Cannot start Minecraft Server on Windows 7

The Minecraft server cannot be started on Windows 7 64bit, using either the .jar file, or the Minecraft_server.exe file.

The following error is received when attempting to execute the jar file:

C:\Users\user\Desktop\Minecraft Stuff\server>java -Xmx2048M -Xms2048M -jar minecraft_server.1.7.10.jar nogui
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
at org.apache.logging.log4j.util.PropertiesUtil.<init>(PropertiesUtil.java:71)
at org.apache.logging.log4j.util.PropertiesUtil.<clinit>(PropertiesUtil.java:31)
at org.apache.logging.log4j.status.StatusLogger.<clinit>(StatusLogger.java:48)
at org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager.<clinit>(LogManager.java:44)
at net.minecraft.server.MinecraftServer.<clinit>(SourceFile:49)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.apache.logging.log4j.util.ProviderUtil.<clinit>(ProviderUtil.java:70)
... 5 more

C:\Users\user\Desktop\Minecraft Stuff\server>pause
Press any key to continue . . .

Running the exe will simply terminate the program with a "A java Exception has occured" dialogue box.