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Netbeans unable to locate java

I am setting up a new machine after a long time.
I installed java using home brew:
brew install openjdk
In my .zshrc file I added:
export PATH="/usr/local/opt/openjdk/bin:$PATH"
Running 'java -version' gives the following output:
openjdk version "18.0.1.1" 2022-04-22 OpenJDK Runtime Environment
Homebrew (build 18.0.1.1+0) OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Homebrew (build
18.0.1.1+0, mixed mode, sharing)
When I try to run the netbeans 13 installer pkg, I get the following message:
No Java Found NetBeans IDE cannot be installed. This software can be
installed with Java 8 or newer. Please download and install the latest
update of Java 8 from
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html and
restart NetBeans installation.
I figured maybe I need to set the java home variable. But not sure where the correct location is. I tried:
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/Cellar/openjdk/18.0.1.1/libexec/openjdk.jdk/Contents/Home
But the error is still there.
Have I set my JAVA_HOME variable correctly ? How can I make sure that I have set the correct location ?
How can I get the Netbeans installer to install ? Why does it not see the JDK ?
EDIT:
If I run the following command:
/usr/libexec/java_home
Then I get the output:
The operation couldn’t be completed. Unable to locate a Java Runtime.
Please visit http://www.java.com for information on installing Java.

This is because I installed java via homebrew and did not see this message output in the end:
For the system Java wrappers to find this JDK, symlink it with sudo
ln -sfn /usr/local/opt/openjdk/libexec/openjdk.jdk
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/openjdk.jdk
Run the command above to create the symlink, then netbeans installation proceeds. Wasn't necessary to set path or home. Set cpp flags because cpp is cool.
Even for other versions such as 11 it may be necessary to run a similar command. Homebrew mentions it, but unless you’re paying attention may not notice it at the end of the installation.

I suspect the problem is that the NetBeans 13 installer does not support the use of JDK 18, because NetBeans 13 itself does not officially support JDK 18. From the Release Notes (with my emphasis added):
The Apache NetBeans 13 binary releases require JDK 11+, and officially
support running on JDK 11 and JDK 17.
Also, note that:
NetBeans 13 was released on March 4, 2022.
JDK 18 was released 18 days later, on March 22, 2022.
So while NetBeans 13 may appear to run fine with JDK 18, it seems probable that the installer does not support the use of JDK 18, which didn't even exist when the installer was released. Unfortunately the installer is providing a very poor error message when you attempt that:
No Java Found NetBeans IDE cannot be installed. This software can be
installed with Java 8 or newer. Please download and install the latest
update of Java 8 from
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html and
restart NetBeans installation.
The installer's error message is highly misleading for two reasons:
Instead of "No Java Found" it would be more accurate if the error was "No supported version of Java found".
The advice "Please download and install the latest update of Java 8" makes no sense because NetBeans 13 doesn't even support the use of JDK 8.
So this looks like an issue with the NetBeans Installer rather than NetBeans or Java 18. You have a couple of workarounds:
Run the installer using JDK 17 instead of JDK 18. Once you have NetBeans installed and running on JDK 17, you can then add JDK 18 as a second Java Platform, or edit netbeans.conf so that NetBeans will use JDK 18 instead of JDK 17 after a restart.
Don't use the installer at all. Instead, just download the zip of NetBeans named netbeans-13-bin.zip, unzip it, and then edit netbeans.conf so that NetBeans will use JDK 18.

Eclipse not recognizing JVM 1.8

Still trying to get Eclipse IDE to work and running into Incompatible JVM error. I followed the steps here: I installed Java 7 but Eclipse keep saying that 1.6 is not suitable for this product
But unfortunately to no effect. Running OSX 10.9.5 and uninstalled the out-of-the-box version of Mac. The new version of Java seems to show up in the System Preferences. Please see attached screen capture. I've even done some of the basics like restart my computer, etc. Maybe there are other modifications I need to make to other files. I'm comfortable with Terminal but new to Eclipse and Java.

