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I thought this should be straightforward, but I un unable to successfully install and use Java 7 on OSX Lion.

I downloaded java from the Oracle site, opened the installer and followed the steps. the installer said "Installation Successful". But Java 1.7 is nowhere to be seen.

It is not found in /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines. I see only 1.6.0.jdk there

/usr/libexec/java_home -x shows only 1.6. (complete listing)

Update: I know Java 7 is installed. This is the screenshot of the Java control panel. I also see that the Java applet plugin is installed in /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/bin/java I just don't know where java is installed. (I want to compile and run a Java program, so I need the path to Java 7) Java 7 *is* installed, but where?

Any idea where the installer installs Java 7?

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  • Well this is awkward. I had installed the JRE and was searching for Java. But still, the JRE installation does not change the default java of the system (java -version still says 1.6 even if I have JRE 1.7). I will add my own answer
    – Nivas
    Sep 20, 2013 at 22:39

3 Answers 3

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Follow the instructions on the Oracle site, re: installation on a Mac that already has Java 1.6 installed.

To run a different version of Java, either specify the full path, or use the java_home tool:

/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.7.0_06 --exec javac -version

(taken from here).

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  • I don't see a 1.7 version at all. When I say /usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.7.0_40 I get the error Unable to find any JVMs matching version "1.7.0_40". From the article you had mentioned, Java 1.7 should be present in /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines but there is only 1.6.0.jdk there. My problem is I know Java 7 is installed on my machine, but I don't know where. (Updated question with screenshot of the Java Control Panel showing the version)
    – Nivas
    Sep 20, 2013 at 1:16
  • That article says that usually the JDK deploys to a specific location UNLESS you choose otherwise. Have you? Sep 20, 2013 at 2:19
  • No. I did not change the default location.
    – Nivas
    Sep 20, 2013 at 11:37
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Well this is awkward. I had installed the JRE from this page. I should have known better, I am a Java programmer. (But I have never installed Java on a Mac, there was always an installation by default).

When you install the JRE, the installer creates a "Java Preferences" prefpane in the System Preferences and installs plugins for all browsers (except Chrome, as it is 32 bit). But it does not change the default java version in the PATH. So when you say java -version, you still get 1.6.x. This is very different from other platforms where the installer updates the default java version.

The JDK can be downloaded from here.

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On my OS X Lion Oracle's JDK 1.7 is installed to this location:

/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/Current -> A
/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/A/Commands/java -version
java version "1.7.0_25"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_25-b15)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.25-b01, mixed mode)

I just updated my JDK to 1.7.0_51 and it installed to the same location.

/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/A/Commands/java -version
java version "1.7.0_51"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_51-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.51-b03, mixed mode)

UPDATE: After doing the upgrade to 1.7.0_51, now /usr/libexec/java_home lists also the 1.7 JDKs. Before that it was showing only the older 1.6 versions. Now I see that the correct JAVA_HOME is /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_51.jdk/Contents/Home.

ls -l /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_51.jdk/Contents/Home
total 39768
-rw-rw-r--   1 root  wheel      3339 Dec 19 04:13 COPYRIGHT
-rw-rw-r--   1 root  wheel        40 Dec 19 04:13 LICENSE
-rw-rw-r--   1 root  wheel       114 Dec 19 04:13 README.html
-rw-rw-r--   1 root  wheel    123324 Dec 18 22:34 THIRDPARTYLICENSEREADME-JAVAFX.txt
-rw-rw-r--   1 root  wheel    173559 Dec 19 04:13 THIRDPARTYLICENSEREADME.txt
drwxrwxr-x  44 root  wheel      1496 Dec 19 04:19 bin
drwxrwxr-x   9 root  wheel       306 Dec 19 04:13 db
drwxrwxr-x   9 root  wheel       306 Dec 19 04:13 include
drwxrwxr-x  10 root  wheel       340 Dec 19 04:16 jre
drwxrwxr-x  14 root  wheel       476 Dec 19 04:17 lib
drwxrwxr-x   5 root  wheel       170 Dec 18 22:34 man
-rw-rw-r--   1 root  wheel       502 Dec 19 04:13 release
-rw-rw-r--   1 root  wheel  20039662 Dec 19 04:13 src.zip

This looks like the familiar JAVA_HOME on other platforms.

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  • 1
    Why do you have an old release of 1.7 installed? That is a huge security risk
    – Ramhound
    Jan 29, 2014 at 20:08
  • Your formatting is a bit hard to read.
    – PsychoData
    Jan 29, 2014 at 20:47
  • I updated the formatting and removed anything not related to the question. Thanks!
    – Lion
    Jan 31, 2014 at 7:54

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