java - How to pass a system property to a web application hosted in Tomcat 7 running as a Windows Service?

Question

There are numerous places on the Internet, suggesting that it is easily achieved by any (or all) of the following methods:

1. through CATALINA_OPTS
2. through JAVA_OPTS
3. through TOMCAT_OPTS
4. by placing the set statements in the setenv.bat file inside the tomcat's bin folder

My problem, is that I have tried all of the above and my web application still does not see my system property!

Here is what I am doing:

1. Stop tomcat7 service
2. set CATALINA_OPTS=-Dabc.def=true in the system environment
3. set JAVA_OPTS=-Dabc.def=true in the system environment
4. set TOMCAT_OPTS=-Dabc.def=true in the system environment
5. put all of the above into c:Program FilesApache Software FoundationTomcat 7.0insetenv.bat (seems totally redundant, but just in case)
6. Start tomcat7 service
7. Inspect the environment of the tomcat7 process using the Process Explorer tool - the environment is correct, I do see both CATALINA_OPTS and JAVA_OPTS and TOMCAT_OPTS equal to -Dabc.def=true
8. run my web app, which is a simple servlet dumping all the system properties to the response stream - abc.def is not amongst them

Please, put me out of my misery and tell me how to do it.

Answer 1

For the Tomcat service, startup settings are stored in the registry under Options key at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREApache Software FoundationProcrun 2.0Tomcat<X>ParametersJava

(substitute appropriate Tomcat version where needed).

Edit:

On 64-bit Windows, the registry key is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWow6432NodeApache Software FoundationProcrun 2.0Tomcat<X>ParametersJava

even if Tomcat is running under a 64-bit JVM.