If the JAVA_HOME variable is set to an incorrect path, such as %JAVA_HOME%/bin, instead of the root of the JDK, then JBoss fails to start, and a cryptic error message is printed.
If running %JBOSS_HOME%/bin/run.bat:
"Config file not found run.conf.bat"
If running as a service on Windows, as described in section 11.4.1 of the Installation Guide:
run.log:
"Config file not found C:\Users\gsslab\jboss\5.1.2\native\sbin\run.conf"