Can't set up WebStorm

Build WS-163.9166.30

WebStorm doesn't want to remember my JetBrains account license on 16.10. I unzipped it to /opt. It worked fine from /opt on 16.04

java.lang.SecurityException: Could not lock User prefs. Lock file access denied.
    at java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences.checkLockFile0ErrorCode(FileSystemPreferences.java:937)
    at java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences.lockFile(FileSystemPreferences.java:925)
    at java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences.sync(FileSystemPreferences.java:729)
    at java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences.flush(FileSystemPreferences.java:824)
    at java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences.syncWorld(FileSystemPreferences.java:464)
    at java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences.access$1200(FileSystemPreferences.java:50)
    at java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences$3.run(FileSystemPreferences.java:432)
    at java.util.TimerThread.mainLoop(Timer.java:555)
    at java.util.TimerThread.run(Timer.java:505)

I tried ~ folder and other JetBrains products as well. Same story.

Also, JetBrains Toolbox is crashing after 5 seconds after launch

Solution 1:

After opening a ticket with JetBrain's support, this is what helped me:

1. Open (or create) webstorm64.vmoptions file. If you can open WebStorm, you can go to Help -> Edit Custom VM Options.... If you can't, create a file named webstorm64.vmoptions in the config directory (usually ~/.WebStorm<version>) and open it in a text editor.

2. Find (or create) a folder that you have full permissions to (e.g. mkdir ~/.ws-prefs)

3. Add the following line to the file:

   -Djava.util.prefs.userRoot=absolute_path_to_prefs_folder
   

Save and restart WebStorm.

The issue happened again after upgrading WebStorm and a few reboots. This time, I've noticed that although it crushed during initialization after I've logged in to my JetBrains account, I was able to run WebStorm with a trial license. So I removed the entire configuration folder (rm -rf ~/.WebStorm<version>) and everything works again (for now...)