False TemplateNotFoundException ColdFusion 9

I was working on a server (CF9.0.2 Win2008 IIS7.5) installation today and ran into what I thought at first was an IIS connector issue. When I setup the server in IIS 6 compatibility mode, it simply returned a blank page, using the IIS 7 connector for ColdFusion 9 was showing me an IIS error page with a 404.0 response from the JWildCardHandler in ExecuteRequestHandler, the file that I was trying to serve was there, IIS had permission to read it. It was not a 404!

I then realized it was not an IIS connector issue (even though it really looked like it to me), but the problem was on the CF side.

In my exception.log I found:

"Error","jrpp-0","03/17/14","15:13:57",,"Could not find the ColdFusion component or interface C:\sites\test\Application.cfc.Ensure that the name is correct and that the component or interface exists. The specific sequence of files included or processed is: C:\sites\test\index.cfm'' "
coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage$NoSuchTemplateException: Could not find the ColdFusion component or interface C:\sites\test\Application.cfc.
	at coldfusion.runtime.TemplateClassLoader.newInstance(TemplateClassLoader.java:565)
	at coldfusion.runtime.TemplateClassLoader.newInstance(TemplateClassLoader.java:541)
	at coldfusion.runtime.TemplateProxyFactory.getCFCInstance(TemplateProxyFactory.java:271)
	at coldfusion.runtime.TemplateProxyFactory.resolveName(TemplateProxyFactory.java:174)
	at coldfusion.runtime.TemplateProxyFactory.resolveName(TemplateProxyFactory.java:159)
	at coldfusion.runtime.TemplateProxyFactory.resolveFile(TemplateProxyFactory.java:120)
	at coldfusion.cfc.CFCProxy.(CFCProxy.java:92)
	at coldfusion.runtime.AppEventInvoker.(AppEventInvoker.java:48)
	at coldfusion.filter.ApplicationFilter.invoke(ApplicationFilter.java:192)
	at coldfusion.filter.RequestMonitorFilter.invoke(RequestMonitorFilter.java:48)
	at coldfusion.filter.MonitoringFilter.invoke(MonitoringFilter.java:40)
	at coldfusion.filter.PathFilter.invoke(PathFilter.java:94)
	at coldfusion.filter.ExceptionFilter.invoke(ExceptionFilter.java:70)
	at coldfusion.filter.ClientScopePersistenceFilter.invoke(ClientScopePersistenceFilter.java:28)
	at coldfusion.filter.BrowserFilter.invoke(BrowserFilter.java:38)
	at coldfusion.filter.NoCacheFilter.invoke(NoCacheFilter.java:46)
	at coldfusion.filter.GlobalsFilter.invoke(GlobalsFilter.java:38)
	at coldfusion.filter.DatasourceFilter.invoke(DatasourceFilter.java:22)
	at coldfusion.filter.CachingFilter.invoke(CachingFilter.java:62)
	at coldfusion.CfmServlet.service(CfmServlet.java:201)
	at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapServlet.service(BootstrapServlet.java:89)
	at jrun.servlet.FilterChain.doFilter(FilterChain.java:86)
	at coldfusion.monitor.event.MonitoringServletFilter.doFilter(MonitoringServletFilter.java:42)
	at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapFilter.doFilter(BootstrapFilter.java:46)
	at jrun.servlet.FilterChain.doFilter(FilterChain.java:94)
	at jrun.servlet.FilterChain.service(FilterChain.java:101)
	at jrun.servlet.ServletInvoker.invoke(ServletInvoker.java:106)
	at jrun.servlet.JRunInvokerChain.invokeNext(JRunInvokerChain.java:42)
	at jrun.servlet.JRunRequestDispatcher.invoke(JRunRequestDispatcher.java:286)
	at jrun.servlet.ServletEngineService.dispatch(ServletEngineService.java:543)
	at jrun.servlet.jrpp.JRunProxyService.invokeRunnable(JRunProxyService.java:203)
	at jrunx.scheduler.ThreadPool$DownstreamMetrics.invokeRunnable(ThreadPool.java:320)
	at jrunx.scheduler.ThreadPool$ThreadThrottle.invokeRunnable(ThreadPool.java:428)
