Missing tools.jar when launching STS application

Question

I have the latest STS4. I am using installed java-1.8 JDK not embedded as the execution environment. My project just runs fine without any issue.

However when I launch the STS application itself I have a pop up saying "Missing tools.jar"

I have already tried:

1. pointing JAVA_HOME to different JDK
2. added -vm args in the .ini file.

Yet I cannot get rid of this pop up.

Answer 1

I solved this same problem by modifying the file "eclipse.ini". First I tried to solve it by modifying the file SpringToolSuite4.ini, but nothing happened, because I previusly had installed the eclipse ide, and the change in SpringToolSuite4.ini didn't work. then I modified the file eclipse.ini; and it worked.

The changes that I did in eclipse.ini are detailed below:

To check with what Java version (JRE or JDK) Eclipse is running, do the following:

• Open the menu item Help > About Eclipse. (On the Mac, it’s in the Eclipse-menu, not the Help-menu)
• Click on Installation Details.
• Switch to the tab Configuration
• Search for a line that starts with -vm. The line following it shows which Java binary is used.

Depending on the name and location of the used Java binary one can figure out if a JRE or a JDK is used:

• If the path contains “jre” (e.g. as in C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\client\jvm.dll) it is a JRE
• If the path contains “jdk” (e.g. as in C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_31\bin\javaw.exe) it is a JDK.

If no JDK is used for Eclipse, change it:

• Quit Eclipse if it is running
• Go to the Eclipse installation directory and open the file eclipse.ini in a text editor.
• Search for the line -vmargs

• Before the line -vmargs, add two lines:

  On the first line, write -vm

  On the second line, write the path to your JDK installation (usually something like: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_31\bin\javaw.exe on Windows)*

source: https://matsim.org/docs/devguide/eclipse/jdk