Why Java on windows ignores your PATH

This is kind of and old tip; that is very frustrating until someone tells you about it. And then it is still frustrating. Java on windows uses a placeholder in the System32 directory; this placeholder looks up the correct version of Java in the registry and calls that.

No "JAVA_HOME" environmental variable needed! Unless of course you are trying to use something like Maven or ANT which likes the idea of an environmental variable.



The trick is to change your PATH so that JAVA_HOME\bin is added before SYSTEM32.



Documentation Harmed in the making of this post:

• Java Install (GeoTools Developers Guide)