ColdFusion update manual installation

One of the servers we take care of is constantly refusing to perform the automatic installation of the update. The error we are receiving is:

“There were errors in the previous install of this update. Please refer to the logs in the folder [CF installation folder]\cfusion\hf-updates\[update number] and fix the root cause before re-applying the hotfix again.”

Sometimes there is something useful in the log and you may find the actual cause of the issue. In my case, there was nothing to take care of. As the simple first step, I decided to install the hotfix manually.

ColdFusion hotfix installation in Windows

If you have your CF installed on Windows, go to the Start menu and run Command Prompt as the Administrator.

The next step is to change the directory to the [CF installation folder]\cfusion\hf-updates\

The last step is to run the hotfix using Java engine:

> java -jar hotfix_[nnn].jar

The hotfix contains the graphical interface which will guide you through the process. I learned that on the Enterprise installations, it is better to run hotfix on each server separately. When trying to apply it on all servers at once, it fails in most cases.

ColdFusion hotfix installation on Linux

On Linux, you should run your command prompt as root or use sudo to execute the hotfix installation.

As the first step, change the directory to [CF installation folder]/cfusion/hf-updates/ (in most cases it is /opt/ColdFusion[version]/cfusion/hf-updates/ )

Next, run the hotfix using Java engine:

# if you work as a regular user:
$ sudo java -jar hotfix_[nnn].jar

# if you work as the root user:
# java -jar hotfix_[nnn].jar

The hotfix is installed using the text interface. As I stated above in Windows section, for the Enterprise installations it is better to run hotfix on each server separately.

When the manual installation fails…

If there are still errors in the manual installation, you will have to review the logs deeply – they are long and not that clear in places. Unfortunately, in this situation, it is the only way to find the cause of your issue and fix it. Good luck!