The stack trace indicates that the error is caused by :
Caused by: java.io.FileNotFoundException: /D:/MyProjects/Regional_POS/POC/instance/lib/install/applications/__xa_jdbc_ra
The source code you attached does not correlate to the path above :
efsb.instanceRoot(new File("D:/MyProjects/POC/instance"));
which is different from the path in the stack trace. Is there anything else you are doing besides the source code you posted? Embedded would create a temporary file system with the subdirectory ...../lib/install/applications/__xa_jdbc_ra . If you point to an existing instance, embedded would just use that. Since you are using the shell jar you would have a pre-existing glassfish install, so you could just point to that.
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