Try using <h:commandButton type="submit" value="Register" action="#{register.begin}"/> @Begin(join=true,pageflow="SeamPracticePageFlow") | public void begin() { | userNotExists = false; | } I suspect the bean is not being created so the @Create method isn't running. N.B. This might require you to change start-page to start-state. No, you shouldn't put the pageflow.xml in the deploy directory, JBoss doesn't know how to use them, Seam does so they go in the ear and are referenced in components.xml View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=3983690#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...