Upon first opening of Neo4j desktop, it gets stuck at Please choose path where you want to store application data

Hello Jakob,

Is this a new install of Desktop or an upgrade?

Sometimes the confirm button is disabled because more bits are in the process of being downloaded and it will be enabled once the download completes.

Elaine

Hi I just got started learning neo4j as well and got impounded by the same problem, this is what I did to resolve it:

The issue was my user had a corrupted PATH env variable.
First, I checked if the wmic.exe was present in C:\windows\system32\wbem directory, you can check yours as well.
If true - add that path to env variable PATH. i.e -> %SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem
If not - use system-wide search to find that executable. it should be somewhere inside Windows folder.

happy learning
PS: I am on Windows 10 pro

4 Likes

Thanks it worked fine when i add the path to environment variable

Running into this with a fresh install on Windows 8 right now. Can you elaborate on what you mean? What exactly did you add to PATH?

In case it helps, log.log is:

[2020-08-03 22:03:20.412] [info] Starting Neo4j Desktop 1.3.3 @ Windows_NT 6.3.9600
[2020-08-03 22:03:20.597] [info] Starting Nest application... NestFactory true
[2020-08-03 22:03:20.617] [info] SystemModule dependencies initialized InstanceLoader true
[2020-08-03 22:03:20.778] [info] Initializing persistence
[2020-08-03 22:03:20.782] [info] GraphQL server is running @ http://127.0.0.1:11001
[2020-08-03 22:03:20.897] [info] Configuring crash reporting
[2020-08-03 22:03:20.902] [info] Reading settings
[2020-08-03 22:03:20.903] [info] PowerShell compatibility check
[2020-08-03 22:03:23.476] [info] PowerShell version: 5. Required version: 5.
[2020-08-03 22:03:25.238] [info] PowerShell language mode: FullLanguage
[2020-08-03 22:03:27.623] [info] PowerShell execution policy: Unrestricted
[2020-08-03 22:03:27.628] [info] Reading bundled resources C:\Users\alex\AppData\Local\Programs\Neo4j Desktop\resources
[2020-08-03 22:03:27.632] [info] Distribution folder for java should exist
[2020-08-03 22:03:31.622] [info] Will copy []
[2020-08-03 22:03:31.745] [info] Distribution folder for neo4j should exist
[2020-08-03 22:03:33.198] [info] Will copy []
[2020-08-03 22:03:33.200] [info] Reading bundled resources C:\Users\alex\AppData\Local\Programs\Neo4j Desktop\resources
[2020-08-03 22:03:33.219] [info] Distribution folder for graphApps should exist
[2020-08-03 22:03:33.227] [warn] Failed to read installed 'neo4j-bloom', will replace with bundled distribution {
  constructor: 'Error',
  stack: 'Error: Graph-App[neo4j-bloom] does not contain package.json\n' +
    '    at l (C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Neo4j Desktop\\resources\\app.asar\\dist\\main.prod.js:1:36757)\n' +
    '    at async u (C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Neo4j Desktop\\resources\\app.asar\\dist\\main.prod.js:1:104050)\n' +
    '    at async C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Neo4j Desktop\\resources\\app.asar\\dist\\main.prod.js:1:51328\n' +
    '    at async Promise.all (index 0)\n' +
    '    at async g (C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Neo4j Desktop\\resources\\app.asar\\dist\\main.prod.js:1:51200)\n' +
    '    at async C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Neo4j Desktop\\resources\\app.asar\\dist\\main.prod.js:1:52863\n' +
    '    at async t.default (C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Neo4j Desktop\\resources\\app.asar\\dist\\main.prod.js:1:53126)\n' +
    '    at async K (C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Neo4j Desktop\\resources\\app.asar\\dist\\main.prod.js:1:93589)'
}
[2020-08-03 22:03:33.233] [warn] Failed to read installed 'neo4j-browser', will replace with bundled distribution {
  constructor: 'Error',
  stack: 'Error: Graph-App[neo4j-browser] does not contain package.json\n' +
    '    at l (C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Neo4j Desktop\\resources\\app.asar\\dist\\main.prod.js:1:36757)\n' +
    '    at async u (C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Neo4j Desktop\\resources\\app.asar\\dist\\main.prod.js:1:104050)\n' +
    '    at async C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Neo4j Desktop\\resources\\app.asar\\dist\\main.prod.js:1:51328\n' +
