Java 7 64 bit on windows 7: how to switch java versions

Question

I need to switch from the installed java 7 at 64bit to the installed java 6 on my Windows 7 64bit OS but the usual procedure doesn't works. I tried to change the JAVA_HOME environment variable but when I type java -version, the system replies Java 7... How can I switch from different java versions?

Thank you.

Answer 1

You need to switch the path environment variable too, to point before to the JRE bin directory. Also, I think modern versions of java place a copy of "java.exe" in the system32 directory of Windows, you'll need to remove them (or rename them, if you want to keep them as backups).

Answer 2

JAVA_HOME is not used by java.exe.

Make sure to have the path of the Java 6 JRE's bin directory in the PATH environment variable, before the Java 7 JRE's one, and before windows system directory (system32).

Or you can use the full path of the java command:

c:\java6\bin\java com.foo.bar.Main