Java not deploying

[Sheridan]

I decided to replace out 1.7.9 Java with the newer update 13 - got the msi for deployment as usual and rolled it onto a test group of PCs. They uninstalled the old java and installed the new, the event viewer shows Java as installing successfully. It appears in Add/remove programs and generally no errors appear. However it simply doesn't work! When you visit any java based page it simply acts as if java isn't installed at all!

Uninstalling the AD deployed java msi and then manually installing the very same msi seems to work. So have Sun now cocked up another java update or is something else amiss? I've been deploying updated versions of java for years and this is the first time this has happened!

[sonofsanta]

It might be Java 7u9 that was the pain - early testing here today of 7u13 from 7u11 seems fine, but 7u11 was a pain on some machines going from 7u9.

If this is the first time it's happened for you, you may well be the luckiest sysadmin alive.

[Sheridan]

Even with 7u9 removed beforehand it fails to deploy properly. If you manually attempt to install afterwards it logs an error in the event viewer saying 'Configuration failed'

What a PITA, looks like a manual install on 100's of PCs.....

[Michael]

I deployed Java 7 Update 13 yesterday as new onto machines which needed it for a particular application.

Did you download the .exe, run the .exe and copy the MSI from the C:\Users\%Username%\AppData\Local\Sun folder?

[Sheridan]

Yes, exactly that way. Deployed with no apparent errors but java not functioning at all. If you then try to uninstall from the control panel it says 'Error loading c:\program files\java\jre7\bin\installer.dll. The specified module could not be found'

That folder does not exist, so despite all events showing the installation completing sucessfully nothing has installed. And now I can uninstall it so i've got loads of screwed up PCs! I tested on a few and they all appeared to work - now I check them they're in the same state. Back to java 1.6, which is the last one that worked!

Edit: Its failing on XP and Windows machines - I've rebuilt the package in exactly the same way and its working on some machines now. But the one that think its installed won't uninstall so the 'new' installer is ignored. Time to script a delete of all java installations!

Anyone wanting to remove this godawful mess that is java can use this excellent script I found:

remove-all-java-installations-on-your-network/

[Arthur]

So have Sun now cocked up another Java update or is something else amiss?

The "The specified module could not be found" error is often caused by bug 6947907. All versions of the Java MSI are affected from 6u18 onwards and Oracle have no intention of fixing it.

[stylemessiah]

Always been a PIA

I wish i could get rid of it, but we dont have licenses for MS Office, and instead use LibreOffice, which of course is java based.

Just when things were looking up for being able to eliminate unsecure plugins/software - i.e. Firefox 19 has PDF abilities and i can ditch the unsecure Adobe Reader - the unsecure java train just rolls one.....a day or so after the last update from Oracle and another 2 bugs were discovered.

Makes one think about what will happen with the most common apps that run on java, like LibreOffice and some educational apps/websites, are going to do when we all finally put our foot down and refuse to install java....

[Gatt]

I've had nothing but grief with Java not deploying
Eventually got it installing after finding this FixIt pack and running it to remove traces of Java that have supposedly been un-installed but has left threads in the registry..

(Sometimes I had to do a serach for keys like "JavaSoft" in HKLM and remove them but most of the time the Fixit above worked a treat..)

Java doesn't like being "upgraded" and insists that old versions are removed first - something its installer doesn't seem capable of doing on its own....

[Sheridan]

This Java deployment has now become a farce. I managed to find a script that removed ALL version of Java - brilliant, so I could then deploy 7u13 which seemed to work across the network.

As soon as deployment has completed, it comes to light that java only works for administrators. No matter what you do, if a non admin visits a java page they get the message 'java is not installed' etc. What sort of numpties are Sun's developers these days!

So I look at their website and find I'm already behind and now its 7u17 - FFS, this java is not worth the hassle anymore!

[sparkeh]

What sort of numpties are Sun's developers these days!

Oracle now, not Sun, 'nuff said

[Sheridan]

I'd like to have a chat with their developers about their deployment! All the security issues have made this unusable.

I remember not so long ago when flash, java, adobe reader etc where just applications that could be deployed with the minimum of fuss, now they're a nightmare and rarely work.

[sparkeh]

I'd like to have a chat with their developers about their deployment! All the security issues have made this unusable.

I remember not so long ago when flash, java, adobe reader etc where just applications that could be deployed with the minimum of fuss, now they're a nightmare and rarely work.

Agreed, Adobe deployments just get worse and worse. Could be something to do with rushing out updates to patch the bad job they did in the previous version.

[Sheridan]

I still can't fathom out why this java now only works as an admin. Even the 7u17 doesn't work. I give up with java until they sort themselves out! Bring back Microsofts own built in java!

[stylemessiah]

Oracle now, not Sun, 'nuff said

Oracle, a company that likes to absorb software products (java and mysql amongst them) and watch them languish.

[Ste_Harve]

I had issues with the recent java updates, but after recreating my transform file it works fine for everyone.

Sheridan have you applied the MST or have you not got one? As without one I found it would only work for admins, or local admins.