Broken local environments - media library search, experience editor, can't rebuild index / indices

Question

Three local Sitecore environments have several core functionalities that don't work as expected despite having little or no recent changes.

1. Media library search fails giving the error message: "An error has occurred and the search cannot be completed". Manually browsing the media library however works as expected and I can load media items.

2. Indexing manager shows no indices to select to rebuild.

3. Loading the Experience Editor shows the error: "An error occurred. [Log message: Value cannot be null. Parameter name: source]". Unlike many other Experience Editor errors, I cannot ignore this error and add content. I was able to find this in the error log in App_Data\logs and have attached a screenshot of it.

All three of these issues have been replicated in 3 separate local Sitecore installations. One of the Sitecore installations doesn't even have any content beyond the default content created upon installation. I am running Sitecore 9.2.

Screenshots of errors:

Answer 1

The error shown is stating that it cant find the file used to run the service.

First thing to check is that the file listed as "Path to executable" exists on your local machine. To do this right click on the service itself in "services" window.

In the general tab, you will see the path to executable. It will point to either the solr instance itself or a service (like NSSM - mentioned by Gaurav above). Please confirm that the file shown exists.

If its something like NSSM, you should also check that the subsequent file that the service manager is calling is correctly pointing to your solr instance.

If non of the above gives any success, then I suggest looking in the "Event Viewer". This will give details of the file that is being attempted to call.

Please update your answer with any relevant logs from there.

Answer 2

This answer is for your solr service issue that you mentioned in your comment.

Follow this blog for more details - https://www.from-sitecore-with-love.de/blog/2019/solr-service-not-starting

It can be one of the 3 issues -

1. JAVA_HOME is set wrong

   a) Go to your Windows Explorer and check the path to your Java installation Check the path you have installed Java. In my case, it is C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_221

   b) in Windows 10 hit the start/ windows button and type/search System Variables

   c) In the System Properties dialog on Advanced Tab hit the Environment Variables Button

   d) Check your JAVA_HOME Variable. Is the path correctly pointing to your Java JRE folder? If not Edit.

2. Wrong nssm Version

   While browsing for reasons why my SOLR Service is not starting one reason pointed out in some pages was that the nssm version is not correct. It was pointed out that the featured pre-release nssm 2.24-101-g897c7ad should be used (check here).

   a) Open Command Prompt

   b) Navigate to C:\nssm\nssm-2.24\win64

   c) Type nssm.exe edit [SERVICE_NAME] e.g. nssm.exe edit solr-7.5.0

   d) Check if arguments, path and startup directory (in Application Tab) are set correctly. Arguments should show: to -f -p 8750 (or what ever port you want to use)

3. Certificate issue

   Check your certificates and create new ones. You can find a good article I used here. No need to rewrite it: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/manage-trusted-root-certificates-windows

   To open Console Root type MMC to your run box.

Answer 3

Thanks to @SitecorePro Solr was the problem.

Upon manually starting Solr, all three problems I listed go away:

However I still cannot start Solr as a service:

The Solr service however is outside of the scope of Sitecore strictly speaking so I will mark this as the solution.

That said if anyone knows why my Solr service is suddenly broken but not Solr itself please comment or provide an answer and I'll mark that as the solution if it fixes the service problem. Manually starting Solr every time I want to use my Sitecore instance locally will be a bit of a pain.