    '    at async Promise.all (index 1)\n' +
    '    at async g (C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Neo4j Desktop\\resources\\app.asar\\dist\\main.prod.js:1:51200)\n' +
    '    at async C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Neo4j Desktop\\resources\\app.asar\\dist\\main.prod.js:1:52863\n' +
    '    at async t.default (C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Neo4j Desktop\\resources\\app.asar\\dist\\main.prod.js:1:53126)\n' +
    '    at async K (C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Neo4j Desktop\\resources\\app.asar\\dist\\main.prod.js:1:93589)'
}
[2020-08-03 22:03:33.236] [info] Will copy [ 'neo4j-bloom-1.3.2.tar.gz', 'neo4j-browser-4.1.0.tar.gz' ]
[2020-08-03 22:03:33.282] [info] Configuring proxy: NO_PROXY
[2020-08-03 22:03:33.805] [info] [1] Online check request: https://dist.neo4j.org/neo4j-desktop/win/latest.yml
[2020-08-03 22:03:34.417] [info] [1] Online check response: 200 version: 1.3.3
files
[2020-08-03 22:03:34.420] [info] Stopping any running databases
[2020-08-03 22:03:34.426] [warn] C:\Users\alex\.Neo4jDesktop\neo4jDatabases not found
[2020-08-03 22:03:34.429] [info] Registering listener for protocolManager/arguments/changed
[2020-08-03 22:03:34.472] [info] Opening main window
[2020-08-03 22:03:34.611] [error] Protocol Manager type error: url must be string. url = undefined
[2020-08-03 22:03:34.997] [info] Registering IPC listeners
[2020-08-03 22:03:35.519] [info] [1] Online check request: https://dist.neo4j.org/neo4j-desktop/win/latest.yml
[2020-08-03 22:03:36.009] [info] [1] Online check response: 200 version: 1.3.3
files
[2020-08-03 22:03:37.417] [info] Buffering metrics until application is online
[2020-08-03 22:04:15.502] [info] [1] Online check request: https://dist.neo4j.org/neo4j-desktop/win/latest.yml
[2020-08-03 22:04:16.167] [info] [1] Online check response: 200 version: 1.3.3
files
[2020-08-03 22:04:55.505] [info] [1] Online check request: https://dist.neo4j.org/neo4j-desktop/win/latest.yml
[2020-08-03 22:04:56.032] [info] [1] Online check response: 200 version: 1.3.3
files
[2020-08-03 22:05:35.506] [info] [1] Online check request: https://dist.neo4j.org/neo4j-desktop/win/latest.yml
[2020-08-03 22:05:35.843] [info] [1] Online check response: 200 version: 1.3.3
files
[2020-08-03 22:06:15.504] [info] [1] Online check request: https://dist.neo4j.org/neo4j-desktop/win/latest.yml
[2020-08-03 22:06:16.009] [info] [1] Online check response: 200 version: 1.3.3
files
[2020-08-03 22:06:55.507] [info] [1] Online check request: https://dist.neo4j.org/neo4j-desktop/win/latest.yml
[2020-08-03 22:06:56.096] [info] [1] Online check response: 200 version: 1.3.3
files
[2020-08-03 22:07:35.508] [info] [1] Online check request: https://dist.neo4j.org/neo4j-desktop/win/latest.yml
[2020-08-03 22:07:36.041] [info] [1] Online check response: 200 version: 1.3.3
files

Hello @alexpghayes,

When you say this is a "fresh" install does that mean that you did not previously have Neo4j Desktop on your system?

If did remove all previous Neo4j Desktop files, it is always a good idea to restart your system to make sure there are no remaining neo4j processes running.

When you installed on Windows, did you specify that it will be used by all users? It is best to choose this option so that all permissions are available, especially when it asks you to select a folder for the application data.

You should use defaults for everything (including folder locations), but making it available to all users might help you.

Elaine

I am getting the same issue, even after adding the path in Environmental variables.
Please can anyone help me...

1 Like

Thanks, this helped ! Simple, but would never tried that...
Worked also on Windows 8.1

Hello !

I am getting the same issue. I already tried the solution in this post but it doesn't work for me.

My log file therelog.txt (8.8 KB)

I am facing the same issue inspite of adding to the PATH variable. Frustrating start ...
after a hard days of work

If You have set env variables PATH=%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem and it is not working,

please set path for Powershell PATH=%SystemRoot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0

I was facing same problem and able to fix it by seting

I'm getting the same exact issue with neo4j desktop 1.5.0. Any help would be appreciated.