Neo4j Desktop 2.1.1 is not working in local

Neo4j Graph Platform Desktop
1

We have downloaded Neo4j Desktop application from

Neo4j Deployment Center - Graph Database & Analytics . I am not able to start the instance or create the database. Error says as “Address already bind”. 2026-01-23 07:54:38.204+0000 INFO Starting...
2026-01-23 07:54:47.043+0000 INFO ======== Neo4j 2025.12.1 ========
2026-01-23 07:54:48.001+0000 INFO This instance is ServerId{cef22628} (cef22628-c69f-495f-b3f3-c35b63bc3700)
2026-01-23 07:54:50.501+0000 INFO Resolved endpoints with LIST{endpoints:'[localhost:6000]'} to '[localhost:6000]'
2026-01-23 07:54:51.140+0000 INFO Resolved endpoints with LIST{endpoints:'[localhost:6000]'} to '[localhost:6000]'
2026-01-23 07:54:57.860+0000 INFO Sending metrics to CSV file at C:\Users\remya.rr\.Neo4jDesktop2\Data\dbmss\dbms-0947637f-413c-48ae-a873-1f5dd7c14db3\metrics
2026-01-23 07:54:57.932+0000 INFO Anonymous Usage Data is being sent to Neo4j, see https://neo4j.com/docs/usage-data/
2026-01-23 07:55:10.587+0000 ERROR Failed to start Neo4j on 0.0.0.0:7474.
java.lang.RuntimeException: Error starting Neo4j database server at C:\Users\remya.rr\.Neo4jDesktop2\Data\dbmss\dbms-0947637f-413c-48ae-a873-1f5dd7c14db3\data\databases
at org.neo4j.graphdb.facade.DatabaseManagementServiceFactory.startDatabaseServer(DatabaseManagementServiceFactory.java:291)
at org.neo4j.graphdb.facade.DatabaseManagementServiceFactory.build(DatabaseManagementServiceFactory.java:225)
at com.neo4j.server.enterprise.EnterpriseDBMSProvider.createManagementService(EnterpriseDBMSProvider.java:39)
at com.neo4j.server.enterprise.EnterpriseDBMSProvider.(EnterpriseDBMSProvider.java:29)
at com.neo4j.server.enterprise.EnterpriseDBMSFactory.createManagementService(EnterpriseDBMSFactory.java:19)
at com.neo4j.server.enterprise.EnterpriseBootstrapper.createNeo(EnterpriseBootstrapper.java:40)
at org.neo4j.server.NeoBootstrapper.start(NeoBootstrapper.java:199)
at org.neo4j.server.NeoBootstrapper.start(NeoBootstrapper.java:142)
at org.neo4j.server.NeoBootstrapper.start(NeoBootstrapper.java:105)
at com.neo4j.server.enterprise.Neo4jEnterprise.main(Neo4jEnterprise.java:19)
Caused by: org.neo4j.kernel.lifecycle.LifecycleException: Component 'org.neo4j.bolt.protocol.common.connector.netty.SocketNettyConnector@5bfdc92b' was successfully initialized, but failed to start. Please see the attached cause exception "Address already in use: bind".
at org.neo4j.kernel.lifecycle.LifeSupport$LifecycleInstance.start(LifeSupport.java:364)
at org.neo4j.kernel.lifecycle.LifeSupport.start(LifeSupport.java:91)
at org.neo4j.bolt.BoltServer.start(BoltServer.java:419)
at org.neo4j.kernel.lifecycle.LifeSupport$LifecycleInstance.start(LifeSupport.java:347)
at org.neo4j.kernel.lifecycle.LifeSupport.start(LifeSupport.java:91)
at org.neo4j.graphdb.facade.DatabaseManagementServiceFactory.startDatabaseServer(DatabaseManagementServiceFactory.java:282)
... 9 more
Caused by: org.neo4j.configuration.helpers.PortBindException: An error occurred while trying to bind to the socket /0.0.0.0:7687
at org.neo4j.bolt.protocol.common.connector.netty.AbstractNettyConnector.start(AbstractNettyConnector.java:229)
at org.neo4j.kernel.lifecycle.LifeSupport$LifecycleInstance.start(LifeSupport.java:347)
... 14 more
Caused by: java.net.BindException: Address already in use: bind
at java.base/sun.nio.ch.Net.bind0(Native Method)
at java.base/sun.nio.ch.Net.bind(Net.java:565)
at java.base/sun.nio.ch.ServerSocketChannelImpl.netBind(ServerSocketChannelImpl.java:344)
at java.base/sun.nio.ch.ServerSocketChannelImpl.bind(ServerSocketChannelImpl.java:301)
at io.netty.channel.socket.nio.NioServerSocketChannel.doBind(NioServerSocketChannel.java:148)
at io.netty.channel.AbstractChannel$AbstractUnsafe.bind(AbstractChannel.java:434)
at io.netty.channel.DefaultChannelPipeline$HeadContext.bind(DefaultChannelPipeline.java:1353)
at io.netty.channel.AbstractChannelHandlerContext.invokeBind(AbstractChannelHandlerContext.java:492)
at io.netty.channel.AbstractChannelHandlerContext.bind(AbstractChannelHandlerContext.java:471)
at io.netty.channel.DefaultChannelPipeline.bind(DefaultChannelPipeline.java:994)
at io.netty.channel.Channel.bind(Channel.java:302)
at io.netty.bootstrap.AbstractBootstrap$2.run(AbstractBootstrap.java:380)
at io.netty.util.concurrent.AbstractEventExecutor.runTask(AbstractEventExecutor.java:148)
at io.netty.util.concurrent.AbstractEventExecutor.safeExecute(AbstractEventExecutor.java:141)
at io.netty.util.concurrent.SingleThreadEventExecutor.runAllTasks(SingleThreadEventExecutor.java:535)
at io.netty.channel.SingleThreadIoEventLoop.run(SingleThreadIoEventLoop.java:201)
at io.netty.util.concurrent.SingleThreadEventExecutor$5.run(SingleThreadEventExecutor.java:1193)
at io.netty.util.internal.ThreadExecutorMap$2.run(ThreadExecutorMap.java:74)
at io.netty.util.concurrent.FastThreadLocalRunnable.run(FastThreadLocalRunnable.java:30)
at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1583)
2026-01-23 07:55:10.592+0000 INFO Neo4j Server shutdown initiated by request
2026-01-23 07:55:10.592+0000 INFO Stopped.

