[Solved] Selected JRE is defective message

[digdoug78]

I just installed Open OFFice and get this message when a wizard is used. I have installed Java, closed and restarted. I don't understand the techie solutions. I'm not a programmer.
Is there a way a non-programmer can solve this issue without all the technobabble?

Should I just buy a working product?
I had OO on a Mac 5 years ago.
No good then.

[RoryOF]

You need to download, install and in OpenOffice /Tools /Options /OpenOffice.org : Java, select, a 32 bit Java. Use the Forum search (top right of screen) to search for previous discussions on Java 32bit.

[digdoug78]

how do I select the JRE?
I navigate to Tools/Options/Java and it says JRE already installed but nothing appears in the box. When I click ADD I am looking for a Java file but none of the files have a JRE. Where should it be? Do I need to install it again?

[Hagar Delest]

How can you say that it says JRE is installed if you don't see it in the box? You should see the version number and a checkbox, that has to be checked of course.

[RoryOF]

See my reply to one of your multiposts at
http://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/vi ... 31#p271431

Multiposting wildly all over the place leads to fragmentation of the replies.

[Bill]

how do I select the JRE?
I navigate to Tools/Options/Java and it says JRE already installed but nothing appears in the box. When I click ADD I am looking for a Java file but none of the files have a JRE. Where should it be? Do I need to install it again?

How can you say that it says JRE is installed if you don't see it in the box? You should see the version number and a checkbox, that has to be checked of course.

"Java runtime environments (JRE) already installed:" is a heading. It is not a statement that any JRE is actually installed. If the box below the heading is empty, then no recognized JRE is installed.

[Hagar Delest]

OK. Hadn't noticed OP could be talking about that heading...

[digdoug78]

Thanks for helping. Sorry about the frag posts but this is frustrating.
I've downloaded Java 32 bit. I navigate through tools/options/java and thats where it falls apart.
The box: JRE already installed is empty.
When I click ADD I can't find a JRE.
I go c/program files(x86)/java and there are a bunch of folders & files that don't have a JRE.
So where is it?
I can find it easily through the start menu but not thru the OO .
Does this program really work? or am I wasting my time (and yours)?

[RoryOF]

I haven't used Windows 7 or Windows 8. My experience with Java is that I install it on the computer, start up OpenOffice, go to /Tools /Options /OpenOffice.org : Java, and in a few seconds it suddenly puts up details of the Java environment(s) it has found. I then select the one I require, click OK, and all is well - I never have to do ths again until a later OpenOffice install, or after an operating system reinstall.

Someone with more Windows 7/8 and possibly 64 bit experience may advise.

[Bill]

Thanks for helping. Sorry about the frag posts but this is frustrating.
I've downloaded Java 32 bit. I navigate through tools/options/java and thats where it falls apart.
The box: JRE already installed is empty.
When I click ADD I can't find a JRE.
I go c/program files(x86)/java and there are a bunch of folders & files that don't have a JRE.
So where is it?
I can find it easily through the start menu but not thru the OO .
Does this program really work? or am I wasting my time (and yours)?

My guess is that you have installed Java 7 which won't be detected by OOo 3.1. OOo 3.1 has to have Java 6 which is no longer updated.

[digdoug78]

so this IS a waste of time.
Does everyone have the same issue?

[Bill]

You still haven't confirmed what version of Java you installed.

[Hagar Delest]

Either the 1.6 version of Java (some links already given in topics about Java IIRC) or upgrade to AOO 3.4.1.

[digdoug78]

I have the version that was on the Java website yesterday and the version of OO that was available the day before.
Do I need to find different versions of these programs that are compatible with one another? If so, what is the magic combo that will allow the wizard function to work properly?

[digdoug78]

I haven't used Windows 7 or Windows 8. My experience with Java is that I install it on the computer, start up OpenOffice, go to /Tools /Options /OpenOffice.org : Java, and in a few seconds it suddenly puts up details of the Java environment(s) it has found. I then select the one I require, click OK, and all is well - I never have to do ths again until a later OpenOffice install, or after an operating system reinstall.

Someone with more Windows 7/8 and possibly 64 bit experience may advise.

