Run eclipse on windows 7 64 bit

Question

Hello, I'm trying to run eclipse for java in Windows 7 64bit edition, and when I run the eclipse.exe file, absolutely nothing happens. A ephimeral javaw.exe process is created in the task manager, but as I said, it's just there for a split second, and it disappears, after that NOTHING. I tried compiling a small program with the javac.exe file, and that works all right, but for some reason I cannot run Eclipse.

Any suggestions on what I could be doing wrong. I'm a complete Java noob, it's the first time I try to do this.

These are the files I have, and I downloaded the Windows 64bit version of eclipse.

Thanks!

EDIT

OK, solved. The book I'm using is misleading... it said I should use the javaw.exe file from jdk1.6.0_21, and doing that didn't work. Now I tried with one in jre6, and it ran.

Thanks everyone and sorry for the hassle!

Answer 1

First, check you eclipse.ini (even a space at the end of a line can prevent eclipse from starting)

Second I am surprised to see java* file in your Eclipse distribution.
You shouldn't' have those, and instead refer to the right java (64 bits) in your eclipse.ini.

In both case, see this eclipse.ini as a good example.

Check also the <workspace>/.metadata/.log (error log file).

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I just added it there because it was asking for it, supposedly the best way it to put it in the PATH.

If eclipse is "asking for it", that means your current java installation is not part of the PATH. It need to be reference from the eclipse.ini file.
See also FAQ How do I run Eclipse?

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In any event, don't copy any java files around.
Used in your eclipse.ini a path like:

-vm
C:/Prog/Java/jdk1.6.0_21/jre/bin/server/jvm.dll

Answer 2

Do you have the 64-bit version of Java? http://www.java.com/en/download/faq/java_win64bit.xml

Answer 3

I experienced relatively little trouble moving to 64-bit java:

1. Download Eclipse Helios 64-bit version
2. Download Java 6 SDK 64-bit version
3. Install both
4. Run

The issues may arise if you have both 32-bit and 64-bit JDKs in the same machine. If you want to explicitly run Eclipse with one JVM, then you need to specify its full path in eclipse.ini.

e.g.

-vm C:/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_20/bin/javaw.exe

Where the path points to the 64-bit version.

The other issue I encountered after moving is that the Subclipse plugin by default uses a 32-bit DLL backend and therefore doesn't work. However Subclipse also works with a pure-Java back-end for Eclipse called JavaHL which solved that issue.