March 03, 2003 06:03 PM

How can I uninstall the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (JVM) from Windows XP?

Rating: (56)
John Savill
Windows IT Pro
InstantDoc ID #38206




A. You might want to remove the Microsoft JVM, which Microsoft no longer supports, in favor of the more recent Sun Microsystems JVM. To remove the Microsoft JVM, perform the following steps:

  1. From the Start menu, select Run.
  2. Enter the command 
    RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection java.inf,UnInstall
    to start the uninstall process
  3. Click Yes to the confirmation, then select Reboot.
  4. After the machine restarts, delete the following items:
    • the \%systemroot%\java folder
    • java.pnf from the \%systemroot%\inf folder
    • jview.exe and wjview.exe from the \%systemroot%\system32 folder
    • The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Java VM registry subkey
    • The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\AdvancedOptions\JAVA_VM registry subkey (to remove the Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) options)

Microsoft Java is now removed. You can download Sun's newer JVM for Windows at http://java.sun.com/getjava/index.html.

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Dear Web Developer. I would gues that you used a "NOBR" or some such formatting technique on the command line instruction thus forcing the text to overflow the table boundries. In the future Please organize your flippin page layout. And ask your self and your "employer" what is more important, the content or the advertisement.

ON Topic.
Nice trick, it would seem, though that the topic ignored the many users who would loose functionalities due to their lack of knowledge of the Java Virtual Machine, and the relation to IE.

I would hope that tips like these, in the future would anticipate a broader reach of the topic in order to notify users the effects of changes such as these, and maby cover those as well, or have links to somewhere that does...

bcr

BCR2/21/2006 2:44:17 PM

oops.. http://java.sun.com/

Anonymous User 9/9/2005 10:07:12 AM

Sun´s JAVA Virtual Machine is much better than Microsoft JAVA VM.. remember always update to latest version on www.java.sun

Anonymous User 9/9/2005 10:03:20 AM

Tried to uninstall JVM... But got an error: can't find java.inf. What now? One who can shed some light here? I want to get rid of VJM.

Anonymous User 8/31/2005 3:46:41 AM

I downloaded SunJava after i was prompt to do so it gave me more problems on my XP ...

Anonymous User 8/7/2005 8:02:46 AM

necesito ayuda para eliminar spiware

Anonymous User 7/20/2005 7:44:02 PM

Working with Windows 98SE...
If you install Sun's JRE, then uninstall Microsoft Virtual Machine, applets may not load. An "Install on Demand" dialog may appear asking you to install Microsoft's virtual machine. (Of course, when you click on the install button, it transports you to a webpage saying the Virtual Machine is no longer available.)

One person suggested disabling the "Install on Demand" feature in Internet Options to get the applets to load. This did not work for me. What I did to fix the problem is:
open Control Panel
open Java
click the advanced tab
click the + next to " tag support"
uncheck "Internet Explorer"
click the apply button
make sure all browers are closed
check "Internet Explorer"
click the apply button

(The "Install on Demand" feature may remain enabled)

I guess this was the problem: after uninstalling Microsoft Virtual Machine, Sun's Virtual Machine had to be reinstated as the interpreter for tags.

Anonymous User 6/30/2005 2:18:20 PM
I was the anonymous poster from April 03, 2005 who advised skipping the first step (RunDll32 command) of the original manual procedure, claiming that it suffers from the same bug as Microsoft's MSJVM removal tool. It turns out I was wrong. The poster from May 04, 2005 was correct, in that the bug in Microsoft's removal tool is its failure to delete registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Active Setup\\Installed Components\\{08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608500}. The RunDll32 command in the manual procedure does NOT suffer from this bug, as it properly deletes this registry key.

If you've run the Microsoft removal tool then, to restore IE's ability to run applets, you must manually delete the above registry key. Then either install Sun Java or, if Sun Java is already installed, launch Java Plug-in in the Windows Control Panel, click the Browsers tab and enable Internet Explorer.

If you've followed the manual procedure at the beginning of this long string of comments (including all steps), you've removed your MSJVM more completely than if you'd used the Microsoft tool. And IE will be able to run applets once you install Sun Java (or if Sun Java was already installed, once you enable IE using the Java Plug-in control panel).

Anonymous User 5/8/2005 12:12:33 PM

If you use the MSJVM removal tool applets wont work unless before installing the SUN JRE you delete the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Active Setup\\Installed Components\\{08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608500}.

This is the key which directs IE to the JVM installation on your system but this is not removed by the MSJVM removal tool or overwritten by the SUN JVM if it is already present. However if it is removed manually before installing the Sun JVM then the Sun installer adds the correct key for the SUN Java insrallation and all is well.

This is better explained here: http://www.oit.state.pa.us/oaoit/cwp/view.asp?a=172&q=194113&oaoitNavDLTEST=%7C9138%7C

The MSJVM Removal tool is available from here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4158.html

Anonymous User 5/4/2005 1:16:50 PM

Microsoft simply wants java to die and will do what it can to kill it without getting pulled into court over it. I was getting multiple javascript errors in IE until I uninstalled MSVM, and now it runs beautifully. Your mileage may vary.

Anonymous User 4/18/2005 4:53:01 PM

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