Unable to locate tools.jar

java ant tools.jar

366,853

Solution 1

Yes, you've downloaded and installed the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) instead of the Java Development Kit (JDK). The latter has the tools.jar, java.exe, javac.exe, etc.

Solution 2

In case this is still an issue for anyone, I have a bit of clarification on the previous answers. I was running into this same issue using ant with only a JDK installed. Although, the JDK installer gave me a directory structure like this:

 Directory of C:\Program Files\Java

05/08/2012  09:43 AM    <DIR>          .
05/08/2012  09:43 AM    <DIR>          ..
05/08/2012  09:46 AM    <DIR>          jdk1.7.0_04
05/08/2012  09:19 AM    <DIR>          jre6
05/08/2012  09:44 AM    <DIR>          jre7
               0 File(s)              0 bytes

and when I ran ant, it complained about not finding tools.jar under the jre7 subdirectory. It wasn't until I set "JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_04" that the error went away.

Solution 3

Install the Java SDK.
Add a System Environment Variable called JAVA_HOME with the value of JDK location.
Go to Control Panel\System and Security\System. Advanced System Settings, Environment Variables, System Variables, New... Example:
Variable Name:JAVA_HOME
Variable Value: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_21
Close/reopen your CMD window so that the new variable takes effect before attempting to re-run the ant command.

Solution 4

I had the same problem and copying C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_26\lib\tools.jar to C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\ext worked for me

Solution 5

If you have installed JDK 9.0.1 you will also have this problem as the tools.jar has been deprecated. See migration document.

View more solutions

366,853

olidev

Updated on February 24, 2022

Comments

olidev about 2 years
I am building a project in Java.

I have this error:
```
Unable to locate tools.jar. Expected to find it in C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\tools.jar
```
I have installed a JDK and the folder: C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib is in my system but the file tools.jar is not there.
- Edwin Dalorzo about 13 years
  
  I think tools belongs to the JDK not to the JRE. Isn´t so? C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_24\lib
- Peter Flynn over 10 years
  
  As an aside, what I find astonishing is that the program actually said where it looked. So few programs provide this useful clue.
- Arashsoft about 8 years
  
  Also see the duplicate question: stackoverflow.com/q/9119479/3328979 Answers there are somehow better than here.
- stopanko about 2 years
  
  In my case problem was in a path. I was trying to use script that was in the folder with a space in a name. I was trying to run ./bin/kafka-console-consumer.sh from the binaries kafka folder. when i was asked to build project first with ./gradlew jar -PscalaVersion=2.13.6. This build command actually generated such error for me.
olidev about 13 years

yes, you are right! but how can I uninstall jre? thanks in advance
Sean Patrick Floyd about 13 years

Start > Control Panel > Software (or similar, depending on Win* version)
olidev about 13 years

but there is no option like that to remove jre. I just checked!
Sean Patrick Floyd about 13 years

@Joesy OK, if you can't find it, just leave it, there's no need to deinstall it (except to recover disk space). You can have many JDKs and / or JREs installed in parallel
darkAsPitch over 11 years

this. thanks! (for those of us who have various jre/jdk versions installed)
Mercenary almost 11 years

@olidev checking this now but still can't stop pointing out the issue!! How can this be your answer? You have already mentioned that you have installed jdk and jre. I'm actually facing a similar problem and it still continues :-( . Need to know how you got it working??
duffymo almost 11 years

Add JAVA_HOME and the /bin directory to your path. You realize that this answer is two years old, right?
John over 10 years

it worked for me..earlier i gave the path with \bin also..that was the issue
Luke over 10 years

Thanks, I wish I could give you 2 ups!
krinn over 10 years

JAVA_HOME variable fixed everything, thanks a lot :)
Daniel W. over 10 years

PATH with /bin, JAVA_HOME without /bin
kcho0 over 9 years

Thanks, I was loooking for this for hours!!
S_M over 9 years

is this approach recommendable?
Xavi Montero about 9 years

In ubuntu: # apt-get install default-jdk and the error disappears.
duffymo about 9 years

The key? JDK. That's what has the tools. JRE does not.
Yigang Wu over 8 years

I got the same issue with windows, use you way solved my problem.
real_paul over 8 years

Polluting local installations with classes which clearly don't belong there can lead to the Works on my machine syndrome. That is even if a formal build process is in place. tools.jar, which contains non-core classes for support of the tools and utilities in the JDK
ArtOfWarfare about 8 years

Not necessarily. It looks to me like they might have JAVA_HOME set to the jre inside of the jdk instead of to the jdk itself.
duffymo about 8 years

This answer was given and accepted almost five years ago. You should use your time more wisely than trolling old answers.
Umar Abbas about 7 years

Work like charm on Windows8.1
Heidi about 7 years

WORK LIKE A CHARM!! THANKS
Ahmed Ismail about 6 years

apt-get install default-jdk did the trick, thanks @Xavi Montero
schlenger almost 6 years

Obviously, you can use 'sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk openjdk-8-jre' for Java 8
Mr Smith about 5 years

i've tried all this & still get the issue with tools.jar. Is Randoop worth the effort? Meaning does it generate decent unit tests? The frustrating part of this is that EVERY other java program on my Windows box works fine.
Ivaylo Slavov about 5 years

@MrSmith , What is the path that Randoop looks for when you receive the error. Maybe Randoop has its own env setting that tells it where the JRE is? Also, did you reopen your shell windows (if running from shell) after changing your env variables?
bobasti about 5 years

I was missing JAVA_HOME in my configuration. I resolved this error by adding JAVA_HOME to environment variables and %JAVA_HOME%\bin to Path.
Mithun Kumar over 4 years

i have copied from jdk/lib/tools.jar to jre/lib/ folder , it started working after that.
Cummings over 4 years

I had to force this. Ant 10+ is looking for the JDK in an unknown variable. I could not find where it was getting the JDK, but when I can in command line and forced JAVA HOME it worked.
deepak over 3 years

This answer is more relevant today than the earlier upvoted answers
Roman Golyshev about 3 years

Thanks for this workaround! In my case I copied corretto-1.8.0_282\lib\tools.jar to corretto-1.8.0_282\jre\lib\ext\tools.jar, and it resolved unstoppable stream of ClassNotFound exceptions
Ryan Leach over 2 years

Adding information on how to migrate maven builds still expecting tools.jar would be great.