JRE installation directory in Windows

Question

Is there any command to check the active (since the machine can have more than 1 JRE installed) JRE installation directory under Windows. For linux, the corresponding command is

which java

Is there any Windows equivalent ?

See: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/304319/is-there-an-equivalent-of-which-on-the-windows-command-line — Mark Rotteveel, Sep 08 '18 at 09:51

score 32 · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-11T14:31:22.047

32

where java works for me to list all java exe but java -verbose tells you which rt.jar is used and thus which jre (full path):

[Opened C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\rt.jar]
...

Edit: win7 and java:

java version "1.6.0_20"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_20-b02)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 16.3-b01, mixed mode)

edited Mar 11 '14 at 14:31

answered Oct 14 '10 at 05:43

where java didn't work under Windows. java -verbose did the trick as you mentioned. Thanks. – Ankur Oct 14 '10 at 05:49
When I do java -verbose i dont get to see the path. Which version of java, Winbdows you are trying this on? – Nivas Oct 14 '10 at 05:50
3

@RC: where java will only work with Win7 / Win2008 I reckon. – Michael Mao Oct 14 '10 at 05:51
2

Using win7, where and verbose are working. – Oct 14 '10 at 05:52
Incredible! I didn't know that command existed on Win8, but apparently it does. Thanks! – djangofan Jan 30 '13 at 16:09

glob · Answer 2 · 2013-04-02T09:04:26.913

Not as a command, but this information is in the registry:

Open the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment
Read the CurrentVersion REG_SZ
Open the subkey under Java Runtime Environment named with the CurrentVersion value
Read the JavaHome REG_SZ to get the path

For example on my workstation i have

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment
  CurrentVersion = "1.6"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment\1.5
  JavaHome = "C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_20"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment\1.6
  JavaHome = "C:\Program Files\Java\jre6"

So my current JRE is in C:\Program Files\Java\jre6

That is not necessarily correct, as the current path may locate a different Java executable. This just indicates the version installed with the Oracle installer. — Mark Rotteveel, Sep 08 '18 at 09:53

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 14 '10 at 06:17

Following on from my other comment, here's a batch file which displays the current JRE or JDK based on the registry values.

It's different from the other solutions in instances where java is installed, but not on the PATH.

@ECHO off

SET KIT=JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment
call:ReadRegValue VER "HKLM\Software\%KIT%" "CurrentVersion"
IF "%VER%" NEQ "" GOTO FoundJRE

SET KIT=Wow6432Node\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment
call:ReadRegValue VER "HKLM\Software\%KIT%" "CurrentVersion"
IF "%VER%" NEQ "" GOTO FoundJRE

SET KIT=JavaSoft\Java Development Kit
call:ReadRegValue VER "HKLM\Software\%KIT%" "CurrentVersion"
IF "%VER%" NEQ "" GOTO FoundJRE

SET KIT=Wow6432Node\JavaSoft\Java Development Kit
call:ReadRegValue VER "HKLM\Software\%KIT%" "CurrentVersion"
IF "%VER%" NEQ "" GOTO FoundJRE

ECHO Failed to find Java
GOTO :EOF

:FoundJRE
call:ReadRegValue JAVAPATH "HKLM\Software\%KIT%\%VER%" "JavaHome"
ECHO %JAVAPATH%
GOTO :EOF

:ReadRegValue
SET key=%2%
SET name=%3%
SET "%~1="
SET reg=reg
IF DEFINED ProgramFiles(x86) (
  IF EXIST %WINDIR%\sysnative\reg.exe SET reg=%WINDIR%\sysnative\reg.exe
)
FOR /F "usebackq tokens=3* skip=1" %%A IN (`%reg% QUERY %key% /v %name% 2^>NUL`) DO SET "%~1=%%A %%B"
GOTO :EOF

score 4 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

4

Look the answer to my previous question here

c:\> for %i in (java.exe) do @echo.   %~$PATH:i
C:\WINDOWS\system32\java.exe

edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

Community

1
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answered Oct 14 '10 at 05:50

Michael Mao

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score -1 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 14 '10 at 05:43

-1

In the command line you can type java -version

answered Oct 14 '10 at 05:43

Ian Dallas

11,281
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2

-1 doesn't give any path info – Oct 14 '10 at 05:43
1

If Java is installed and environment variables are set, do you need path? – Ram Sep 16 '15 at 13:45

JRE installation directory in Windows

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