How do I get Java applets to work on Mac OS X Mavericks?

Question

There doesn't even seem to be the option in Safari. And while the Java plugin is installed on Firefox, it doesn't work there either, which makes me think it might be a system-wide issue. I do have Eclipse and a few other Java applications on my computer, and they all work fine.

I looked all over the place, and I found out that Java should be an option in the preferences window in Safari, but it's not there:

Solution

In additition to Martineau's response I had to set the Security Level slider to Medium in order to run applets that do not have a certificate from a trusted authority.

Comments

[martineau]

I was just working on someone else's iMac yesterday which was recently upgraded to Mavericks, and if I recall correctly, the fix was simply to enter the command java -version in Terminal, which lead to a diskimage of most recent version of the Java Runtime Environment being downloaded (after prompting me to do it). Afterwards I just mounted and installed it.

[Hassan]

@martineau Thanks, but Java is already installed on my actual system. I already have Java applications running on my computer, but the Java plugin isn't loading on any web browser (I tried Safari, Firefox, and Chrome).

[Hassan]

Thanks for the answer, but I don't have a Java control panel in my system preferences. I also don't get any results when I search for Java in the search box. Java was installed by OS X when I tried to run a Java application.

[martineau]

The one on the system I was using was the same one that I executed the java -version command upon to obtain and install the latest version following the OS X Maverick upgrade I performed.

[Hassan]

Thanks, for the extra detail. Unfortunately, this is not what I see in my preferences window. There's no Java option at all.

[martineau]

Why don't you try executing the java -version command to insure you have the latest version?

[Hassan]

Okay. I get java version "1.6.0_65". Not the latest version on Java's website, but I'm not sure if it's the latest provided by Apple.

[martineau]

Here's a FAQ that may help Information and system requirements for installing and using Mac Java 7.

[murray]

Nope, that FAQ doesn't help, as I already have the latest Java plug-in installed, namely 1.8 u25. And I have the Java Control Panel set to enable Java content in the browser. Still, Java applets won't run in Safari.

[martineau]

@murray: The referenced FAQ applies to the OSX and Java versions which were current at the time I posted my answer. Things have likely changed by now...