hashicorp/nomad · error

timeout exceeded waiting for process

Error message

timeout exceeded waiting for process

What it means

waitFor polls a Windows process/service state on a timer and returns this error when the caller's context is done before the operation reports complete. It is the timeout signal for Start, Stop, and stub-service deletion operations on Windows services.

Source

Thrown at helper/winsvc/windows_service_windows.go:252

	pauseDur := time.Millisecond * 250
	t, timerStop := helper.NewSafeTimer(pauseDur)
	defer timerStop()

	for {
		t.Reset(pauseDur)

		complete, err := condition()
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}

		if complete {
			return nil
		}

		select {
		case <-ctx.Done():
			return fmt.Errorf("timeout exceeded waiting for process")
		case <-t.C:
		}
	}
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 482b49bf1a)

Solutions

1. Inspect the Windows service/event log (sc query, Event Viewer) to find why the process is not reaching the expected state.
2. Increase the wait timeout/deadline passed to Start/Stop via the context.
3. Fix the underlying service hang: check for blocking dependencies, deadlocks, or slow disk/network at startup or shutdown.
4. Retry the stop/start operation after confirming the process state with the Service Control Manager.

Example fix

// before
ctx := context.Background() // no deadline; or too-short timeout

// after
ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 60*time.Second)
defer cancel()

// Before Stop/Start, check current state
state, _ := svc.Query()
if state == svc.Stopped { /* skip Stop */ }

err := manager.Stop(timeout)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "timeout exceeded waiting for process") {
    // inspect service state/event log, optionally retry once with longer timeout
}

When it happens

Trigger: Start, Stop, deleteStubService, or an anonymous caller invoking waitFor when the service/process does not reach its expected state before the context deadline (ctx.Done()) fires.

Common situations: Service binary hangs or blocks during startup/shutdown; service depends on a slow resource; SCM stop request deadlocks; system under heavy load; the configured wait timeout is too short for slow machines.

Understand the failure class

• Timeouts: ETIMEDOUT, deadlines, and hung requests — what actually expires when a request times out.

Related errors

• could not start service - %w
• Failed to open Windows eventlog: %w
• rcp.connection_write_timeout must be greater than zero
• rcp.stream_close_timeout must be greater than zero
• rcp.stream_open_timeout must be greater than zero

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/nomad@482b49bf1a (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a0708050b8c6cdeb. Report an issue: GitHub.