-java-jnlpx-file
   ... then you will have to delete this key. please perform the following command (yellow text):
   

   c:\Windows\System32>reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\.jnlpx" /va /f

   
   

C. Final step:
Log out your current user from Windows and log in again.

If OpenWebStart has been installed as user without admin rights, this results in the following limitations:

1. OpenWebStart is only functioning for the user, which performed the installation.
2. The start of WIS/ASRA does not work in multiple variations (XENTRY Portal linkout, DMS start)

Please notice: In case you are working with a terminalserver solution, please contact your administrator in case of problems. The following tasks are only valid for standalone systems.

Use the following steps to check whether your OpenWebStart installation has been performed correctly:

1. In the bottom left corner press the Windows start icon.
2. Start typing "cmd" (without double quotes). Windows suggests you "Command Prompt" as search result. Launch this application.
3. Enter the following command (yellow text) into the command prompt:
   
   c:\Windows\System32>ftype javaws
   
   Expected output:
   
   javaws="C:\Program Files\OpenWebStart\javaws.exe" "%1"
   
   In case the output points to "Program Files\OpenWebStart", OpenWebStart has been installed correctly. Continue with the next test.
   In case an output appears, which contains your user id and "AppData", OpenWebStart hasn't been installed correctly. In this case, conduct an uninstall of OpenWebStart as described in the article Uninstallation as Standard user, and then install OpenWebStart once again, exactly as described on the installation manual page.
4. The next test checks, whether starting functionality for WIS/ASRA is given. Therefore, enter the following command (yellow text) into the still open command prompt:
   
   c:\Windows\System32>reg query HKLM\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\OpenWebStart /v InstallationPath
   
   Expected output:
   
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\OpenWebStart
       InstallationPath    REG_SZ    C:\Program Files\OpenWebStart
   
   In case the output points to a path, similar to the OpenWebStart path printed out by the ftype command, OpenWebStart has been installed correctly.
   In case an output appears, which displays an error or a path, which differs from the ftype output, OpenWebStart hasn't been installed correctly. In this case, conduct an uninstall of OpenWebStart as described on the Uninstallation as Standard user, and then install OpenWebStart once again, exactly as described on the installation manual page.

Possible cause(s):

1. OpenWebStart hasn't been installed with the option "For all users", but instead "for the current user only". This causes some important keys missing in the Windows registry.
   Solution:
   Uninstall OpenWebStart according to the Troubleshooting guide "Uninstallation as standard user". Then install OpenWebStart according to the Installation guide.
2. An outdated version of OpenWebStart has been installed.
   Solution:
   Uninstall OpenWebStart as administrator using the Windows system control panel. Then install OpenWebStart according to the Installation guide. Important! When performing the installation, download the latest OpenWebStart version from our Downloads page!

When trying to launch one of the Aftersales applications, the download of the required JVM fails with a nonspecific error message:

One possible root cause could be a missing configuration of the JVM Manager in the OpenWebStart settings:

The option "Nutzung von Server aus JNLP Datei erlauben" must be set.

1. Press [Windows]+[Pause] on the keyboard. Computers with reduced keyboard layout (e.g. Notebooks) may require to additionally press a [Fn] key.
2. A dialog window will be displayed. In the section System > System type of the basic information the type of the operating system will be displayed.