I do the same but there is no JRE in the box and when I ADD and navigate to where Java is, it is not found. So I can't select one. How do I make it so OO can find Java?

[thomasjk]

If you go to C:\Program Files\Java\jre7 using Windows Explorer do you see anything? Are you running 64Bit WIN 7? If so the path is slightly different Program Files(x86) for the 32bit version of Java which is what is required for OOo.

[Bill]

I have the version that was on the Java website yesterday and the version of OO that was available the day before.
Do I need to find different versions of these programs that are compatible with one another? If so, what is the magic combo that will allow the wizard function to work properly?

That should be Java 7 and AOO 3.4.1. That combo works on my systems. Your signature shows that you have OOo 3.1, not the current AOO 3.4.1. No magic combo exists that will allow OOo 3.1 to detect Java 7.

[digdoug78]

Problem solved!
Updated Java and OO and now it works.
Thanks for the help, sorry for the 'tude.
Be well...

[Nigelino]

The least you can do is provide a sensible and correct error message^!!!!!
The JRE7 I have installed is not DEFECTIVE - that epithet I would reserve for the programmers of OO - it is just not compatible with the current version of Open Office.
This would save an awful lot of time for an awful lot of people!!
It wouldn't be too much trouble to also provide a currently valid link to the Java version that OO requires!
I have spent 2-3 hours de-foresting Apache sites to try to get the correct version.
I also found a lot of stuff on the Forum that indicated that only the JRE6 32-bit version worked - please remove all this crap that is no longer valid.
I am using Windows 7 on a 64-bit processor.
It's enough to send one back to Microsoft!!!

[Hagar Delest]

I also found a lot of stuff on the Forum that indicated that only the JRE6 32-bit version worked - please remove all this crap that is no longer valid.
I am using Windows 7 on a 64-bit processor.

There is a 32bit version of JRE and a 64bit version. AOO can see the 32bit version only.
Of course it works on a 64bit system. This has been widely discussed in the forum.

[RoryOF]

Nigelino is under a misapprehension: the forum neither owns nor controls the AOO code (or the earlier, now legacy, codes). So we cannot control the error messages, which are hard-coded and arise because of changes in Java, outside of the control of the coders of OpenOffice.

As to why we don't edit the Forum discussions: any discussion is a historical record; our contribution as moderators is to attempt to keep each thread focussed on a single topic and mark it [Solved] when it reaches a satisfactory conclusion, allowing querists make their selection of the often several solutions offered.. To attempt to edit each thread to a concise synopsis would be an intolerable burden on the Moderators/Volunteers, who contribute their time generously on a pro bono basis. In any case, such a synopsis might be of doubtful use because of the individual configuration of each computer, the method of working it by the owner and indeed, of his knowledge and expectations of what software could and does do.

[Bill]

The JRE7 I have installed is not DEFECTIVE - that epithet I would reserve for the programmers of OO - it is just not compatible with the current version of Open Office.

I've always been able to use JRE7 with the current version of Apache Open Office 3.4.1. There is no incompatibility with AOO. The incompatibility is with legacy versions of OOo.

[Vitesse]

Although this is marked solved, I'd like to add something. I've just reinstalled AOO 3.4.1/JRE7U21 on an XP SP3 machine from which it - and Libre Office - had previously been removed and encountered the same problem: it appears to have been caused by an old extension (possibly Riess Date Browser, a template pack or Writer's Tools - plus another I can't remember) which were lurking somewhere in the system. Once those were removed via Tools > Extension Manager the popup stopped.

Solution would therefore seem to be selectively disabling extensions until the culprit is found.

[Bill]

Although this is marked solved, I'd like to add something. I've just reinstalled AOO 3.4.1/JRE7U21 on an XP SP3 machine from which it - and Libre Office - had previously been removed and encountered the same problem: it appears to have been caused by an old extension (possibly Riess Date Browser, a template pack or Writer's Tools - plus another I can't remember) which were lurking somewhere in the system. Once those were removed via Tools > Extension Manager the popup stopped.

Solution would therefore seem to be selectively disabling extensions until the culprit is found.

The culprit has been found. Any extension or any operation which requires Java will produce the error message when using Java 7 if the MIcrosoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable hasn't been installed on the system.