Refer to this document to confirm whether this article is relevant to you.

This documentation is applicable on any Windows Server 2008, 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, 2019 - as well as Windows 10.

• If you are running Elasticsearch 5.0.0 - 5.6.10, you should follow these instructions first: https://support.deskpro.com/en/kb/articles/install-elasticsearch-5616-on-windows

• If you are running Elasticsearch 5.6.11 - 5.6.16, you should apply this setting.

1. Search for “Environment Variables” in the start menu and click on “Edit the system environment variables” (or go to Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced system settings)

2. Click on “Environmental Variables”

3. Click on “New”

4. For the “Variable name” enter: JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS

For the “Variable value” enter: -Dlog4j2.formatMsgNoLookups=true

5. Press “OK” on the Window, “OK” again, and “OK” once more, till the system properties window is closed. You can try and open this up again, to confirm the changes have applied.

6. You must restart the Elasticsearch service after applying this. Open the “Start” menu and Search for Services, Open “Services”

If you are not sure, restart all of the Elasticsearch services. This is the only way to apply the above patch.

Additional step: (Not Required, but recommended) Disable the previous services entirely. Right click on the defunct services, and select properties.

Ensure the old services are both stopped, and the Startup type is set to disabled. You will get a warning from the Deskpro Manager that some services are not working, this can be ignored.