Cannot find java. Please use the --jdkhome switch

Question

I have just installed Netbeans 8.0.2 on CentOS 6.5.

When I try to run it, I get the message

Cannot find java. Please use the --jdkhome switch

I have /usr/share/java-1.7.0 so I typed

/usr/local/netbeans-8.0.2/bin/netbeans --jdkhome /usr/share/java-1.7.0

and still got

Cannot find java. Please use the --jdkhome switch

I also have /root/Downloads/jdk1.8.0_40 which allowed me to install Netbeans. However, when I type

/usr/local/netbeans-8.0.2/bin/netbeans --jdkhome /root/Downloads/jdk1.8.0_40

I still get

Cannot find java. Please use the --jdkhome switch

I tried

whereis java

and got

java: /usr/bin/java /etc/java /usr/lib/java /usr/share/java /usr/share/man/man1/java.1.gz

However

/usr/local/netbeans-8.0.2/bin/netbeans --jdkhome /usr/bin/java

still produces

Cannot find java. Please use the --jdkhome switch.

recheck please both: `java -version` , `javac -version` – user1742529 Jan 29 '20 at 15:43 — user1742529, Jan 29 '20 at 15:43

score 43 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 14 '15 at 18:00

43

I do recommend you to change the configuration of JDK used by NetBeans in netbeans.conf config file:

netbeans_jdkhome="C:\Program Files\Java\..."

answered Mar 14 '15 at 18:00

Crazyjavahacking

9,343
2
31
40

2

I'm using Linux. However /usr/local/netbeans-8.0.2/etc/netbeans.conf contains the line netbeans_jdkhome="/root/Downloads/jdk1.8.0_40". Thanks, – OtagoHarbour Mar 14 '15 at 18:14
No. It is not working. That line was there immediately after the installation. Thanks, – OtagoHarbour Mar 14 '15 at 18:34
Are you sure the directory still exists and contain bin directory with JDK binaries? – Crazyjavahacking Mar 14 '15 at 18:36
1

Yes. It still exists plus I tried changing that line to netbeans_jdkhome="/usr/bin/java". It made no difference. I still get the same error message. Thanks, – OtagoHarbour Mar 14 '15 at 18:39
How do you execute NetBeans. Does the user have rights to read from that directory? – Crazyjavahacking Mar 14 '15 at 18:51
sudo /usr/local/netbeans-8.0.2/bin/netbeans --jdkhome /root/Downloads/jdk1.8.0_40/bin/java – OtagoHarbour Mar 14 '15 at 19:04
This is really weird. Maybe you can dig something out from debug logs from NetBeans? – Crazyjavahacking Mar 14 '15 at 19:09
Shouldn't it just be `sudo /usr/local/netbeans-8.0.2/bin/netbeans --jdkhome /root/Downloads/jdk1.8.0_40` without the `/bin/java` at the end? – Dawood ibn Kareem Mar 14 '15 at 20:50
David, I tried that as well but still got the same result. Thanks, – OtagoHarbour Mar 14 '15 at 22:25
I could not find netbeans in /var/log. Thanks, – OtagoHarbour Mar 14 '15 at 22:26
Sp far, I have not had problems with NetBeans on Windows, Ubuntu or Debian. Maybe it is the CentOS version. – OtagoHarbour Mar 16 '15 at 13:04
Works for windows setup. – Upment Jan 16 '16 at 17:40
Thank you so much! – Basil Kosovan Nov 12 '19 at 22:41

score 29 · Answer 2 · edited May 22 '17 at 14:10

29

Go to the netbeans installation directory
Find configuration file [installation-directory]/etc/netbeans.conf
towards the end find the line netbeans_jdkhome=...
comment this line line using '#'
now run netbeans. launcher will find jdk itself (from $JDK_HOME/$JAVA_HOME) environment variable

example:

sudo vim /usr/local/netbeans-8.2/etc/netbeans.conf

edited May 22 '17 at 14:10

dave_k_smith

655
1
7
22

answered Jan 18 '17 at 17:54

Maruf Hamidi

391
3
5

This was the only solution that worked for me, using Netbeans on OS X. – Manachi Jul 05 '17 at 01:23
Works for ubuntu 18.04 too. Good job mate – bigwolk Sep 27 '18 at 20:15
For editing via notepad you can use command `gedit netbeans.conf` from console, or open this file with explorer as root – fedotsoldier May 20 '19 at 18:54