I have had the same problem as noted above. I could not get Eclipse to install because of Java incompatibilities. The sequence I followed goes like this:
Upgraded to MAC OS Sierra
Downloaded the Eclipse installer but was prompted that I needed to instal a legacy Java.
Installed Java 1.6
Was unable to install Eclipse and was prompted that I needed Java 1.7 or greater. Downloaded and installed Java 1.8
Ran the terminal code 'java -version' // this will check your jre version. This showed returned Java 1.6 despite the fact that I had upgraded to 1.8. The Java version listed in the Java control panel said 1.8
Tried multiple downloads of eclipse and Java and multiple restarts always with the same result.
Visited the Oracle web page noted above:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html I could not find the above reference to 8u73 and 8u74 but I did find and option to download 1.8.0_12. I did this. It installed without difficulty, and then I was able to install Eclipse without difficulty.
This took hours of my time. I hope this proves useful.

OK, so I don't really know what the problem was, but I simply fixed it by navigating to here http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html and installing 8u74 instead of 8u73 which is what I was prompted to do when I would go to "download latest version" in Java. So changing the versions is what did it in the end. Eclipse launched fine, now. Thanks for everyone's help!
edit: Apr 2018- Now is 8u161 and 8u162 (Just need one, I used 8u162 and it worked.)

JRE is a Run-Time Environment for running Java stuffs on your machine. What Eclipse needs is JDK as a Development Kit.
Install the latest JDK (and not JRE) from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/pt/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html and you should be good on Mac!

Open up terminal and check what java version is currently set in your path variable.
You can do that by typing in your terminal
java -version // this will check your jre version.
javac -version // this will check your compiler version
If this shows incorrect java version but you have installed java 1.8 then you have to set path variable to the newer version of java.
To do that do add the line:
export JAVA_HOME=/path/to/java/jdk1.x
to ~/.bash_profile (same as /Users/username/.bash_profile)
Then do this from the terminal to set the new variable
source ~/.bash_profile
Also what's your eclipse.ini set to ?
-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.7
EDIT:
Please open up terminal and type
find / -name "java" // This should find all folder named java on your file system.
Also how did you install java in the first place ?

Echoing the answer, above, a full install of the JDK (8u121 at this writing) from here - http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html - did the trick. Updating via the Mac OS Control Panel did not update the profile variable. Installing via the full installer, did. Then Eclipse was happy.

Here are steps:
download 1.8 JDK from this site
install it
copy the jre folder & paste it in "C:\Program Files (x86)\EclipseNeon\"
rename the folder to "jre"
start the eclipse again
It should work.

For some weird reason "Java SE Development Kit 8u151" gives this trouble. Just install, "Java SE Development Kit 8u152" from the following link-
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html
It should work then.

How to set up applications requiring legacy java on El Capitan (OS X 10.11)?

I have a clean install of El Capitan. I have PHPStorm installed on my Macbook Air. When I try to run the application, I get an error that says PHP storm can't be opened because it requires legacy Java SE 6. I've attached an image of the error below.
I had the same problem when I installed Yosemite but I was able to install the legacy java fix (Java for OS X 2014-001) from Apple's website. When I try installing that same java fix I get the following Error:
Java for OS X can't be installed on this disk. A newer version of this package is already installed
Any thoughts and help will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

Download Java 6 for El Capitan:
Java for OS X 2015-001 Beta
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1824

I've used Homebrew to install JDK 1.6.0_65:
brew tap homebrew/cask-versions
brew cask install java6

If you have a problem with Java version on OsX Yosemite or El Capitain, you should download bundled Webstorm (or any other IDE from Jetbrains). It's working, I've tried it by myself.
https://www.jetbrains.com/webstorm/download/
And yes, this is not a programming related question, but it's an IDE for programming and when you come to work at morning and you can't code — that's problem — and you don't care if it's related ;)

i changed version to 1.8 here in below instructions and PhpStorm is now working for me.
At the moment all our products require Apple JDK 1.6 to be installed in order to run on Mac. JDK 1.7 from Oracle is not officially supported yet and has known problems that stop us from using it by default. Oracle JDK 1.7.0_40 has added support for Retina and works much better than previous versions on Mac. You are welcome to give it a try in case you have any problems with Apple JDK.
To force running under JDK 1.7 edit /Applications/.app/Contents/Info.plist file, change JVMVersion from 1.6* to 1.7* :
JVMVersion
1.7*

Open Terminal.app and write sudo nvram boot-args="rootless=0" + return
Reboot
Install Java from https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1572?locale=en_US
This will install Java 6, 7 and 8. Enjoy!

