# "Could not acquire change log lock" or "Waiting for changelog lock..."

> During start-up, one of the following messages may appear in the cascade.log file and prevent Cascade CMS from starting: Waiting for changelog lock....

URL: https://www.hannonhill.com/cascadecms/latest/articles/cascade-administration/installation-and-upgrades/database/changelog-lock.html
category: Cascade Administration
article-type: reference
content-kind: faq
release-availability: all
tags: errors, installation, database
updated: 2026-10-06

During start-up, one of the following messages may appear in the cascade.log file and prevent Cascade CMS from starting:

`Waiting for changelog lock....`

`Caused by: liquibase.exception.LockException: Could not acquire change log lock. Currently locked by ...`

These can occur if the application experiences an ungraceful shutdown. To see which machine has locked the Cascade CMS database, execute the following SQL query:

```xml
select * from DATABASECHANGELOGLOCK;
```

Check the `lockedby` column to see who locked the table. Generally, the lock will be from the local machine.

Assuming this is the case (and no other machine has a lock on the database), take the following steps to resolve the issue:

1. Stop Cascade CMS process (if it's still running)
1. Execute the following SQL query against the Cascade CMS database:
    ```markup
    update DATABASECHANGELOGLOCK
    set locked=0, lockgranted=null, lockedby=null
    where id=1
    ```

1. Start Cascade CMS