Starting InterSystems IRIS Without Automatic WIJ and Journal Recovery

Some of the restore procedures described on this page require starting InterSystems IRIS in a way that prevents the automatic recovery of databases at startup from occurring. This is specified when all of the recovery is to be done manually in the restore procedure and the automatic startup recovery may be incompatible with the manual recovery effort.

Caution:

The restore procedures documented on this page explicitly state when the following procedure is necessary. Performing the procedure at any other time is extremely dangerous and could damage database integrity.

To start InterSystems IRIS without automatic WIJ and Journal Recovery:

Remove but do not delete the IRIS.WIJ file, so that it remains available for analysis, as follows:
1. Check the startup.last file in the manager directory for the line wijlast=.
2. Move or rename the IRIS.WIJ file in the directory specified in that line. If a null directory is specified, the IRIS.WIJ file is located in the manager directory.
Start InterSystems IRIS in emergency access mode, specifying a unique username and password to be used for all maintenance activity; this username and password should not match any existing user:
- On Windows, invoke the command from the bin directory of your InterSystems IRIS installation:
```
iris start <iris-instance-name> /EmergencyId=<username>,<password>
```
- On UNIX®/Linux and macOS platforms, invoke the command:
```
iris start <iris-instance-name> EmergencyId=<username>,<password>
```
For more information, see Emergency Access.
In most cases, InterSystems IRIS does not start completely due to the missing journal recovery information in the WIJ. If InterSystems IRIS starts normally, skip the remainder of this procedure.
Follow the instructions in the messages.log to enter InterSystems IRIS with the -B option and run do ^STURECOV:
1. Select option 8 to reset InterSystems IRIS to start without journal recovery.
2. Select option 9 to shut down InterSystems IRIS (using the displayed instructions).
Start InterSystems IRIS in emergency access mode again, as described in step 2.
Perform the remaining portions of the restore procedure as documented for your restore scenario.
After completing the restore procedure — including any journal restore, application validation, or other maintenance activities — you can make the system available to users as follows:
1. Shut down InterSystems IRIS.
2. Start InterSystems IRIS without the EmergencyId (/EmergencyId on Windows platforms) switch.

Journal Restore Following Backup Restore