Unable to launch application under Tomcat 6.0

[Steve Willett]

I am trying to develop a web application on my Windows 7 (64-bit) machine. I am trying to run Tomcat 6.0 standalone on port 80. When I try to navigate to the initial jsp page, I get the following errors (copied from the Tomcat localhost log):

Oct 21, 2011 9:41:57 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve invoke
SEVERE: Servlet.service() for servlet jsp threw exception
java.lang.NullPointerException
at sun.awt.shell.Win32ShellFolder2$1.call(Unknown Source)
at sun.awt.shell.Win32ShellFolder2$1.call(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
at sun.awt.shell.Win32ShellFolderManager2$ComInvoker$3.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Oct 21, 2011 10:01:28 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve invoke
SEVERE: Servlet.service() for servlet jsp threw exception
java.lang.NullPointerException
at sun.awt.shell.Win32ShellFolder2$1.call(Unknown Source)
at sun.awt.shell.Win32ShellFolder2$1.call(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
at sun.awt.shell.Win32ShellFolderManager2$ComInvoker$3.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Oct 21, 2011 10:01:48 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve invoke
SEVERE: Servlet.service() for servlet jsp threw exception
java.lang.NullPointerException
at sun.awt.shell.Win32ShellFolder2$1.call(Unknown Source)
at sun.awt.shell.Win32ShellFolder2$1.call(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
at sun.awt.shell.Win32ShellFolderManager2$ComInvoker$3.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

I have looked around on the web - there are a number of postings that display this error message, but I could not find one that had a useful explanation of what all this means. I do note that no jsp file is being compiled, so I have to assume this is a configuration problem or software incompatibility problem, not a problem in my code.

[Vijitha Kumara]

Welcome to the CodeRanch, Steve Willett!
What kind of Tomcat installation you have here (unzipped, exe installation etc...)? Have you checked the compatibility for your OS in case an exe installation?