Troubleshooting:

1.  Confirm that the install directory is present:

• The default install directories are:
  
  • Windows - /Program Files (x86)/Wowza Media Systems/Wowza Streaming Engine 4.x.x/  
  • macOS -
    • /Applications/Wowza Streaming Engine 4.x.x/
    • /Library/LaunchDaemons/
    • /Library/WowzaStreamingEngine/ (an alias)
    • /Library/WowzaStreamingEngine-4.x.x/
  • Linux - /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine-4.x.x/, as the root user

  If any of the install directories is missing, run the installer again. See Install and configure Wowza Streaming Engine.

2.  Check that you have the required version of Java installed.

Engine 4.8.18 and Java 11

With Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.18, we've updated to OpenJDK Java SE JRE 11.0.2. Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.18 requires Java 11 at a minimum, but can be used with Java versions 11 - 12. For more information about this update, refer to the Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.18 installation and update considerations and breaking changes.

*  Streaming Engine versions 4.7.8 - 4.8.17

Wowza Streaming Engine version 4.7.8 through 4.8.17 requires OpenJDK Java SE JRE 9.0.4 at a minimum but supports up to Java version 12.

• If you are updating to 4.7.8 through 4.8.17, you must have Java SDK version 9 installed before running the updater.
• For Java versions 9- 12, you must point Wowza Streaming Engine to the version you are using.

3.  Confirm that the install directory contains required folders

• Make sure the install directory contains the following folders: applications, bin, conf, lib, lib-native, logs, manager, stats, transcoder, and updates.
• If any of these folders is missing, run the installer again.

4.   Confirm that Wowza Streaming Engine is running:

• Open a web browser and enter the URL:   http://[wowza-ip-address]:1935/ServerVersion         (where [wowza-ip-address] is the IP address or domain of the Wowza Streaming Engine server.)

         For example:  http://localhost:1935/ServerVersion

• If Wowza Streaming Engine installed correctly, the browser displays the Wowza Streaming Engine version number.
• If it doesn't, check to see if the server software installed correctly and that TCP port 1935 is open on your router, firewall, and in your ip tables.

5.   See if the services are running.

•  By default, the Wowza Streaming Engine installer configures its required services to start automatically. If something happened to those settings, the software won't start.
• Check if Services are running by following the directions HERE for your OS

6.   See if the services are running. If you're running Wowza Streaming Engine as a service and it won't start, the installer might have misidentified the init system for your operating system. Use one of the following commands to change the init system between sysvinit/upstart and systemd:

• To change from sysvinit/upstart to systemd, run the command:sudo /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/bin/installsystemd.sh

  This removes the sysvinit/upstart services, and then creates and starts the systemd services.

• To change from systemd to sysvinit/upstart, run the command::sudo /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/bin/installsystemd.sh

  This removes the systemd services, and then creates and starts the sysvinit/upstart services.

7.  Troubleshoot licensing errors.

 Licensing errors can prevent Wowza Streaming Engine from starting. Take the following steps to  troubleshoot problems related to licensing:

• Make sure your license key file, Server.license, is in the [install-dir]/conf folder.  
• Make sure Server.license doesn't have a file name extension such as .txt or .rtf.  
• Open the Server.license file and verify that it contains the correct license key, and that the key is on a line by itself.  
• Open the Server.license file and verify that it doesn't contain expired license keys or license keys for previous versions of Wowza Streaming Engine. License keys for Wowza Streaming Engine version 4 have the number 4 in the prefix (for example, ENGM4, EPBP4, EPBU4, or ENGP4).  
• Verify that your server can access Wowza licensing servers. If you have proxy servers, see Configure Wowza Streaming Engine to use a proxy server to communicate with the license server.  
• Wowza Streaming Engine periodically tries to connect to the Wowza license servers when it starts. If your license is invalid or your Wowza Streaming Engine server isn't connected to the Internet, you'll encounter an error. For more information on fixing these types of errors, see Troubleshoot Wowza Streaming Engine licensing errors at startup.

8.   Troubleshoot network errors

•  If you can't sign in to the Wowza Streaming Engine Manager or you can't stream, your ports may be configured incorrectly.
• Make sure that you have the appropriate ports open to access the Wowza Streaming Engine and Wowza Streaming Engine Manager and that HTTP requests are being routed correctly through these ports.

• Check that Wowza Streaming Engine services are listening on the ports that you have specified. For complete directions on how to check the ports and firewalls, please click here.

9.  Manually start Wowza Streaming Engine in standalone mode.

• If you still can't get Wowza Streaming Engine to run as a service, you can start it in standalone mode.
•  For instructions on how to start Wowza Streaming Engine and Wowza Streaming Engine Manager in standalone mode, see Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine.

Resources:

Troubleshoot SSL Certificate Configuration for Wowza Streaming Engine
Video Tutorial: How to Configure StreamLock with Streaming Engine