When using the standard standalone.bat file and vault mechanism for masking the keystore password (see https://community.jboss.org/wiki/JBossAS7SecuringPasswords) the JBoss code that reads the jboss.home.dir in the vault section in standalone.xml
removes all file separators from the jboss home path. If the full path to the keystore file and jboss home dir are hardcoded into the vault xml fragment, then the vault works fine.I have tried all combinations of file separators in
standalone.bat and in a separate properties file, but the separators are all removed. The echo of JBOSS_HOME_DIR from standalone.bat gives D:\projects\jboss7 with the proper file separators.(see stacktrace) The error starts with:
...SecurityVaultException: PB00019: Processing Failed: D:projectsjboss7/apphome/vault does not exist.

Vault xml:

<vault>
<vault-option name="KEYSTORE_URL" value="${jboss.server.config.dir}/localhost.keystore" /> // hardcoded path works
...
<vault-option name="ENC_FILE_DIR" value="${jboss.home.dir}/apphome/vault" /> // hardcoded path works

</vault>

End of standalone.bat after :RESTART (double quotes not doing anything)

-Djboss.home.dir="%JBOSS_HOME%" ^ // can hardcode path with any type of separators here and they all go away

Full Stacktrace:

D:\projects\jboss7\bin>standalone.bat
Calling "D:\projects\jboss7\bin\standalone.conf.bat"
===============================================================================

JBoss Bootstrap Environment

JBOSS_HOME: D:\projects\jboss7

JAVA: C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_32\bin\java

JAVA_OPTS: -XX:+TieredCompilation -Dprogram.name=standalone.bat -Xms512M -Xmx1024M -XX:MaxPermSize
=512M -Dsun.rmi.dgc.client.gcInterval=3600000 -Dsun.rmi.dgc.server.gcInterval=3600000 -Djava.net.pre
ferIPv4Stack=true -Dorg.jboss.resolver.warning=true -Djboss.modules.system.pkgs=org.jboss.byteman -D
jboss.server.default.config=standalone.xml -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,address=12999,server=y,susp
end=n -Dtcaims.home=W:\projects\jboss7\tcaimshome -DdevelopmentConfig=true -DTheaterOps=0

===============================================================================

Listening for transport dt_socket at address: 12999
18:37:35,762 INFO [org.jboss.modules] JBoss Modules version 1.1.1.GA
18:37:35,871 INFO [org.jboss.msc] JBoss MSC version 1.0.2.GA
18:37:35,887 INFO [org.jboss.as] JBAS015899: JBoss AS 7.1.1.Final "Brontes" starting
18:37:36,308 INFO [org.jboss.security.vault.SecurityVaultFactory] Getting Security Vault with imple
mentation of org.picketbox.plugins.vault.PicketBoxSecurityVault
18:37:36,308 ERROR [org.jboss.as.controller.management-operation] JBAS014612: Operation ("add") fail
ed - address: ([("core-service" => "vault")]): java.lang.RuntimeException: JBAS015804: Error initial
izing vault - org.jboss.as.server.services.security.VaultReaderException: org.jboss.security.vault
.SecurityVaultException: org.jboss.security.vault.SecurityVaultException: PB00019: Processing Failed
: D:projectsjboss7/tcaimshome/vault/ does not exist
at org.jboss.as.server.services.security.VaultAddHandler.performRuntime(VaultAddHandler.java
:115)
at org.jboss.as.controller.AbstractAddStepHandler$1.execute(AbstractAddStepHandler.java:50)
[jboss-as-controller-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
at org.jboss.as.controller.AbstractOperationContext.executeStep(AbstractOperationContext.jav
a:385) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
at org.jboss.as.controller.AbstractOperationContext.doCompleteStep(AbstractOperationContext.
java:272) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
at org.jboss.as.controller.AbstractOperationContext.completeStep(AbstractOperationContext.ja
va:200) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
at org.jboss.as.controller.ParallelBootOperationStepHandler.execute(ParallelBootOperationSte
pHandler.java:161) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
at org.jboss.as.controller.AbstractOperationContext.executeStep(AbstractOperationContext.jav
a:385) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
at org.jboss.as.controller.AbstractOperationContext.doCompleteStep(AbstractOperationContext.
java:272) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
at org.jboss.as.controller.AbstractOperationContext.completeStep(AbstractOperationContext.ja
va:200) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
at org.jboss.as.controller.ModelControllerImpl.boot(ModelControllerImpl.java:168) [jboss-as-
controller-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
at org.jboss.as.controller.AbstractControllerService.boot(AbstractControllerService.java:190
) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
at org.jboss.as.server.ServerService.boot(ServerService.java:291)
at org.jboss.as.server.ServerService.boot(ServerService.java:266)
at org.jboss.as.controller.AbstractControllerService$1.run(AbstractControllerService.java:15
5) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662) [rt.jar:1.6.0_32]
Caused by: org.jboss.as.server.services.security.VaultReaderException: org.jboss.security.vault.Secu
rityVaultException: org.jboss.security.vault.SecurityVaultException: PB00019: Processing Failed: D:pr
ojectsjboss7/tcaimshome/vault/ does not exist
at org.jboss.as.security.vault.RuntimeVaultReader.createVault(RuntimeVaultReader.java:84)
at org.jboss.as.server.services.security.VaultAddHandler.performRuntime(VaultAddHandler.java
:113)
... 14 more
Caused by: org.jboss.security.vault.SecurityVaultException: org.jboss.security.vault.SecurityVaultEx
ception: PB00019: Processing Failed: D:projectsjboss7/tcaimshome/vault/ does not exist
at org.picketbox.plugins.vault.PicketBoxSecurityVault.init(PicketBoxSecurityVault.java:199)
at org.jboss.as.security.vault.RuntimeVaultReader.createVault(RuntimeVaultReader.java:82)
... 15 more
Caused by: org.jboss.security.vault.SecurityVaultException: PB00019: Processing Failed: D:projectsjbo
ss7/tcaimshome/vault/ does not exist
at org.picketbox.plugins.vault.PicketBoxSecurityVault.init(PicketBoxSecurityVault.java:177)
... 16 more

18:37:36,339 FATAL [org.jboss.as.server] JBAS015957: Server boot has failed in an unrecoverable mann
er; exiting. See previous messages for details.
18:37:36,355 INFO [org.jboss.as] JBAS015950: JBoss AS 7.1.1.Final "Brontes" stopped in 2ms