I installed Java 7 but Eclipse keep saying that 1.6 is not suitable for this product

I'm using latest version of Eclipse Luna on Mac OS X 10.9.4. Whenever I try to open the Eclipse it says "version 1.6.0_65 of the JVM is not suitable for this product, version 1.7 or greater is required". I installed java 7 (JRE, I don't need JDK) but still I'm getting the same error. I tried java -version and the output was "java version 1.6.0_65". I can see the java icon on my system preferences. I also restarted my Mac to see if that works but that doesn't help either. I searched on google and some people suggesting other users to change Eclipse.ini file, the instructions wasn't clear and I'm a java beginner so I've no idea where and what to edit. Any step by step instructions will be appreciated.

I had this same problem with a fresh install of Eclipse Mars on OSX. I had installed the JRE from https://java.com/en/download/ (which is the top google search result for "java download" for me.
This failed for me with the same message "version 1.6.0_65 of the JVM is not suitable for this product, version 1.7 or greater is required"
Then I saw a comment that I should get the JRE/JDK from oracle instead:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html
After downloading the most recent JDK from Oracle Eclipse starts fine.

A potential solution to your problem might be to uninstall Java6 (provided by Apple itself) and only have Java7 installed in your system. This only applies in case you have no applications that desperately need the old Java6 version to be installed.
To remove the Apple-like Java6 installation open a Terminal and:
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk
After this step you should only have Java7 by Oracle installed in your system. To verify, open another terminal and do a:
java -version
It should display something like "java version "1.7.0_XX" where XX is the current update version of the Java7 installation. If not: proceed with the next step.
Redefine the JAVA_HOME variable (to support IDEs like Eclipse and other developer tools...), which helps detecting where the "active" Java installation is situated in your system. Open a terminal and (Note: replace XX first!):
sudo rm /Library/Java/Home
sudo ln -s /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_XX.jdk/Contents/Home /Library/Java/Home
Afterwards, a fresh installation of Eclipse should detect Java7 in your system and should work with this version out of the box. You can modify an installed Eclipse to use this installation by navigating in Eclipse to:
Preferences -> Java -> Installed JREs. Then remove the old Java6 system entry AND add new path (see above) with the name Java7.

You can modify Info.plist inside Eclipse.app (right clic on Eclipse.app --> show package contents) and specify -vm after <key>Eclipse</key>.
For example :
<key>Eclipse</key>
<array>
<string>-vm</string><string>/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_20.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/bin/java</string>
<string>-keyring</string><string>~/.eclipse_keyring</string>
<string>-showlocation</string>
</array>

Ensure you installed the jdk 7 or above. If you have a Mac you most likely have 1.6.0.jdk. To check your java development kit (jdk) version go to the terminal and browse to:
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines
Next, if you see 1.6.0.jdk then you did not install the latest version of the jdk. Go to http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html to install the latest jdk. Next use the browse out to the same file path aforementioned and ensure the latest jdk is in there (i.e. jdk1.8.0_141.jdk).

To specify Java 6 for OS X:
-vm
/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Home/bin/java
For versions of Mac OS X 10.7+ the location has changed to
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/<''jdk_name_ver''>/Contents/Home/...
eclipse.ini > Specifying the JVM
Try any of these solutions
How do I run Eclipse using Oracle's new 1.7 JDK for the Mac?
Mountain Lion with Java 7 only
Eclipse still using java 6 as jre on Mac OSX

As I found out, we don't need to un-install an existing Java 1.6. Just installing or deploying a newer version 1.7 or 1.8, and setting the JAVA_HOME, along with the below given activities will solve the issue.
Check your c:/Windows/System32 (as I had this issue in windows). You will find junk java processes (java.exe, javaws.exe etc). Delete them all.
Deleting just java.exe will reflect in your PATH but eclipse still picks the javaws from c:/windows/system32. This is because, usually in PATH, you will have C:/Windows/System32 as the first entry. So, this will override any JAVA_HOME entry in the path.
Try starting the eclipse. It should work like charm! Atleast it did for me.

Try this
https://gist.github.com/johan/10590467
You might have to disable SIP and reenable it.

