Documentation for Confluence 4.1.x. Documentation for earlier versions of Confluence is available too.

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This page contains instructions for installing a Java Runtime Environment (JRE). This is a manual step that is only required for Confluence installations where you are installing from a zip or archive file.

(info) If you are using the automated installer, the required Java files are bundled and will be automatically put in place, hence you will not need to follow the instructions on this page.

Please refer to our Supported Platforms topic for details of the Java versions that are supported for Confluence.

Installing the JRE

A JRE (Java Runtime Environment) needs to be installed on the same server machine that will have Confluence installed.

  For Windows: (click to expand)

Installing the JRE on Windows

  1. If you are not sure whether you have a JRE installed, please confirm by doing the following:
    • Check Control Panel > Programs and Features in Windows 7 (just Programs on older version of Windows).
    • Java should appear as a line item in the list. If not, you do not have Java installed.
  2. To install the JRE, follow these instructions:
    • Go to the Java download page.
    • Download the version entitled 'Java SE Update XX (JRE)', where 'XX' stands for some number. (The latest version will be available on that page.)
    • When the download has finished, run the Java installer. At one point, you will be asked to choose a directory to install to. Copy or write this directory down for use later.
  3. Check that the JAVA_HOME  environment variable has been set correctly.
    • Open the Start menu, choose Run, type cmd in the Run dialog box and click OK.
    • In the command prompt window, type echo %JAVA_HOME% and then press Enter.
    • View the result:
      • If a directory path is displayed that looks similar to one of the following examples, with the letters 'jre' immediately preceding a series of version numbers, and this path matches the location where you installed the JRE in step 2, then your JRE has been successfully installed and your JAVA_HOME environment variable has been set correctly.
        Examples of typical JAVA_HOME environment variable values:
        • C:\Program Files\Java\jre6
        • C:\Progra~1\Java\jre6
        • C:\Java\jre6
        • C:\jre6
      • If nothing is displayed or you do not see 'jre' immediately followed by a series of version numbers (like one of the examples above), then you need to set the JAVA_HOME environment variable. Please follow these instructions to set your JAVA_HOME environment variable to the directory you where you have just installed the Jre. By default, this directory is under C:\Program Files\Java.
  For Linux: (click to expand)

Installing the JRE on Linux

  1. If you are not sure whether you have JRE installed correctly, please confirm by doing the following:
    1. Open a shell console.
    2. Type echo $JAVA_HOME in the shell console and then press Enter
    3. View the result:
      • If a line is displayed such as /opt/jre6 or /usr/lib/jvm/java-6, then your JRE is installed and properly configured.
      • If nothing is displayed, then you either need to install the JRE or set the $JAVA_HOME environment variable. You can set this environment variable in your user account's 'profile' file. Alternatively, you can set this after installing Confluence (in step 4 below) by defining this path in your Confluence installation's setenv.sh file, usually located in the Confluence bin directory.
      • If you have installed an unsupported JRE and you want to use SSL then you need to install the Sun JSSE package.
  2. If you need to install the JRE, follow these instructions:
    • Go to the Java download page.
    • Download the version entitled 'Java SE Update XX (JRE)', where 'XX' stands for some number. (The latest version is available on that page.)
    • When the download has finished, run the Java installer. Detailed installation instructions are provided on Oracle's website.
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12 Comments

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  1. Jun 11, 2009

    Anonymous

    Java SDK needs to be installed on all computers or just the server?

    1. Jun 12, 2009

      Azwandi Mohd Aris [Atlassian]

      The JDK needs to be installed on the server where Confluence is supposed to be running on only. Client machines (or end users) do not require the JDK.

  2. Oct 22, 2009

    Joe Shirk

    the instructions for installing on mac are oversimplified. JDK is required, yet you can't just to go sun and download it. Apple claims that "everything you need is already installed out of the box" yet the java test reveals that JRE is running, not JDK. I get as far on the mac installation video as going to localhost... only see Tomcat default page. No confluence configurator.

  3. Mar 18, 2010

    Anonymous

    I cant find the solaris instalation section.

    1. Mar 23, 2010

      Jack Low [Atlassian]

      Hi,
      I'm sorry to say that we don't have a concrete documentation on installing JDK in Solaris. You can refer to installation notes from Oracle for more information.

      Hope it helps.

      Cheers,
      Jack

  4. Nov 26, 2010

    Anonymous

    Where is maual for Linux?

    1. Dec 16, 2010

      Anonymous

      +1, the title indicates there is documentation for installing JDK 6 for Linux, but they don't see to be anywhere.  I'm a brand new user following the vanilla instructions for an install on a LAMP server.  Surely 50% of users follow this same pathway...

      1. Feb 17, 2011

        Anonymous

        Installing Java on Ubuntu seems simple enough: sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk.

        However, when I run this command, it doesn't update to the latest version (25), it only updates to 19, which is a version that causes the Java memory leak error.

        Directions on how to manually install it would be helpful to work around this.

  5. Jun 20, 2011

    Anonymous

    I have an x64 platform however should I be using the x86 version?

    1. Dec 19, 2011

      Jawad Habib

      Use the x64 version.

  6. Jul 30, 2011

    Anonymous

    Instruction has an error: correct thing to download is "Java SE 6 Update XX"

  7. Dec 19, 2011

    Jawad Habib

    If you have confluence and fisheye running on the same machine download JDK1.6.0_29. Otherwise you will get startup errors as well as java.socketexception type messages. You might also see "unable to start... contact support" type errors when you try to log into Confluence.