	at jrunx.scheduler.ThreadPool$UpstreamMetrics.invokeRunnable(ThreadPool.java:266)
	at jrunx.scheduler.WorkerThread.run(WorkerThread.java:66)
"Error","jrpp-0","03/17/14","15:13:57",,"File not found: C:\ColdFusion9\wwwroot\WEB-INF\exception\coldfusion\runtime\ApplicationException.cfm The specific sequence of files included or processed is: C:\ColdFusion9\wwwroot\WEB-INF\exception\coldfusion\runtime\ApplicationException.cfm'' "
coldfusion.runtime.TemplateNotFoundException: File not found: C:\ColdFusion9\wwwroot\WEB-INF\exception\coldfusion\runtime\ApplicationException.cfm
	at coldfusion.runtime.TemplateClassLoader.newInstance(TemplateClassLoader.java:567)
	at coldfusion.tagext.lang.IncludeTag.setTemplate(IncludeTag.java:191)
	at coldfusion.tagext.lang.IncludeTag.setTemplatePath(IncludeTag.java:111)
	at coldfusion.filter.CfincludeFilter.invoke(CfincludeFilter.java:64)
	at coldfusion.filter.CfincludeFilter.include(CfincludeFilter.java:33)
	at coldfusion.filter.ExceptionFilter.runBuiltInHandler(ExceptionFilter.java:552)
	at coldfusion.filter.ExceptionFilter.handleException(ExceptionFilter.java:329)
	at coldfusion.filter.ExceptionFilter.invoke(ExceptionFilter.java:84)
	at coldfusion.filter.ClientScopePersistenceFilter.invoke(ClientScopePersistenceFilter.java:28)
	at coldfusion.filter.BrowserFilter.invoke(BrowserFilter.java:38)
	at coldfusion.filter.NoCacheFilter.invoke(NoCacheFilter.java:46)
	at coldfusion.filter.GlobalsFilter.invoke(GlobalsFilter.java:38)
	at coldfusion.filter.DatasourceFilter.invoke(DatasourceFilter.java:22)
	at coldfusion.filter.CachingFilter.invoke(CachingFilter.java:62)
	at coldfusion.CfmServlet.service(CfmServlet.java:201)
	at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapServlet.service(BootstrapServlet.java:89)
	at jrun.servlet.FilterChain.doFilter(FilterChain.java:86)
	at coldfusion.monitor.event.MonitoringServletFilter.doFilter(MonitoringServletFilter.java:42)
	at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapFilter.doFilter(BootstrapFilter.java:46)
	at jrun.servlet.FilterChain.doFilter(FilterChain.java:94)
	at jrun.servlet.FilterChain.service(FilterChain.java:101)
	at jrun.servlet.ServletInvoker.invoke(ServletInvoker.java:106)
	at jrun.servlet.JRunInvokerChain.invokeNext(JRunInvokerChain.java:42)
	at jrun.servlet.JRunRequestDispatcher.invoke(JRunRequestDispatcher.java:286)
	at jrun.servlet.ServletEngineService.dispatch(ServletEngineService.java:543)
	at jrun.servlet.jrpp.JRunProxyService.invokeRunnable(JRunProxyService.java:203)
	at jrunx.scheduler.ThreadPool$DownstreamMetrics.invokeRunnable(ThreadPool.java:320)
	at jrunx.scheduler.ThreadPool$ThreadThrottle.invokeRunnable(ThreadPool.java:428)
	at jrunx.scheduler.ThreadPool$UpstreamMetrics.invokeRunnable(ThreadPool.java:266)
	at jrunx.scheduler.WorkerThread.run(WorkerThread.java:66)

The Application.cfc was there and ColdFusion had read permission to it, the ApplicationException.cfm was there and ColdFusion also had read permission to that user.

I was getting this coldfusion.runtime.TemplateNotFoundException but the templates really were there!

So what was the problem?

I had denied write access to C:\ColdFusion9\wwwroot\ for ColdFusion's user account. So what I think happened is that ColdFusion tried to compile the cfm and cfc file (and it needs to write those files into the WEB-INF folder) it didn't have permission to write these files so it threw a TemplateNotFoundException on the file it was trying to compile... even though CF did find it and could read it, it just couldn't save the compiled class.

I had to blog this one because it is such an obscure exception, not sure if too many people will encounter it, but just in case...