Is it possible to use eclipse on Windows without a JDK? [closed]

Question

I want to use Eclipse on my school laptop, but, my school wont give me permission to install the JDK.

Answer 1

You can run Eclipse and the JDK from an USB key without even having to install them. You can edit the eclipse.ini file to point to your JDK on the key as shown in this related question. You don't even have to change environment variables.

Note that this works also for other RCP based applications, that's how I deploy RCP applications on restricted computers in some companies.

Answer 2

The reason you can get Eclipse onto your school computer is probably because Eclipse is just a zip file that they let you extract. The reason you can't get the JDK onto your school computer is probably because the JDK has a formal "installer" that requires administrative permissions to run. However, Eclipse does not need the JDK to be formally "installed" to use it. It is enough to copy the JDK folder onto the computer you want to run Eclipse on. So find a computer you can install the JDK on and install it there. Then copy the JDK folder from that computer to your school computer.

Before you start, make sure you download the JDK with the same bitness as the Eclipse version you downloaded. 64-bit Eclipse needs a 64-bit JDK. 32-bit Eclipse needs a 32-bit JDK.

Copy

C:\Program Files\Java\jdkX.x.x_xx 

to some location on your school computer's hard drive. Then edit (with a text editor) eclipse.ini. The eclipse.ini file is located in the same directory as eclipse.exe. Add the two lines:

-vm
C:/path/to/the/jdk/folder/on/the/school/computer/jdkX.x.x_xx/bin/javaw.exe

Obviously substitute C:/path/to/the/jdk/folder/on/the/school/computer/ with the actual location that you copied the JDK to.