Okay so I have been struggling with this issue for a few days with Eclipse Neon and Oxygen. I was doing the below steps -
Check java -version from Terminal. It showed version as 1.7
Go to System Preferences -> Java -> Update Java version. Version 1.8 was downloaded and updated.
Went to Terminal again to confirm and this time it showed the version as 1.8.
But it still didn't work!! What was I missing now??
Here is what you need to keep in mind -- By default when you type the below command it shows the JRE version.
java -version
You need JDK to start your Eclipse installation. Please go to Java download page
and download the latest JDK version and you should be good to go.
Don't try to remove the Java in /System/Library/ - firstly this will not be allowed (you need to login as root user) and secondly you don't know the dependencies this Java version has on your other applications. Hope this helps!

Check your system variables ($JAVA_HOME specifically). This may be helpful:
http://www.mkyong.com/java/how-to-set-java_home-environment-variable-on-mac-os-x/

Install the updated JDK
Update the environment variables: here's how
If still not working uninstall the older JDK

I see that you have installed the Java plugin and not the jdk. You can download the JDK from Oracle Downloads section.
You can remove the Java Plugin and install JDK from oracle downloads to resolve your issue.

I have had the same problem as noted above. I could not get Eclipse to install because of Java incompatibilities. The sequence I followed goes like this:
Upgraded to MAC OS Sierra
Downloaded the Eclipse installer but was prompted that I needed to instal a legacy Java.Installed Java 1.6
Was unable to install Eclipse and was prompted that I needed Java 1.7 or greater. Downloaded and installed Java 1.8
Ran the terminal code 'java -version' // this will check your jre version. This showed returned Java 1.6 despite the fact that I had upgraded to 1.8. The Java version listed in the Java control panel said 1.8
Tried multiple downloads of eclipse and Java and multiple restarts always with the same result.
Visited the Oracle web page. I could not find the above reference to 8u73 and 8u74 but I did find and option to download 1.8.0_12. I did this. It installed without difficulty, and then I was able to install Eclipse without difficulty.

How to install a specific JDK on Mac OS X?

I want to install a specific JDK (the latest for example). For this, I went to the JDK download homepage: http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp.
I looked for a Mac version, but I'm a bit surprised to only see downloadable versions for Linux, Windows and Solaris...
Here's the message for Mac:
"Apple Computer supplies their own version of Java. Use the Software
Update feature (available on the Apple menu) to check that you have
the most up-to-date version of Java for your Mac."
OK BUT... when I update Java with Mac I have a JRE and not a JDK...
I don't understand why a JDK version doesn't exist that is easily downloadable/installable (like a jar to unzip?) for Mac...

In a comment under #Thilo's answer, #mobibob asked how to set JAVA_HOME in your .bash_profile on a Mac. Answer:
export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home`
This will dynamically assign to JAVA_HOME the location of the first JDK listed in the "General" tab of "Java Preferences" utility.
See Apple Technical Q&A 1170: https://developer.apple.com/library/content/qa/qa1170/_index.html
EDIT:
If you prefer parentheses to backticks for command substitution, this also works:
export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home)

As the message says, you have to go to Apple, not Sun, for Java on the Mac. As far as I know, Apple JDK 6 is installed by default on Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). Maybe you need to install the developer tools from your Mac OS X installation DVD (the dev tools are an optional install from the OS DVD).
See: http://developer.apple.com/java/
NOTE This answer from 16 Oct 2009 is now outdated; you can get the JDK for Mac OS X from the regular JDK download page on Oracle's website now.

For people using any LION OS X 10.7.X
They uploaded Java SE 6 version 1.6.0_26 available here
http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1421

I bought a MacBook Pro yesterday (Mac OS X v10.8 (Mountain Lion)) and there is no JDK installed by default...
As well as javac, I also found it didn't have packages such as SVN installed. It turns out you can get everything from the Apple developer page (you will need to register with your AppleID). SVN is part of the "Command Line Tools" package.
This is what happens on a fresh MacBook:
Hopefully this will help out other newbies like me ;)

The explanation is that JDK is a bit specific and does not contain the library tools.jar. For my development, I need this library and Mac's JDK doesn't provide it:
(Cf. http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Java/Conceptual/Java14Development/02-JavaDevTools/JavaDevTools.html)
tools.jar does not exist. Classes usually located here are instead included in classes.jar. Scripts that rely on the existence of tools.jar need to be rewritten accordingly.
It sucks!

