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Published Sep. 10, 2025

How to resolve when basic configuration portal properties are not read during startup

Written By

Isaac Wilson

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Issue

  • When starting a pre-built Liferay DXP bundle for the first time, some of the properties set in a portal-ext.properties file (such as the default.admin.* and company.default.*  properties) do not take effect and the Liferay defaults remain.

Environment

  • DXP 7.0
  • DXP 7.1
  • DXP 7.2

Resolution

  • To allow the default.admin.*, company.default.*, and other initialization properties to take effect when a bundle is first launched, connect the test bundle to a fresh database, and the portal-ext.properties should then be implemented as expected upon initial startup.

Additional Information

  • This issue can encountered with freshly unzipped bundles because tables with default values (such as the default Liferay site and Test user) have already been created using the Liferay defaults in the embedded Hypersonic database. Since those properties only affect initialization, they will not overwrite the values already present in the database.
  • If you would like to use a fresh Hypersonic database (for deployment and demonstration purposes), you can delete the [Liferay_Home]/data/hypersonic directory while the application server is shut down, and the tables will be recreated as a fresh database using the values set in the portal-ext.properties file when the server is started again.
    Please note: the contents of the/hypersonic directory should only be deleted when a brand new environment is desired, as any previously generated data within the Hypersonic database will be permanently lost upon directory deletion 
  • For production environments, please review our Supported Databases for 7.2, 7.1, or 7.0
  • Other common causes for portal-ext.properties not taking effect can be found in this related Help Center article.
  • More information on how to set, configure, and override Liferay DXP features through properties can be found in our Portal Properties documentation.
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