ArcGIS Portal A JSONObject text must begin with '{' at character 0 of

[cjms]

I have ArcGIS Portal 11.1 and it is failing to start. The Windows service shows it is running, but the portal is not reachable through the Web Adaptor (gives the contact your Admin page) and the error log shows a issue with a JSON.

Any tips on what JSON files I need to be checking to find out which one is not formatted correctly?

Mon Jul 07 10:53:34.177 PDT 2025 com.esri.arcgis.discovery.json.JSONException: A JSONObject text must begin with '{' at character 0 of
Mon Jul 07 10:53:34.177 PDT 2025 at com.esri.arcgis.discovery.json.JSONTokener.syntaxError(JSONTokener.java:454)
Mon Jul 07 10:53:34.177 PDT 2025 at com.esri.arcgis.discovery.json.JSONObject.<init>(JSONObject.java:175)
Mon Jul 07 10:53:34.177 PDT 2025 at com.esri.arcgis.discovery.json.JSONObject.<init>(JSONObject.java:273)
Mon Jul 07 10:53:34.177 PDT 2025 at com.esri.arcgis.portal.admin.core.store.content.FileSystemContentStore.updateHelperServices(FileSystemContentStore.java:474)
Mon Jul 07 10:53:34.177 PDT 2025 at com.esri.arcgis.portal.observers.ConfigObserver.a(ConfigObserver.java:410)
Mon Jul 07 10:53:34.177 PDT 2025 at com.esri.arcgis.portal.observers.ConfigObserver.f(ConfigObserver.java:892)
Mon Jul 07 10:53:34.177 PDT 2025 at com.esri.arcgis.portal.observers.ConfigObserver.beforeStart(ConfigObserver.java:209)
Mon Jul 07 10:53:34.177 PDT 2025 at com.esri.arcgis.portal.impl.ObserverManager.beforeStart(ObserverManager.java:159)
Mon Jul 07 10:53:34.177 PDT 2025 at com.esri.arcgis.portal.impl.NodeAgent.start(NodeAgent.java:290)
Mon Jul 07 10:53:34.177 PDT 2025 at com.esri.arcgis.portal.impl.Main.start(Main.java:87)

[OzanCanT]

Hi @cjms ,

It looks like there might be a Portal configuration or file corruption issue. Did you experience any disk space shortages or unexpected shutdowns on the Portal machine recently?

To confirm this, first ensure that the Portal service is running. Then, open Task Manager, go to the Details tab, and enable the Command line column in the header. Look for java.exe, javaw.exe and postgres.exe processes with command lines starting with

"C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Portal\..."

If you don't see multiple instances of these processes running, it is highly likely that your Portal content has become corrupted.

To identify which files may be corrupted, check the following directories and ensure that the config files listed below are not empty and look correct:
<PortalContentDir>:\arcgisportal\content\items\portal

• properties.json
• portal-config.properties
• buildnum.txt

C:\arcgisportal\db

• config-store-connection.json
• postmaster.pid
• postmaster.opts

If you notice any missing or empty files here, I recommend restoring from a backup if you have one available. Otherwise, resolving this may require advanced troubleshooting sessions, so it would be best to contact Esri Technical Support for further assistance.

[cjms · Accepted solution]

Thanks @OzanCanT . There was a disk shortage on the server holding the Portal Content Directory. I found the solution was to overwrite the acountSettings file with a new one; for some reason current one became empty.

<Portal Content Directory>/arcgisportal/content/items/accountresources/<some long string>/accountSettings

Do you know why a disk shortage would cause this issue with the account settings configuration file?

[OzanCanT]

Hi @cjms ,

When the disk on the Portal for ArcGIS machine becomes full, any process that tries to update configuration files can fail mid-write. Many config files are rewritten by first deleting or truncating the old file and then writing the new content. If the disk runs out of space during this process, Portal deletes the old file content but cannot complete writing the new content. As a result, the config files end up empty or partially written, leading to corruption and system failure.

So, it's a good idea to check your free disk space sometimes to avoid corruptions like that.