Finally managed to get the damn thing working. Below are some tips: 1. Use *mvn install* instead of *mvn package*. Note, *mvn install* will download a whole bucketload of stuff, you need to have a good internet connection. 2. Also, incase of any issues, do* mvn -eX install > log.txt* then read the log for surely a description of the error will be there 3. If you use a proxy server to get to the internet, make sure you input the settings in settings.xml for in the maven directory 4. Make sure to use *ant fresh_install > log2.txt* and read the damn log! If you see something like 'duplicate', drop the dspace database and create it again, then repeat *ant fresh_install.* 5. Make sure you don't have JAVA_OPTS in the environment variables, mine was just breaking *dspace create-administrator*, removing it things worked fine.