The easiest way is to use Homebrew.
Install Homebrew and then:
brew tap caskroom/versions
brew cask install java7
You can list all available versions using the following command:
brew cask search java

Mac comes with the JDK, for more information check:
http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Java/Conceptual/Java14Development/02-JavaDevTools/JavaDevTools.html

Compiling with -source 1.5 -target 1.5 (in a JDK 6 environment) will honor only language elements that were in 1.5 and prior. Great. But there were no language changes in 6 anyway. Problem with this approach (on Mac with 1.6) is that using classes that came AFTER 1.5 will still compile because they exist in the rt.jar. So one could run in a 1.5 env and get a class not found exception with no prior warning when compiling. I found this out the hard way with javax.swing.event.RowSorterEvent/Listener. Both entered "Since 1.6" but are not caught with -source 1.5

If you installed brew, cmd below will be helpful:
brew cask install java

As of Mac OS X v10.6 (Snow Leopard), you can run Java 6 in 32-bit mode on either 32-bit or 64-bit Intel processor equipped Macs.
If you cannot upgrade to Snow Leopard, Soy Latte is a pre-compiled version of Java 6 for Intel 32-bit.

There are various tricky issues with having multiple versions of Java (Apple's own Java 6 and Oracle JDK 7 or even 8) on one's Mac OS X system, and using different versions for different applications. I spent some time writing up my experience of my experience of installing and configuring various versions of JDK on Mac OS X 10.9.2.

In 2022, give a try to sdkman, is better than brew
curl -s "https://get.sdkman.io" | bash
then open a new shell and try list to see what you could install ;-)
sdk list java
At time of writing you could use:
sdk install java 17.0.1-tem

Check this awesome tool sdkman to manage your jdk and other jdk related tools with great ease!
e.g.
$sdk list java
$sdk install java <VERSION>

Since most answers are out of date, here's what works as of end of 2018 under the assumption that
You want to install the GPL version of OpenJDK.[0]
You do not want to install Homebrew
In that case, grab the desired version from one the many available, freely usable OpenJDK editions, e.g.:
AdoptOpenJDK
Amazon Corretto (Great for production, includes backports)
Oracle GPLv2 OpenJDK
Some of these include installers, but if not you can do the following. Assuming here version 11.0.1 for Mac. In your favorite shell, run:
tar -xzf openjdk-11.0.1_osx-x64_bin.tar.gz
sudo mv jdk-11.0.1.jdk /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines
# Fix owner and group
sudo chown -R root:wheel /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-11.0.1.jdk
# (Optional) Check if the new JDK can be found
/usr/libexec/java_home
=> /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-11.0.1.jdk/Contents/Home
[0] Note that the Oracle branded JDK has significant licensing restrictions allowing you its use basically only for testing, i.e., not for production. If you do not have a support agreement with Oracle, then it seems risky to me to use their JDK, especially since the differences to OpenJDK are minimal.
Edit: added more choices

I think this other Stack Overflow question could help:
How to get JDK 1.5 on Mac OS X
It basically says that if you need to compile or execute a Java application with an older version of the JDK (for example 1.4 or 1.5), you can do it using the 1.6 because it is backwards compatible. To do it so you will need to add the parameter -source 1.5 and/or -target 1.5 in the javac options or in your IDE.

JDK is the Java Development Kit (used to develop Java software).
JRE is the Java Runtime Environment (used to run any .jar file 'Java software').
The JDK contains a JRE inside it.
On Windows when you update Java, it updates the JRE automatically.
On Mac you do not have a JRE separated you have it, but inside the JDK, so when you update Java it will update your JRE which is inside your JDK;
it doesn't install an JDK for you. You need to get it from somewhere else.

As a rule you cannot install other versions of Java on a Mac than those provided by Apple through Software Update. If you need Java 6 you must have a 64-bit Intel computer. You should always have Java 5 and 1.4 and perhaps 1.3 installed if you have at least OS X 10.4.
If you have VERY much elbow grease and is willing to work with beta software you can install the OpenJDK under OS X, but I don't think you want to go there.