Running Java gives “Error: could not open `C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\amd64\jvm.cfg'”

Question

After years of working OK, I\'m suddenly getting this message when trying to start the JVM:

Error: could not open `C:\\Program Files\\Java\\jre6\\lib\\amd64\         


        

Answer 1

Might be a slightly different cause, but that second issue occurs for me in scala 2.9.0.1 on Win7 (x64), though scala-2.9.1.final has already resolved this issue mentioned here:

\Java\jdk1.6.0_25\bin\java.exe was unexpected at this time.

My %JAVA_HOME% set to a path like this: c:\program files(x86)\Java\jdk...

Note the space and the parentheses.

If you change line 24 in %SCALA_HOME%\bin\scala.bat from:

if exist "%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java.exe" set _JAVACMD=%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java.exe

to

if exist "%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java.exe" set "_JAVACMD=%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java.exe"

It works fine. Note the quotes around the set command parameters, this will properly enclose any spaces and 'special' characters (eg: spaces and parentheses) in the variable's value.

Hope this helps someone else searching for an answer.

Answer 2

I checked my environment variables - JAVA_HOME & PATH and they all refer to C:\java. So this was bit frustrating. After sometime I found that the default installation also copied java.exe, javaw.exe and javaws.exe to C:\Windows\System32 (i.e. uninstall of JRE didn't go well). I just removed them and voila, I'm back on track. That annoying error is no longer popping.

This works for me

So, If exists, remove java.exe, javaw.exe and javaws.exe from System32

Answer 3

Had suddenly the same Problem, from one day to another eclipse said

Failed to load the JNI shared library "C:/JDK/bin/client/jvm.dll"`.

after trying to run java on the console

Error: could not open `C:\WINDOWS\jre\lib\amd64\jvm.cfg' 

now i just deleted the whole directory

C:\WINDOWS\jre

and everything worked again... i don't know there this jre came from, i hope it was not a virus

Answer 4

If this was working before, it means the PATH isn't correct anymore.

That can happen when the PATH becomes too long and gets truncated.
All posts (like this one) suggest updating the PATH, which you can test first in a separate DOS session, by setting a minimal path and see if java works again there.

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Finally the OP Highland Mark concludes:

Finally fixed by uninstalling java, removing all references to it from the registry, and then re-installing.

scary ;)

Answer 5

I have changed the java installation path from c:\Program Files (x86)\java to another folder like c:\java\jdk1.7 and updated the %Java_HOME% and path values accordingly,it worked.

example

%JAVA_HOME% = C:\java\JDK1.7

path-C:\java\JDK1.7\bin; 

Answer 6

I had the same problem: I have a 64 bit Windows and when I typed "java -version" in CMD-Console i received the same Error message. Try to start a 64bit-cmd(C:\Windows\SysWOW64\cmd.exe) and you will see, it works there ;)