Cannot launch Eclipse because "The instance data location has not been specified yet"

Question

After I select a workspace to start, pop up a window saying "An error has occurred. See the log file *my_work_space.metadata.log"

The log is:

!ENTRY org.eclipse.osgi 4 0 2019-03-19 16:57:32.090
!MESSAGE Application error
!STACK 1
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/eclipse/core/resources/IContainer
    at org.eclipse.ui.internal.ide.application.IDEApplication.start(IDEApplication.java:156)
    at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.app.EclipseAppHandle.run(EclipseAppHandle.java:203)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.runApplication(EclipseAppLauncher.java:137)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.start(EclipseAppLauncher.java:107)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:400)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:255)
    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:659)
    at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:595)
    at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:1501)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: An error occurred while automatically activating bundle org.eclipse.core.resources (1211).
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.hooks.EclipseLazyStarter.postFindLocalClass(EclipseLazyStarter.java:126)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.loader.classpath.ClasspathManager.findLocalClass(ClasspathManager.java:557)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.loader.ModuleClassLoader.findLocalClass(ModuleClassLoader.java:331)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.loader.BundleLoader.findLocalClass(BundleLoader.java:395)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.loader.sources.SingleSourcePackage.loadClass(SingleSourcePackage.java:39)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.loader.BundleLoader.findClassInternal(BundleLoader.java:469)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.loader.BundleLoader.findClass(BundleLoader.java:422)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.loader.BundleLoader.findClass(BundleLoader.java:414)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.loader.ModuleClassLoader.loadClass(ModuleClassLoader.java:153)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredConstructors0(Native Method)
    at java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredConstructors(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Class.getConstructor0(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Unknown Source)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.framework.BundleContextImpl.loadBundleActivator(BundleContextImpl.java:766)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.framework.BundleContextImpl.start(BundleContextImpl.java:719)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.framework.EquinoxBundle.startWorker0(EquinoxBundle.java:1005)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.framework.EquinoxBundle$EquinoxModule.startWorker(EquinoxBundle.java:357)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.container.Module.doStart(Module.java:588)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.container.Module.start(Module.java:456)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.container.ModuleContainer$ContainerStartLevel.incStartLevel(ModuleContainer.java:1783)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.container.ModuleContainer$ContainerStartLevel.incStartLevel(ModuleContainer.java:1763)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.container.ModuleContainer$ContainerStartLevel.doContainerStartLevel(ModuleContainer.java:1725)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.container.ModuleContainer$ContainerStartLevel.dispatchEvent(ModuleContainer.java:1656)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.container.ModuleContainer$ContainerStartLevel.dispatchEvent(ModuleContainer.java:1)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.eventmgr.EventManager.dispatchEvent(EventManager.java:233)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.eventmgr.EventManager$EventThread.run(EventManager.java:343)
Caused by: org.osgi.framework.BundleException: Exception in org.eclipse.core.resources.ResourcesPlugin.start() of bundle org.eclipse.core.resources.
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.framework.BundleContextImpl.startActivator(BundleContextImpl.java:803)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.framework.BundleContextImpl.start(BundleContextImpl.java:732)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.framework.EquinoxBundle.startWorker0(EquinoxBundle.java:1005)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.framework.EquinoxBundle$EquinoxModule.startWorker(EquinoxBundle.java:357)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.container.Module.doStart(Module.java:588)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.container.Module.start(Module.java:456)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.util.SecureAction.start(SecureAction.java:471)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.hooks.EclipseLazyStarter.postFindLocalClass(EclipseLazyStarter.java:117)
    ... 26 more
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: The instance data location has not been specified yet.
    at org.eclipse.core.internal.runtime.DataArea.assertLocationInitialized(DataArea.java:59)
    at org.eclipse.core.internal.runtime.DataArea.getStateLocation(DataArea.java:136)
    at org.eclipse.core.internal.runtime.InternalPlatform.getStateLocation(InternalPlatform.java:540)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.Plugin.getStateLocation(Plugin.java:292)
    at org.eclipse.core.internal.resources.LocalMetaArea.<init>(LocalMetaArea.java:63)
    at org.eclipse.core.resources.ResourcesPlugin.start(ResourcesPlugin.java:481)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.framework.BundleContextImpl$3.run(BundleContextImpl.java:782)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.framework.BundleContextImpl$3.run(BundleContextImpl.java:1)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.framework.BundleContextImpl.startActivator(BundleContextImpl.java:775)
    ... 33 more

After I googled a while, I find a way to start it in command line:

.\eclipse.exe -data C:\*\my_work_space

However, I do not want to launch it in this way forever. Any help is appreciated!

Environment:

• Windows 10 64 bits
• Eclipse 2018-12 (4.10.0)

eclipse.ini:

-startup
plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.5.200.v20180922-1751.jar
--launcher.library
C:\Users\*\.p2\pool\plugins\org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.win32.win32.x86_64_1.1.900.v20180922-1751
-product
org.eclipse.epp.package.jee.product
-showsplash
org.eclipse.epp.package.common
--launcher.defaultAction
openFile
--launcher.appendVmargs
-vm
C:/Program Files/Java/jre1.8.0_171/bin
-vmargs
-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.8
[email protected]/eclipse-workspace
-XX:+UseG1GC
-XX:+UseStringDeduplication
--add-modules=ALL-SYSTEM
-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.8
-Dosgi.dataAreaRequiresExplicitInit=true
-Xms256m
-Xmx1024m
--add-modules=ALL-SYSTEM
-Declipse.p2.max.threads=10
-Doomph.update.url=http://download.eclipse.org/oomph/updates/milestone/latest
-Doomph.redirection.index.redirection=index:/->http://git.eclipse.org/c/oomph/org.eclipse.oomph.git/plain/setups/

Answer 1

Commentout the below line from eclipse.ini file.

-Dosgi.dataAreaRequiresExplicitInit=true

Answer 2

I suddenly had the same error with eclipse 2020-06. After having closed eclipse and reopened the very same workspace the same error occured. In Bug 540316 I found a hint to start eclipse with the "-clean" option.

Thus, starting eclipse by eclipse.exe -clean seemed to solve the problem, at least I could re-open my worksapce again. But I have no idea what is the deeper cause of the problem and its resolution.