RabbitMQ not recognized when running as a windows service but will run fine from command line

[mbar...@directworks.com]

When I try to get the RabbitMQ status after an initial install, I get this result.

Status of node 'rabbit@mycomputer' ...

Error: unable to connect to node 'rabbit@mycomputer': nodedown

DIAGNOSTICS

===========

attempted to contact: ['rabbit@mycomputer']

rabbit@mycomputer:

  * connected to epmd (port 4369) on mycomputer

  * epmd reports: node 'rabbit' not running at all

                  other nodes on mycomputer: ['RabbitMQ']

  * suggestion: start the node

current node details:

- node name: 'rabbitmq-cli-9440@mycomputer'

- home dir: C:\Users\me

- cookie hash: tVx10fbsjKKK21QMK7h/9w==

The service is running.  

I don't see any errors in the windows event log

I followed the RabbitMQ install instructions here: https://www.rabbitmq.com/install-windows.html

Using the command:

   c:\...\sbin> rabbitmq-server

works just fine and I can run through all of the tutorials.

[mbar...@directworks.com]

I think I understand the root cause.   Rabbit is running as a service and my not have access to my local %APPDATA% folder.  

Therefore I changed value of RABBITMQ_BASE using the following steps.

  Set the environment variable “RABBITMQ_BASE” to “c:\rabbitmq”

  Uninstall the service (rabbitmq-service.bat remove) 

  Install the service again (rabbitmq-service.bat install).