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When viewing someone else's webpage containing an applet, how can I force Internet Explorer 6.0 to use a a particular JRE when I have several installed?

hlovdal
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  • What about for JRE 1.4? There are no such things as c:\java\jdk1.4.2_07\jre\bin\jpicpl32.exe or javacpl.exe.. –  Jan 06 '12 at 16:57
  • @user1134758 See Scott Bennett-McLeish's answer below - in 1.4 it is called jpicpl32.exe – chukko Nov 05 '15 at 23:25

8 Answers8

73

First, disable the currently installed version of Java. To do this, go to Control Panel > Java > Advanced > Default Java for Browsers and uncheck Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Next, enable the version of Java you want to use instead. To do this, go to (for example) C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_15\bin (where jre1.5.0_15 is the version of Java you want to use), and run javacpl.exe. Go to Advanced > Default Java for Browsers and check Microsoft Internet Explorer.

To get your old version of Java back you need to reverse these steps.

Note that in older versions of Java, Default Java for Browsers is called <APPLET> Tag Support (but the effect is the same).

The good thing about this method is that it doesn't affect other browsers, and doesn't affect the default system JRE.

Daniel Cassidy
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    In JRE 7.25 control panel, under "Default Java for Browsers", Microsoft Internet Explorer is checked and also greyed out so I can't change it. – Baodad Aug 14 '13 at 14:40
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    I got Java 7 to allow IE to run Java 6 (must have both JRE7 and JRE6 installed first) by lowering Security to Medium (in the Java 7 Control Panel) and then disabling all Java 7 related add-ons in IE (make sure to select Show: All add-ons, and not just currently loaded ones) and leaving the Java 6 plug-ins enabled. – Baodad Aug 14 '13 at 15:02
  • Also, Windows7 comes with IE8(32-bit) and IE8(64-bit). I mostly use the 32-bit IE and had to install 32-bit JRE. the 64-bit JRE is not detected by IE8(32-bit) – Shreeni Nov 29 '13 at 13:02
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    Baodad--you can change this in the registry under HKLM\Software\JavaSoft\Java Plugin\\UseJava2IExplorer --set it to 1 – cjones26 Aug 28 '15 at 17:35
22

I have the same issue today and I concur with Jack Leow. Basically, on Windows XP, I had to go to Control Panel > Java and then:

  1. Java tab
  2. Click on "View" button
  3. Enable only the JRE I want (i.e. JRE 1.5.x and keep 1.6.x disabled)
  4. Restart IE
  5. Load applet page in IE
  6. Et voila, it's loading the correct JRE version!
Kayhadrin
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  • Of course the biggest problem is that you can't really run different JRE versions at the same time in the same browser. – Kayhadrin Jun 22 '10 at 04:50
4

For the server-side solution (which your question was originally ambiguous about), this page at sun lists one way to specify a JRE. Specifically, 

<OBJECT 
  classid="clsid:8AD9C840-044E-11D1-B3E9-00805F499D93"
  width="200" height="200">
  <PARAM name="code" value="Applet1.class">
</OBJECT>

The classid attribute identifies which version of Java Plug-in to use.

Following is an alternative form of the classid attribute:

classid="clsid:CAFEEFAC-xxxx-yyyy-zzzz-ABCDEFFEDCBA"

In this form, "xxxx", "yyyy", and "zzzz" are four-digit numbers that identify the specific version of Java Plug-in to be used.

For example, to use Java Plug-in version 1.5.0, you specify:

classid="clsid:CAFEEFAC-0015-0000-0000-ABCDEFFEDCBA"
BrezzaP
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1

I'd give all the responses here a try first. But I wanted to just throw in what I do, just in case these do not work for you.

I've tried to solve the same problem you're having before, and in the end, what I decided on doing is to have only one JRE installed on my system at a given time. I do have about 10 different JDKs (1.3 through 1.6, and from various vendors - Sun, Oracle, IBM), since I do need it for development, but only one standalone JRE.

This has worked for me on my Windows 2000 + IE 6 computer at home, as well as my Windows XP + Multiple IE computer at work.

Jack Leow
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1

As has been mentioned here for JRE6 and JRE5, I will update for JRE1.4:

You will need to run the jpicpl32.exe application in the jre/bin directory of your java installation (e.g. c:\java\jdk1.4.2_07\jre\bin\jpicpl32.exe).

This is an earlier version of the application mentioned in Daniel Cassidy's post.

Scott Bennett-McLeish
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0

You can specify the family of JRE to be used. http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/family-clsid-140615.html

Srujan Bangaru
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0

Use the deployment Toolkit's deployJava.js (though this ensures a minimum version, rather than a specific version)

Stephen Denne
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-1

If you mean when you are not the person writing the web page, then you could disable the add ons you do not wish to use with the Manage Add-Ons IE Options screen added in Win XP SP2

Stephen Denne
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    This doesn't seem to solve the problem at all -- all you can do here is enable or disable Java. Or am I missing something? – Daniel Cassidy Nov 10 '08 at 11:47
  • It depends on which versions of java (and plugin) you have installed. I'd hope this answer becomes obsolete as Sun improves the situation. IE is also changing... IE7 lets you show "Add-ons that have been used by Internet Explorer". My PC shows clearly different versions of the same plugin. – Stephen Denne Nov 11 '08 at 20:03
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    @StephenDenne, Why don't you delete this answer? – Motomotes Oct 17 '13 at 13:15
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    This answer does not solve the problem for me either. – Clint L Sep 17 '15 at 12:38