This document provides instructions for downloading and installing the Java Development Kit (JDK) on Windows XP. It involves going to the Java website to download the JDK installer, running the installer, and configuring the environment variables to add the JDK bin path so Java commands can be run from the command prompt. The instructions guide the user through accepting licenses, choosing installation options, updating the system PATH variable, and testing the Java installation.

1. Windows XP
Java Development Kit (JDK)
Configuration
Instructions

2. 1. Go to http://java.sun.com

3. 2. Click on “Java SE” on the right (under “Popular Downloads”.)

4. 3. On the page that loads, scroll down until you see “Java SE
Development Kit (JDK).” Click on the “Download” button to
the right.
NOTE: At the time of writing (January 2009) the latest version
of the JDK is 6 Update 11.

5. 4. On the page that loads, choose Windows as your platform,
set language to Multi-Language, and select the checkbox.
Finally, click the orange “Continue >>” button.
NOTE: If you are confident that you are on a 64-bit Windows
installation, you can select Windows x64 as your platform.

6. 5. On the next screen that loads click to download the “Java SE
Development Kit.”
NOTE: You may be requested to use the Sun Downloader to
download Java. I advise just using the directly linked full
download.

7. 6. Chose to save the file.

8. 7. Downloading the file may take a couple of minutes based on
your connection speed.

9. 8. Go to where you downloaded the JDK.

10. 9. Launch the installer. If given a security warning click the
“Run” button.

11. 10. The installer should begin loading. Please be patient.

12. 11. Eventually you will be presented with an End User License
Agreement (EULA). Read it before clicking the “Accept >”
button.

13. 12. For this course, a default installation is completely fine, so
just click the “Next >” button.
NOTE: Pay attention to the “Install to:” location, you will
need it later.

14. 13. Be patient while Java installs the JDK.

15. 14. You will then be asked to install the Java Runtime Engine
(JRE.) Click the “Next >” button.

16. 15. Be patient while Java installs the JRE.

17. 16. You are now done installing Java. All that is left is
configuration.
Note: You may be asked to reboot your computer at this
point. If you are, please do so.

18. 17. Now load the System Properties panel by right clicking on
“My Computer” in the start menu and selecting
properties.
Note: This step can be done in other ways too. Such as…
Right clicking on My Computer on the desktop and
selecting properties.
Holding the Windows-key () on your keyboard and
pressing the “Pause” key. (This may require holding
FN on some laptops.)

19. 18. The System Properties dialog should load.

20. 19. Click on the “Advanced” tab.

21. 20. Click on “Environment Variables” button.

22. 21. The “Environment Variables” dialog should load.

23. 22. In the “System variables” region, scroll down until you see
the “Path” variable.

24. 23. Click the lower “Edit” button.

25. 24. You should now be editing the “Path” variable.

26. 25. Remember the “Install to:” location on Step 12? That is the
line you need to add to the end of the path. Be sure to
prefix the location with a ; and post fix it with bin
Therefore you want to add:
;<YOUR_INSTALL_LOCATION>bin
On MY computer, that meant:
;c:Program FilesJavajdk1.6.0_11bin
WARNING: BE VERY CAREFUL
NOT TO OVERWRITE ALL THE
EXISTING ENTRIES IN YOUR PATH!

27. 26. Click the “OK” button to confirm your change.

28. 27. Click the “OK” button in the Environment Variables dialog.

29. 28. Click the “OK” button in the System Properties dialog.

30. 29. Now to test our changes. Open the “Command Prompt” by
going to:
Start  All Programs  Accessories  Command Prompt
Note: This step can be done in other ways too. Such as…
Opening the Run Dialog and entering the command
“cmd” (without the quotes.)

31. 30. The command prompt should load.

32. 31. Enter the command “path” (without the quotes) and press
enter. You should see the new path location, which
includes your update.

33. 32. Enter the command “java -version” (without the quotes)
and press enter. You should see the JRE version you have
installed.

34. 33. Enter the command “javac -version” (without the quotes)
and press enter. You should see the JDK version you have
installed.

35. 34. Close the command prompt by click on the x on the top
right or typing “exit” (without the quotes) and pressing
enter.
At this point, you can delete the JDK installer that you
downloaded on step 6.

36. THE END
(CONGRADULATIONS)