Thanks for your response. I tried apt-get purge rabbitmq-server followed by reinstall and it doesn't solve the problem.
I still get Setting up rabbitmq-server (1.7.2-1ubuntu1) ... Starting rabbitmq-server: TIMEOUT - check /var/log/rabbitmq/startup_{log,err} rabbitmq-server. invoke-rc.d: initscript rabbitmq-server, action "start" failed. dpkg: error processing rabbitmq-server (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: rabbitmq-server E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) $cat /var/log/rabbitmq/startup_err Password: su: Authentication failure After digging into the rabbitmq-server.postinst script, I found that the issue has to do with changing to the rabbitmq user before starting the rabbitmq server. If the rabbitmq users' password is changed to a known value and entered when the server starts, then the install succeeds. Otherwise it fails. I worked around one issue by following this thread: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/shadow/+bug/735341?comments=all This stopped it from asking for the root password when the --gecos option is invoke with adduser. But if I execute su rabbitmq -s /bin/sh -c "/usr/lib/rabbitmq/bin/rabbitmq-multi status" I get a password: prompt and nothing works I suppose because it's blank. This is authentication failure is what is logged in startup_err -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Server Team, which is subscribed to rabbitmq-server in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/748501 Title: package rabbitmq-server 1.7.2-1ubuntu1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 -- Ubuntu-server-bugs mailing list Ubuntu-server-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-server-bugs