Setting the JVM via the command line on Windows

Question

Hi,

Is it possible to specify the JVM to use when you call "java jar jar_name.jar" . I have two JVM installed on my machine. I can not change JAVA_HOME as it may break code that is all ready running.

Kind Regards

Stephen

Answer 1

Yes - just explicitly provide the path to java.exe. For instance:

c:\Users\Jon\Test>"c:\Program Files\java\jdk1.6.0_03\bin\java.exe" -version
java version "1.6.0_03"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_03-b05)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.6.0_03-b05, mixed mode, sharing)

c:\Users\Jon\Test>"c:\Program Files\java\jdk1.6.0_12\bin\java.exe" -version
java version "1.6.0_12"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_12-b04)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 11.2-b01, mixed mode, sharing)

The easiest way to do this for a running command shell is something like:

set PATH=c:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_03\bin;%PATH%

For example, here's a complete session showing my default JVM, then the change to the path, then the new one:

c:\Users\Jon\Test>java -version
java version "1.6.0_12"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_12-b04)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 11.2-b01, mixed mode, sharing)

c:\Users\Jon\Test>set PATH=c:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_03\bin;%PATH%

c:\Users\Jon\Test>java -version
java version "1.6.0_03"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_03-b05)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.6.0_03-b05, mixed mode, sharing)

This won't change programs which explicitly use JAVA_HOME though.

Answer 2

You should be able to do this via the command line arguments, assuming these are Sun VMs installed using the usual Windows InstallShield mechanisms with the JVM finder EXE in system32.

Type java -help for the options. In particular, see:

-version:<value>
              require the specified version to run
-jre-restrict-search | -jre-no-restrict-search
              include/exclude user private JREs in the version search