JRE Issues

One problem I had running CFEclipse was getting a suitable version of the JVM. I'm using an old NT4 machine (Its still our standard desktop how far behind the times are we?) So I installed this on one of our Win2k Dev boxes.

So I unzipped Eclipse but it wouldn't run. Just a really intuitive message saying "Version 1.3.1_01 of the JVM is not suitable for this product. Version 1.4.1 is required." Off to Sun and downloaded the latest version of Java. No effect.

Now this is down to the Microsoft JVM (the underscore in the version number is the giveaway) which is installed with our version of IE and how you over-ride this using the Java control panel and some monkeying about in the Internet Explorer options dialogs I could not figure out. Several versions of Java later I was close to throwing in the towel.

Finally having installed FlexBuilder which I know is also based on Eclipse I noticed that the FlexBuilder directory had a sub-directory called JRE. Its own version of the Java runtime enviroment. So I copied this directory over to my Eclipse directory and hey presto it sprang into life.

Our firewall choked when I tried to update Eclipse via the CFEclipse web site so I just downloaded it and copied it into the plugins directory and now I get to play with CFEclipse and figure out what all the noise is about.

I then copied the entire Eclipse folder and its JRE over to my steam driven NT system and though it moans about a couple of welcome screen nags it seems to run a treat.

So all you need is a half decent version of the JRE embedded within the Eclipse folder to get it working.

---

Another possible solution for the "Version [x.x.x] of the JVM is not suitable for this product. Version [x.x.x] is required." problem: (BTW, I'm running Win XP)

Step 1: Check your version of the JVM (JVM Checker). We'll assume that you are indeed running the most recent version.

If there's another app or server that utilizes the JVM, it could be loading an older, outdated version of the JVM. This turned out to be my problem - I have a local install of an Oracle server that was loading in an old version of the JVM. Here's how to solve this:

Step 2: Open a cmd window (Start --> Run --> type in 'cmd' (without the single quotes) and hit enter.

Step 3: Type: echo %path% and hit enter. This will give you information about all the environment variables in the path. Look for some program with jre[older version] in its path. If you don't see any older jre/ paths in the echo output, look for another solution, sorry!

Step 4: Assuming you do see some program/app that loads in an older version of the JRE: To circumvent this problem, you need to insert the path to the latest version of the JVM in the Path variable, before the other app(s) load in the older version of the JRE. Here's how to do this:

Step 5: Open Control Panel --> System --> Advanced tab --> click Environment Variables button (bottom of dialog box).

Step 6: In System Variables section of the Environment Variables dialog box, select the variable named 'Path' (capitalization doesn't matter, I don't think).

Step 7: Click Edit.

Step 8: In the variable value text box, put your mouse cursor in the first position (before the first entry). By default, your mouse cursor is put at the end of all the entries in this text box.

Step 9: Type out the path to the latest Java bin/ folder. On my system, its C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_05\bin . If you're worried about typing in the path incorrectly, just open up windows explorer and navigate to the appropriate folder, then copy/paste the address.

Step 10: Add a ; (semicolon) to the end of the path (entries in this text box are semicolon-delimited)

Step 11: Click OK, and click OK back in the Environment Variables dialog box as well.

Step 12: Try restarting Eclipse. I didn't need to restart my system. Good luck, friend!