Windows Error in Google App Engine

Question

This is my first program in GAE. I'm working with latest GAE SDK, and Python 2.7 on Windows XP 32 bit. All was working fine; but to my surprise I'm getting the following error:

2013-03-20 22:48:26 Running command: "['C:\\Python27\\pythonw.exe', 'C:\\Program Files\\Google\\google_appengine\\dev_appserver.py', '--skip_sdk_update_check=yes', '--port=9080', '--admin_port=8001', u'B:\\AppEngg\\huddle-up']"
INFO     2013-03-20 22:48:27,236 devappserver2.py:401] Skipping SDK update check.
WARNING  2013-03-20 22:48:27,253 api_server.py:328] Could not initialize images API; you are likely missing the Python "PIL" module.
INFO     2013-03-20 22:48:27,283 api_server.py:152] Starting API server at: http://localhost:1127
INFO     2013-03-20 22:48:27,299 api_server.py:517] Applying all pending transactions and saving the datastore
INFO     2013-03-20 22:48:27,299 api_server.py:520] Saving search indexes
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Program Files\Google\google_appengine\dev_appserver.py", line 194, in 
    _run_file(__file__, globals())
  File "C:\Program Files\Google\google_appengine\dev_appserver.py", line 190, in _run_file
    execfile(script_path, globals_)
  File "C:\Program Files\Google\google_appengine\google\appengine\tools\devappserver2\devappserver2.py", line 545, in 
    main()
  File "C:\Program Files\Google\google_appengine\google\appengine\tools\devappserver2\devappserver2.py", line 538, in main
    dev_server.start(options)
  File "C:\Program Files\Google\google_appengine\google\appengine\tools\devappserver2\devappserver2.py", line 513, in start
    self._dispatcher.start(apis.port, request_data)
  File "C:\Program Files\Google\google_appengine\google\appengine\tools\devappserver2\dispatcher.py", line 95, in start
    servr.start()
  File "C:\Program Files\Google\google_appengine\google\appengine\tools\devappserver2\server.py", line 827, in start
    self._watcher.start()
  File "C:\Program Files\Google\google_appengine\google\appengine\tools\devappserver2\win32_file_watcher.py", line 74, in start
    raise ctypes.WinError()
WindowsError: [Error 6] The handle is invalid.
2013-03-20 22:48:27 (Process exited with code 1)

I Googled it; but it seems that most of the people getting this error have something wrong in there PATH config or in x64 Windows.

Answer 1

I updated GAE SDK to 1.7.6 from 1.7.5, since then I started getting this error. I reverted back to 1.7.5, the application is functioning normally :)

Answer 2

According to this thread, the new appserver has been pushed as default in 1.7.6 despite still having significant issues. http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg67459.html

Although I am not having the same issue as you, I am getting fatal errors relating to python egg extraction which mean I can't use the new SDK. At this point the best thing is probably to revert to the earlier one: http://googleappengine.googlecode.com/files/GoogleAppEngine-1.7.5.msi

Answer 3

I had the same issue with GAE SDK 1.7.6, downgrading to 1.7.5 solved it for me too.

Answer 4

It might be that your "GOPATH" environment variable points to a directory that does not exist. To discover exactly what the offending directory is, make the following edit to win32_file_watcher.py (around line 60):

  """Start watching the directory for changes."""
+ print("Watching " + self._directory + "\n")
  self._find_change_handle = (

When you run the script again, you should see a printout of the last directory that it was trying to monitor for changes.

Answer 5

I got exactly the same problem with SDK 1.99 on Windows 8. I was running a test script .yaml and .go file from Google Go's own working directory. Moving my code to its own subdirectory solved the problem.