java.net.MalformedURLException unknown protocol c

Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.

Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.

*Except Fisheye and Crucible

Problem

When configuring SSL in server.xml, the following appears in the catalina.out:

1 2 30-Jun-2016 15:21:23.577 SEVERE [main] org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol.init Failed to initialize end point associated with ProtocolHandler ["http-nio-443"] java.net.MalformedURLException: unknown protocol: c

Cause

The keystoreFile configuration in the connector is misconfigured. There are two possible causes:

  1. A / slash has been used instead of a \ slash

  2. The keystoreFile path is incorrect

Resolution

Depending on the cause from above, there are different solutions. Both involve changes to the server.xml located in <BITBUCKET_HOME>/shared:

  1. Change all / to \ in the path for keystoreFile

  2. Check that the keystore path set in keystoreFile points to the correct location

Bitbucket Server 5.0

As of Bitbucket Server 5.0, you can't configure any Tomcat connectors directly, therefore the configurations in this section only apply for Bitbucket server 4.14 or earlier.

server.xml configurations have been replaced by <Bitbucket home directory>/shared/bitbucket.properties

The keystoreFile attribute has been replaced by ssl.key-store.

Updated on April 16, 2025

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