Error: DynamoDB local error unable to access JAR file dynamodblocal.jar

“Unable to access jarfile DynamoDBLocal.jar” means Java started but could not read the JAR at the specified path. Check the file location, filename case, working directory, and permissions. An incompatible Java runtime normally produces a different startup error.

# From the directory containing the extracted distribution:
ls -l DynamoDBLocal.jar
java -version
java -Djava.library.path=./DynamoDBLocal_lib -jar ./DynamoDBLocal.jar -sharedDb

Extract the whole official distribution, including DynamoDBLocal_lib. If launching from another directory, use absolute paths for both the JAR and native-library directory, quoting paths that contain spaces. On case-sensitive filesystems, dynamodblocal.jar is not DynamoDBLocal.jar.

For IDE, CI, or framework launches, inspect the child process’s working directory and runtime user. Run its exact command directly to see the error. If the archive is incomplete or damaged, download and verify a new copy from AWS. DynamoDB Local 2.6.0 and newer require Java 17 or newer. Local startup errors appear in the launching process logs, not automatically in CloudWatch.

See JAR setup and AWS documentation.