1. Overview
In this quick tutorial, we’ll take a look at how to set the JAVA_HOME variable on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
2. Windows
2.1. Windows 10 and 8
- Open Search and type advanced system settings.
- In the shown options, select the View advanced system settings link.
- Under the Advanced tab, click Environment Variables.
- In the System variables section, click New (or User variables for single user setting).
- Set JAVA_HOME as the Variable name and the path to the JDK installation as the Variable value and click OK.
- Click OK and click Apply to apply the changes.
2.2. Windows 7
- On the Desktop, right-click My Computer and select Properties.
- Under the Advanced tab, click Environment Variables.
- In the System variables section, click New (or User variables for single user setting).
- Set JAVA_HOME as the Variable name and the path to the JDK installation as the Variable value and click OK.
- Click OK and click Apply to apply the changes.
Open Command Prompt and check the value of the JAVA_HOME variable:
echo %JAVA_HOME%
The result should be the path to the JDK installation:
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_111
3. Mac OS X
3.1. Single User – Mac OS X 10.5 or Newer
From OS X 10.5, Apple introduced a command line tool (/usr/libexec/java_home) that dynamically finds the top Java version specified in Java Preferences for the current user.
Open ~/.bash_profile in any text editor and add the following:
export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home)
Save and close the file.
Open a Terminal and run the source command to apply the changes:
source ~/.bash_profile
Now we can check the value of the JAVA_HOME variable:
echo $JAVA_HOME
The result should be the path to the JDK installation:
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_111.jdk/Contents/Home
3.2. Single User – Mac OS X Older Versions
For older versions of OS X, we have to set the exact path to the JDK installation.
Open ~/.bash_profile in any editor and add the following:
export JAVA_HOME=/path/to/java_installation
Save and close the file.
Open a Terminal and run the source command to apply the changes:
source ~/.bash_profile
Now we can check the value of the JAVA_HOME variable:
echo $JAVA_HOME
The result should be the path to the JDK installation:
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_111.jdk/Contents/Home
3.3. Global Setting
To set JAVA_HOME globally for all users, the steps are the same as for a single user, but we use the file /etc/profile.
4. Linux
We're going to manipulate the PATH here, of course, so here are the detailed instructions on how to do it.
4.1. Single User
To set JAVA_HOME in Linux for a single user, we can use /etc/profile or /etc/environment (preferred for system-wide setting) or ~/.bashrc (user-specific setting).
Open ~/.bashrc in any text editor and add the following:
export JAVA_HOME=/path/to/java_installation
Save and close the file.
Run the source command to load the variable:
source ~/.bashrc
Now we can check the value of the JAVA_HOME variable:
echo $JAVA_HOME
The result should be the path to the JDK installation:
/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle
4.2. Global Setting
To set JAVA_HOME in Linux for all users, we can use /etc/profile or /etc/environment (preferred).
Open /etc/environment in any text editor and add the following:
JAVA_HOME=/path/to/java_installation
Please note that /etc/environment is not a script but a list of assignment expressions (that is why export is not used). This file is read at the time of login.
To set JAVA_HOME using /etc/profile, here's what we'll add to the file:
export JAVA_HOME=/path/to/java_installation
Run the source command to load the variable:
source /etc/profile
Now we can check the value of the JAVA_HOME variable:
echo $JAVA_HOME
The result should be the path to the JDK installation:
/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle
5. Conclusion
In this article, we covered ways to set the JAVA_HOME environment variable on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
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