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 24 '18 at 01:36

ATTENTION MAC OS USERS

First, please remember that in a Mac computer the netbeans.conf file is stored at

/Applications/NetBeans/NetBeans 8.2.app/Contents/Resources/NetBeans/etc/netbeans.conf

(if you had used the default installation package.)

Then, also remember that the directory you MUST use on either "netbeans_jdkhome" or "--jdkhome" it's NOT the /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_172.jdk/ but the following one:

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_172.jdk/Contents/Home //<-- Please, notice the /Contents/Home at the end. That's the "trick"!

Note: of course, you must change the versions for both NetBeans and JDK you're using.

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 22 '16 at 15:15

2

Check the setting in your user config /home/username/.netbeans/version/etc/netbeans.conf

I had the problem where I was specifying the location globally, but my user setting was overriding the global setting.

CentOS 7/Netbeans 8.1

answered Apr 22 '16 at 15:15

ntm

83
1
6

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered May 19 '17 at 01:03

NetBeans 8.2 - Cannot locate java installation in specified jdkhome?

Answer: Edit the netbeans.conf file.

Close NetBeans, start Notepad or another text editor as Administrator. Right click on the Notepad application and choose "Run as administrator" and then open netbeans.conf with it. Change netbeans_jdkhome=”C:\Program Files...whatever”.

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 22 '18 at 14:29

1

Try Java SE Runtime Environment 8. It fixed it for me.

answered Apr 22 '18 at 14:29

Sus20200

337
3
13

Netbeans searches JDK HOME by `javac` location (not `java` location), so in my case `java` and `javac` location were differ by error, then it can not find correct JDK HOME location (see source netbeans/platform/lib/nbexec ). – user1742529 Jan 29 '20 at 15:40

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 06 '19 at 17:09

With the Netbeans 10, commenting out the netbeans_jdkhome setting in .../etc/netbeans.conf doesn't do the job anymore. It is necessary to specify the right directory depending of 32/64 bitness.

E.g. for 64 bit application: netbeans_jdkhome="C:\Program Files\AdoptOpenJDK\jdk8u202-b08"

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 06 '20 at 20:33

0

If like me, you got that message after installing jenv, simply add netbeans_jdkhome="$JAVA_HOME" to your [netbeans-installation-directory]/etc/netbeans.conf file

answered Jan 06 '20 at 20:33

Captain A

191
1
2
11

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 20 '20 at 09:23

In my case, I had installed *ahem* OpenJDK, but the bin folder was full of symlinks to the bundled JRE and the actual JDK was nowhere to be found.

When I see a directory structure with bin and jre subdirectories I expect this to be the JDK installation, because JRE installations on Windows looked different. But in this case it was the JRE installation as found out by apt search. After installing openjdk-8-jre the simlinks were replaced and the directory structure otherwise stayed the same.

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 14 '23 at 16:59

Just add the following lines to the end of .profile file inside your home directory and then logout and login or reboot:

export JAVA_HOME=/path/to/jdk
export PATH="$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH"

in which /path/to/jdk points to your JDK installation folder. For exapmple /snap/openjdk/1163/jdk.

score -1 · Answer 11 · answered Jul 11 '19 at 17:37

What worked for me is:

make sure java path is available:

$ which java
/usr/bin/java

then in etc/netbeans.conf make sure netbeans_jdkhome is commented out
in Finder go to /bin/ click on netbeans (terminal icon)

You would expect ./netbeans --jdkhome=/usr/bin/java to work, but it doesn't for some reason.

Cannot find java. Please use the --jdkhome switch

11 Answers11

ATTENTION MAC OS USERS

Linked