Even after chaging the port.i still see the same error. Ant help will be appreciated. Also is there a way to know if its a community edition or enterprise ?

2

Hello mimmisudarsana04 ! Welcome!

Desktop uses Neo4j Enterprise if you have it create a local database.
You may have already been running a Docker container of Neo4j CE previously and thus ports like 7687 (for bolt, the db communication protocol) and 7474 (for http connection to the browser) might already be bound by that container.

Perhaps run docker ps -a and see if there is a container either running or stopped. Note its container id.

Then you could docker rm -f <CONTAINER_ID> and try again with Desktop.

3

Hi Adams,

I installed Neo4j Desktop application in machine from “ Neo4j Deployment Center - Graph Database & Analytics ”. Database is installed and its running now. But when we am trying to connect the database from WSL using a python program am getting an error as below:

Couldn't connect to SYSTEMIP:7687 (resolved to ('SYSTEM IP:7687',)):
Timed out trying to establish connection to ResolvedIPv4Address(('SYSTEMIP', 7687))

python program:

from neo4j import GraphDatabase

Update with your Neo4j password

URI = "bolt://SYSTEMIP:7687"
USERNAME = "neo4j"
PASSWORD = "XXXXXX"

def test_connection():
try:
driver = GraphDatabase.driver(URI, auth=(USERNAME, PASSWORD))
with driver.session(database="xxxx") as session:
result = session.run("RETURN 'Connection Success' AS msg")
print(result.single()["msg"])
driver.close()
except Exception as e:

    print("Connection failed:", e)

if name == "main":
test_connection() Could you please help us to resolve this.

4

@mimmisudarsana04

Connection - Neo4j Python Driver Manual indicates

To verify immediately that the driver can connect to the database (valid credentials, compatible versions, etc), use the .verify_connectivity() method after initializing the driver. In case of failure, enabling the driver’s logs can help diagnosing the issue.

and enable drivers logs hrefs to Further query mechanisms - Neo4j Python Driver Manual .
As such if you enable as described does this provide further details