java installer.dll missing

Question

I am trying to reinstall java on my computer but everytime I use any installer (offline/online/x64/x86) and none of them are working. I had uninstall java by mistake but I really cant reinstall. When I tried to uninstall it says c:\Program Files\Java\jre7\bin\installer.dll is missing but when I install it says nothing but java website isn't able to detect my java, and games sutch as Minecraft that requires Java says that it cannot detect any java environnement. What should I do?

I am using Windows 8 Pro x64

Thanks for any help

P.S. I tried to remove and reinstall with Javara also

Answer 1

We have been dealing with this problem using Windows 7 Pro SP1 with every Java update after v7 u11.  Unfortunately, Vincent's solution does not apply when attempting to deploy this via Group Policy to hundreds of computers... And the change that Semiproslacker posted did not resolve our problem either.  Here is what I have come across while dealing with this:

• The Problem - The group policy fails to install the new software, and hangs up on the startup screen while trying to install - requiring a hard reboot to move on.  When trying to manually uninstall the previous version, an error message pops up stating "There was a problem starting c:\program files(x86)\java\jre7\bin\installer.dll."  Notice the double \ which I believe is causing the problem.  Unfortunately, a search in the registry does not turn up this value.  Once this error message is cleared, the software does uninstall... but this has continued to happen for every new update on all computers that have been afflicted with this problem - making Group Policy installation impossible and manual installations very time consuming.
• The Solution (kind of) - I have found that by deleting a certain registry key, this problem can be avoided and the Group Policy will install as normal.  If anybody is intersted, this is what I did:
• Find the registry key under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products that has the old version of Java you wish to uninstall
• Create a batch file to delete this registry key (my command looks like this: reg delete HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\4EA42A62D9304AC4784BF238120771FF /f)
• Create a group policy to run this batch file at both shutdown and at startup (to ensure it is removed before the installation tries to apply)
• Create a group policy to install the new Java version, with the previously mentioned registry key having been deleted it should now install without any problem

Applying both group policies together did the trick for us.  However, deleting this registry key does not delete everything of the old version because when you do a "Verify Java Version" on the Java website, it detects that the old version is still on the computer in addition to the new one. So far I have been unable to find out exactly where it is detecting the old version, but at this point it is just a nuisance and isn't really hurting anything.  If I figure out how to remove the remnants of the old version, I will post it here.  If anybody out there reading this knows, please save the rest of us some time and headache and post it.

Answer 2

Francis,

I know that you got this resolved, but I found out what was causing this exact issue and I wanted to share it with anyone else who needs to figure out why it is happening and the true fix for it.  I have seen other people having this issue too.

There is a reg key that sticks around in HKLM\Microsoft\Windows\Uninstall that makes any update of Java fail, 32 bit or 64 bit. In fact, we were seeing an issue where Control Panel said that there were no versions of Java installed, yet any install would fail. However, if we ran CCLEANER's Uninstall utility, the old version(s) would show up there. There are quite a few folders in this location.  However, if you search you will find the Java folder.  In there you will find a "Display ICON" key that has the "\" double backslash that causes the uninstall of the older versions to fail.  Change this to a single"" then run the 32 or 64 bit installer.  This worked for us with many clients and servers failing the Java install.

Hope this helps.

Norb Pranger

Answer 3

Wanted to expand on this. This works. Specifically, you will find this under HKLM\Microsoft\Windows\Uninstall<installer GUID> or if this is a 32 bit application installed on a 64 bit machine it will be under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall<installer GUID>

if you replace the characters '\' with '' before running your uninstall routine in a script this error will go away.

Answer 4

Ihave the same problem. Any workaround?

Answer 5

Hi,

I'm not sure what happened, but if you can't uninstall JAVA with Programs and Features, try deleting the JAVA folder in Program  Files and\or Program Files (x86).

Then try reinstalling directly from their website.