Can not start eclipse due to org.eclipse.core.runtime

Question

I copied some plugins into my eclipse installation (specifically Green and ObjectAid from this answer).
I deleted them (since it did not work) but now I can not get eclipse to start (even with eclipse -clean).
I get:

!SESSION 2013-02-08 16:21:16.949 ----------------------------------------------- eclipse.buildId=M20110210-1200 java.version=1.6.0_29 java.vendor=Sun Microsystems Inc. BootLoader constants: OS=win32, ARCH=x86, WS=win32, NL=el_GR Framework arguments: -product org.eclipse.epp.package.jee.product Command-line arguments: -os win32 -ws win32 -arch x86 -product org.eclipse.epp.package.jee.product -clean

!ENTRY org.eclipse.osgi 4 0 2013-02-08 16:21:17.779 !MESSAGE Application error !STACK 1 java.lang.IllegalStateException: Unable to acquire application service. Ensure that the org.eclipse.core.runtime bundle is resolved and started (see config.ini). at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.start(EclipseAppLauncher.java:74) at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:369) at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:179) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source) at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source) at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:620) at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:575) at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:1408)

My config.ini seems ok. I compared it with a downloaded version of Eclipse Helios and they are the same.

#This configuration file was written by: org.eclipse.equinox.internal.frameworkadmin.equinox.EquinoxFwConfigFileParser   
#Fri Feb 08 14:57:16 EET 2013  
org.eclipse.update.reconcile=false  
eclipse.p2.profile=epp.package.jee  
osgi.instance.area.default=@user.home/workspace  
osgi.framework=file\:plugins/org.eclipse.osgi_3.6.2.R36x_v20110210.jar  
equinox.use.ds=true  
eclipse.buildId=M20110210-1200  
osgi.bundles=reference\:file\:org.eclipse.equinox.simpleconfigurator_1.0.200.v20100503.jar@1\:start  
org.eclipse.equinox.simpleconfigurator.configUrl=file\:org.eclipse.equinox.simpleconfigurator/bundles.info  
eclipse.product=org.eclipse.platform.ide  
osgi.splashPath=platform\:/base/plugins/org.eclipse.platform  
osgi.framework.extensions=  
osgi.bundles.defaultStartLevel=4  
eclipse.application=org.eclipse.ui.ide.workbench  
eclipse.p2.data.area=@config.dir/../p2/  

How can I solve this?

Doing a difference in the plugins folder I see the following missing:

C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.jem.workbench_2.0.300.v200910290230.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.jem_2.0.400.v201005110200.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.jst.common.frameworks_1.1.403.v201012160000.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.jst.common.ui_1.0.3.v201101101700.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.core_1.2.4.v201102101900.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.web_1.1.404.v201102030400.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.jst.j2ee_1.1.404.v201102081800.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.jst.jee_1.0.302.v201101122300.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.jst.jsp.core_1.2.304.v201102160550.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.jst.jsp.ui_1.1.503.v201101262228.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.jst.server.core_1.2.101.v20100421.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.jst.server.ui_1.1.101.v20100823b.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.common.emfworkbench.integration_1.2.3.v201012020600.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.common.frameworks_1.2.0.v201003040800.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.common.modulecore.ui_1.0.4.v201101101700.jar   
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.common.modulecore_1.2.5.v201101270100.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.css.core_1.1.402.v201102031915.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.dtd.core_1.1.401.v201101122255.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.html.core_1.1.404.v201101190004.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.internet.monitor.core_1.0.404.v20090609.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.internet.monitor.ui_1.0.405.v20100309.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.jsdt.core_1.1.4.v201102102045.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.jsdt.debug.core_1.0.3.v201011040143.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.jsdt.debug.rhino_1.0.1.v201008170101.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.jsdt.debug.ui_1.0.3.v201011040143.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.jsdt.ui_1.1.4.v201102160540.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.jsdt.web.core_1.0.304.v201102160550.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.jsdt.web.support.jsp_1.0.303.v201012160047.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.jsdt.web.ui_1.0.304.v201012160349.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core_1.1.206.v20110110.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.discovery_1.0.101.v20100707.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.ui.doc.user_1.1.300.v201005192125.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.ui_1.1.207.v20110119.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.sse.core_1.1.504.v201102160550.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.sse.ui_1.2.3.v201102102045.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.standard.schemas_1.0.300.v201004110600.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.validation.ui_1.2.204.v201004150700.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.validation_1.2.201.v201101270100.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.web.ui_1.1.400.v201004141630.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.web_1.1.402.v201012160000.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.ws.explorer_1.0.507.v201004220342.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.ws.service.policy.ui_1.0.202.v201004211732.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.wsdl.ui_1.2.304.v201012071645.jar    
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.wsdl_1.2.104.v201012082239.jar    
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.xml.core_1.1.503.v201102102045.jar  
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.xml.ui_1.1.103.v201101122108.jar
C:\eclipse-jee-helios-SR2-win32\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.wst.xsd.ui_1.2.304.v201101251958.jar

Answer 1

I think you might have deleted some critical folder inside the 'plugins' directory. If I were you, I would compare the freshly downloaded and extracted Eclipse installation contents, directory-wise, with the one that has problems starting.

Answer 2

This error happens because you deleted the config.ini file when you deleted the plugins. So, when it can not find configuration in config.ini when eclipse launches, then it uses a default configuration which does not fit with your OS. The following steps solve your problem:

1. Delete setting in configuration folder.
2. create a new config.ini file.
3. copy following setting and save.
4. restart Eclipse.

These are the settings:

osgi.splashPath = platform:/base/plugins/org.eclipse.platform  
osgi.bundles=org.eclipse.equinox.common@2:start, 
    org.eclipse.update.configurator@3:start, org.eclipse.core.runtime@start  
eclipse.product=org.eclipse.sdk.ide  
osgi.instance.area.default=@user.home/workspace  
eof=eof

Answer 3

I had the same problem today because of an unespected shutdown of my computer and i solved in this way:

• find the configuration directory .eclipse (usually in windows C:\Users\{user}\.eclipse\{eclipse version}
• delete that directory
• restart eclipse

So the config directory will be recreated and you should re-download your plugins