[java] JRE installation directory in Windows

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 ?

This question is related to java

The answer is


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


In the command line you can type java -version


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

Look the answer to my previous question here

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