Windows – Java Control Panel does not show Update tab on Windows 7 x64

javawindows 7

I'm running Windows 7 Professional x64. I've installed JDK 1.6.0u25 in the 32-bit version first, and the 64-bit version on top.

The Java Control Panel does not show anything about updates; I can't trigger a manual update.

Msconfig shows the jusched.exe autostart, titled "Java(TM) Platform SE Auto Update 2 0".

I found this tip:
http://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=732269
for forcing the update panel to appear, although I haven't tried that.

My questions are:

  • Why doesn't the update tab appear any more?
  • Is this on Win7x64 only?
  • Does it relate to installing both 32-bit and 64-bit versions?

Also, in a previous Windows installation, I noticed that only one of the JREs got updated automatically. How is this supposed to work?

Best Answer

You may be seeing a 32bit vs 64bit jre conflict in the control panel.

On a new HP laptop I have (win7 64bit), I ended up with both the 64bit and 32bit JRE installed, without actually doing anything. Shortly after starting to use the system, I accepted a prompt to update java. Later I noticed that the java version in the control panel was still old, however, the java version in ie8 was the newer version. You can see the version in your browser by browsing to about:plugins (in mozilla, chrome) or:

When I ran the 64bit version of ie8 (normally you are running the 32bit version), and visited the above testjava link, it indicated I had an out of date version and did a choke, die when I tested it.

The 32bit version was doing the auto-update (via a background process) run from: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run SunJavaUpdateSched "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe"

So, it seems like the control panel was showing the 64bit of the jre, which was not auto-updating and the 32bit version of the jre was auto-updating. I did not see any auto-update process for the 64bit version of the jre. I will probably try and un-install the 64-bit version of the jre because my average user does not need this.

I was able to run the 32bit version of the control panel from:

  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin\javacpl.exe

and it did show the Update tab.

fyi: the 64-bit (old) version of the control panel was at:

  • C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\javacpl.exe
Related Question