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Java Web Start Installation and Troubleshooting

Note: This page is borrowed with some small modification from a similar page at Bioinformatics.org for their VeaR applicaiton and is used with their kind permission. We thank them for their generosity.

The following sections will help you to install Java Web Start or fix problems that you may be having with it:

•I don't have Java Runtime Environment/Java Web Start installed.

Java Web Start installation:

Simply installing Java 1.5 from Sun is the easiest way to get the newest Java and Java Web Start.

  • Windows: To get 1.5, go to the Java 1.5 website. Just go through the install process and tell it to add Web Start to your browsers if it asks.
    Note: If you are on Windows NT or a derivative, you will need to install Web Start in a directory that users have permission to write to. Web Start writes cache information to a common directory.
  • Linux: To get 1.5, go to the Java 1.5 website. Go through the normal install process. If you are a debian user, you might be interested in the make-jpkg utility.
  • Mac OS X: To run a Java Web Start application from Java Web Start, you will need OS X 10.4 or later (Java 1.5 is shipped).
  • Solaris: Click on the Installation link when you download Java 1.5 and the installation page has a section on Web Start installation. Follow those instructions.

•When I attempt to launch a Java Web Start application, my browser asks me what to do with the file

Setting up *.jnlp association for Java Web Start in the web browser

Make sure you have Java Web Start installed - Java Web Start is included with Java 1.4.1 and above (see Java Web Start installation section for details). Then set up *.jnlp association for Java Web Start in your browser (see table below):

Browser What To Do
Opera Opera To set up the association between *.jnlp files and javaws.exe in the Opera browser:
  1. Click Tools | Preferences | Advanced | Downloads
  2. Check to see if an association for jnlp is already there.
  3. If there is no entry, click new.
  4. If there is one already, select it and click edit.
  5. The MIME type should read application/x-java-jnlp-file,
    the file extension should read jnlp,
    'open with other application' should be selected,
    the application should be set to C:\Program Files\java\jre...\bin\javaws.exe,
    Pass web address directly to program should be checked.
  6. Click OK | OK.
Techies might want to look at the associations configuration in C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.ROEDY\Application Data\Opera\Opera8\profile\adr6.ini
Mozilla Mozilla To set up the association between *.jnlp files and javaws.exe in the Mozilla browser:
  1. Click Edit | Preferences | Navigator | Helper Applications
  2. Check to see if an association for jnlp is already there.
  3. If there is no entry, click New Type.
  4. If there is one already, select it and click Edit.
  5. The MIME type should read application/x-java-jnlp-file,
    The description should read Java Web Start control files, the file extension should read jnlp,
    open it with should be selected,
    the application should be set to C:\Program Files\java\jre...\bin\javaws.exe.
  6. Click OK | OK.
  7. Alternatively, you can set it to the windows default, after you set up the association in Windows.
Firefox Firefox Firefox does not seem to have a way of configuring associations other than selecting download rather than run for a small built-in set. Nevertheless it partly works, at least for jnlp files out on the web. It does not work for ones on local hard disk. It seems to bungle along with Windows associations and MIME type hints from webservers. Firefox will ask you what to do with an extension it has never seen before on download. This gives you an indirect way to set up an automatic association.
Netscape Netscape Like Firefox, on which it is based, Netscape, does not seem to have a way of configuring associations other than selecting download rather than run for a small built-in set. Nevertheless it partly works, at least for jnlp files out on the web. It does not work for ones on local hard disk. It seems to bungle along with Windows associations and MIME type hints from webservers.
IE Internet Explorer To set up the association between *.jnlp files and javaws.exe in Windows which also handles IE:
  1. In Windows, not IE, click Start | Settings | Control Panel | Folder Options | File Types.
  2. Check to see if there is already an association for *.jnlp files.
  3. If there is no entry for *.jnlp files already then click new | advanced | select "jnlp file"
  4. If there is an entry, select it and click advanced.
  5. Then edit the open application used to perform action field and make sure it is set to "C:\Program Files\java\jre...\bin\javaws.exe ""%1". Uncheck DDE.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Click Set As Default to make Open the default action. Likely Open will be the only action.
  8. Click OK | Close.
Even after all this is done, IE will only half work. It will work with JNLP files loaded off the web, but not ones from local hard disk. This is because webservers provide a MIME type to give IE an extra hint, where the Windows file system provides no MIME types.
http://www.bioinformatics.org/vear/cgi-bin/launcher.pl '. Good luck!

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•IE error: "Unable to launch the specified application" [obsolete]

  • If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer and you receive a message similar to
       "Unable to launch the specified application"
    try clearing the browser's cache by going to Tools > Internet Options > General tab > Delete Files
  • If your problem persists, uninstall Java Web Start making sure that you also delete the .javaws folder before you re-install it.  You may have to also uninstall JDK1.5.x to succesfully reinstall Java Web Start.

•Windows error: "Bad installation. Error invoking Java VM (SysExec) C:\Program Files\Java\..." [obsolete]

  • If you get an error message similar to
    Bad installation. Error invoking Java VM (SysExec) C:\Program Files\JavaSoft\...
    you should uninstall and then re-install your Java Runtime Environment(JRE) and Java Web Start, making sure that the user account you do this with has administrative permissions.