Running Java gives “Error: could not open `C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\amd64\jvm.cfg'”

Question

After years of working OK, I\'m suddenly getting this message when trying to start the JVM:

Error: could not open `C:\\Program Files\\Java\\jre6\\lib\\amd64\         


        

Answer 1

The Java 7 install on my work PC broke after a patch was forced out to us, giving this error any time you tried to run a Java program. Somehow the entire 'lib' subdirectory of the Java 7 install vanished! Might have been related to having both Java 6 and Java 7 installed -- the 'jre6' directory still had everything there.

In any case, I fixed it by uninstalling both Java 6 and Java 7 and reinstalling just Java 7. But if the file it's complaining about is actually there, then you're likely having a path issue as described in some of the other answers here.