IntelliJ IDEA "The selected directory is not a valid home for JDK"

Question

I just installed IntelliJ IDEA and I'm trying to set it up. I've gotten to the part where I need to select my home directory for my JDK.

I tried navigating to my Java installation, C:\Program Files (x86)\Java, and clicked okay but it told me the message above. So, I tried C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7 and that didn't work either.

I tried reinstalling the latest JDK (from here) and I still couldn't choose my JDK. I even dragged the .jar installer I got from the website and the file selector window wouldn't recognize it.

I'm at a standstill and I don't know what to do.

Answer 1

Because you are choosing jre dir. and not JDK dir. JDK dir. is for instance (depending on update and whether it's 64 bit or 32 bit): C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.7.0_45 In my case it's 32 bit JDK 1.7 update 45

Answer 2

This error occurs because if you choosing the path deep in JDK or JRE. The exact path that should be chosen is in my case 64 bit

C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_91

if 32 bit

C:\Program Files (86)\Java\jdk1.8.0_91