Content Delivery presentation site failing with unable to find valid tridion home

Question

Presentation server is failing with the following error.

Tridion Version: 2013 SP1

Tridion Home is properly set and it contains all the required lib, config & license file.

Application information: 
    Application domain: /LM/W3SVC/2/ROOT-1-130560186647618695 
    Trust level: Full 
    Application Virtual Path: / 
    Application Path: D:\TridionContentDelivery\PresentationWebSite_Staging\ 
    Machine name: pres-web 

Process information: 
    Process ID: 2032 
    Process name: w3wp.exe 
    Account name: NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE 

Exception information: 
    Exception type: TargetInvocationException 
    Exception message: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
   at System.RuntimeTypeHandle.CreateInstance(RuntimeType type, Boolean publicOnly, Boolean noCheck, Boolean& canBeCached, RuntimeMethodHandleInternal& ctor, Boolean& bNeedSecurityCheck)
   at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceSlow(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipCheckThis, Boolean fillCache, StackCrawlMark& stackMark)
   at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceDefaultCtor(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipCheckThis, Boolean fillCache, StackCrawlMark& stackMark)
   at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic)
   at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceImpl(BindingFlags bindingAttr, Binder binder, Object[] args, CultureInfo culture, Object[] activationAttributes, StackCrawlMark& stackMark)
   at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, BindingFlags bindingAttr, Binder binder, Object[] args, CultureInfo culture, Object[] activationAttributes)
   at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, BindingFlags bindingAttr, Binder binder, Object[] args, CultureInfo culture)
   at System.Web.HttpRuntime.CreateNonPublicInstance(Type type, Object[] args)
   at System.Web.HttpApplication.BuildIntegratedModuleCollection(List`1 moduleList)
   at System.Web.HttpApplication.GetModuleCollection(IntPtr appContext)
   at System.Web.HttpApplication.RegisterEventSubscriptionsWithIIS(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context, MethodInfo[] handlers)
   at System.Web.HttpApplication.InitSpecial(HttpApplicationState state, MethodInfo[] handlers, IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context)
   at System.Web.HttpApplicationFactory.GetSpecialApplicationInstance(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context)
   at System.Web.Hosting.PipelineRuntime.InitializeApplication(IntPtr appContext)

The type initializer for 'Tridion.ContentDelivery.AmbientData.HttpModule' threw an exception.
   at Tridion.ContentDelivery.AmbientData.HttpModule..ctor()

Exception occurred during configuration callback
   at Codemesh.JuggerNET.JavaClass.ThrowException(Exception ex)
   at Codemesh.JuggerNET.JvmLoader.GetJvmLoader(Boolean bEnvOverrides, Boolean bDefaultJvm, TraceFacility fac, TraceLevel level)
   at Codemesh.JuggerNET.NativeInterface.ToJavaString(String str)
   at Codemesh.JuggerNET.JavaMethodArguments.Add_string(String str)
   at Codemesh.JuggerNET.JavaMethodArguments.Add(Object obj, Type type)
   at Org.Slf4j.LoggerFactory.GetLogger(String name)
   at Tridion.ContentDelivery.Web.Utilities.LoggerFactory.GetLogger(String loggerName)
   at Tridion.ContentDelivery.AmbientData.HttpModule..cctor()

Unable to locate a valid Tridion Home directory, see Tridion event log
   at Tridion.ContentDelivery.Web.Jvm.ConfigurationHook.ConfigMethod(IJvmLoader loader, Int32 when)
   at Codemesh.JuggerNET.JvmLoader.GetJvmLoader(Boolean bEnvOverrides, Boolean bDefaultJvm, TraceFacility fac, TraceLevel level)



Request information: 
        Request URL: http://localhost/ 
        Request path: / 
        User host address: ::1 
        User:  
        Is authenticated: False 
        Authentication Type:  
        Thread account name: NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE 

    Thread information: 
        Thread ID: 8 
        Thread account name: NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE 
        Is impersonating: False 
        Stack trace:    at System.RuntimeTypeHandle.CreateInstance(RuntimeType type, Boolean publicOnly, Boolean noCheck, Boolean& canBeCached, RuntimeMethodHandleInternal& ctor, Boolean& bNeedSecurityCheck)
       at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceSlow(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipCheckThis, Boolean fillCache, StackCrawlMark& stackMark)
       at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceDefaultCtor(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipCheckThis, Boolean fillCache, StackCrawlMark& stackMark)
       at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic)
       at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceImpl(BindingFlags bindingAttr, Binder binder, Object[] args, CultureInfo culture, Object[] activationAttributes, StackCrawlMark& stackMark)
       at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, BindingFlags bindingAttr, Binder binder, Object[] args, CultureInfo culture, Object[] activationAttributes)
       at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, BindingFlags bindingAttr, Binder binder, Object[] args, CultureInfo culture)
       at System.Web.HttpRuntime.CreateNonPublicInstance(Type type, Object[] args)
       at System.Web.HttpApplication.BuildIntegratedModuleCollection(List`1 moduleList)
       at System.Web.HttpApplication.GetModuleCollection(IntPtr appContext)
       at System.Web.HttpApplication.RegisterEventSubscriptionsWithIIS(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context, MethodInfo[] handlers)
       at System.Web.HttpApplication.InitSpecial(HttpApplicationState state, MethodInfo[] handlers, IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context)
       at System.Web.HttpApplicationFactory.GetSpecialApplicationInstance(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context)
       at System.Web.Hosting.PipelineRuntime.InitializeApplication(IntPtr appContext)


    Custom event details: 

Any pointers would be helpful.

Answer 1

For .NET Web Application the Tridion Home is dynamically setup by JuggerNET. It will check for the presence of an HttpContext, if it is true, then it will check for the presence of a Bin folder containing Config and Lib folders, if it cannot find them then it will try to find a [TRIDION_HOME] in the Environments Variables. Make sure you have a Bin folder with the above setup.