Failed to launch JVM

[Mandras2]

I haven't seen any other discussion regarding Windows/Java troubleshooting so I'm submitting this issue with a workaround for anyone with the same problem.

Environment:
Windows 10 with a current OpenJDK (JRE only) x64 install:
The only Java-related environmental variable is in system PATH: "C:\Program Files\Eclipse Adoptium\jre-21.0.7.6-hotspot\bin"
(Note: This entire issue is reproducible with a current Oracle JRE as well.)

Problem:
The exe from the Windows packages (installer/portable) won't launch, giving an error "Failed to launch JVM".

Solution:
Using the portable Windows install as a base,
Run a .bat file targeting NearInfinity.jar in "NearInfinity\app" with the following contents:

@echo off
set path=C:\Program Files\Eclipse Adoptium\jre-21.0.7.6-hotspot\bin\
java -version
javaw -jar NearInfinity.jar
pause
exit

The "set path" is the important part... It seems the Java executables aren't being found by Windows, which I assume was determined in system environmental variables. I'm only using a PATH variable as noted above, not JAVA_HOME or _JAVA_CONFIG, etc.

System Information:

[Argent77]

The idea of the packaged app is that it should run independently, regardless whether there is a local java runtime installed or not. So in theory your local installation shouldn't matter.

Unfortunately I can't reproduce this issue on my system and a search for a solution didn't really come up with conclusive results for that generic error message.

Some sources suggest to turn off the Java Access Bridge:

"C:\Program Files\Eclipse Adoptium\jre-21.0.7.6-hotspot\bin\jabswitch.exe" -disable

You could also check if some environment variables are set with JVM memory settings that may potentially interfere with execution. Supported variables are JAVA_OPTS, ES_JAVA_OPTS, or _JAVA_OPTIONS.

If nothing else helps you can still download the NearInfinity.jar file directly and run it. In that case it's launched by your local JRE installation.

[Mandras2]

I turned off Java Access Bridge and tried various values with _JAVA_OPTIONS -Xms -Xmx, but no luck.

I should have mentioned I can't "double click" to run the jar files (it opens and closes a cmd prompt briefly). Maybe the file association is messed up. Under properties it says "Opens with OpenJDK Platform binary." This is probably the cause of the generic "Failed to launch JVM" error when running the exe.

The batch file I ended up using; maybe it will be useful to someone. It works with any of the three download options (installer/portable/standalone jar) as long as it targets the jar file. This is the portable version.

[Argent77]

You can manually associate JAR files with Java if you want. Open a command prompt as administrator and execute these two lines:

assoc .jar=jarfile
ftype jarfile="C:\Program Files\Eclipse Adoptium\jre-21.0.7.6-hotspot\bin\javaw.exe" -jar "%1" %*

Make sure the path to javaw is correct and execute these lines directly in the console window (putting them into a batch file may cause some issues with the parameter placeholders in the ftype command).