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Install Azul Zulu on Windows

Table of Contents
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This section explains how to install Azul Zulu builds of OpenJDK on Windows.

Install Azul Zulu from ZIP or TAR.GZ package

  1. Download the Azul Zulu ZIP or TAR.GZ file from the Downloads page.

  2. Extract the content of the archive into a folder. This folder is your Azul Zulu installation folder.

  3. To verify that the package was extracted correctly, run the following command from a command prompt. You should see output similar to the following:

     
    > <installation_folder>\bin\java -version
openjdk version "16" 2021-03-16
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Zulu16.28+11-CA (build 16+36)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Zulu16.28+11-CA (build 16+36, mixed mode, sharing)

  4. (Optional) Add <installation_folder>\bin to your PATH system variable, so that you can execute java from any directory without specifying the full path.

    To update the PATH system variable:

    1. Open Control Panel and go to System and Security → System.

    2. Click Advanced system settings.

    3. On the Advanced tab, click the Environment Variables button.

    4. In the System Variables area, select the Path environment variable and click Edit.

    5. In the dialog that opens, add the bin folder of your Azul Zulu installation (the directory where you unpacked the .zip file). Make sure the bin folder is placed at the top of the list as shown in the image below:

      path

Install Azul Zulu MSI installer

Note
 To install the .msi file, you must have administrator privileges.

When installing Azul Zulu MSI installer, you can select the features that you want to enable and/or change the installation folder.

Optional features include:

  • Add to PATH - Adds the <installation_folder>\bin folder to the PATH environment variable.

  • Set JAVA_HOME variable - (Not available in Azul Zulu 6 and 7) Sets the JAVA_HOME environment variable to point to the installation directory.

  • JavaSoft (Oracle) registry keys - Overwrites JavaSoft (Oracle) registry keys (for details, see Azul Zulu registry keys).

Install using Setup Wizard

  1. Double-click the downloaded .msi file to launch the Setup Wizard and follow the instructions in the wizard.

    The default installation folder is C:\Program Files\Zulu\<zulu_dir>\, where <zulu_dir> depends on the type of package (JDK or JRE).

    Package Installation Folder Example

    JDK

    zulu-<major_version>

    zulu-11

    JRE

    zulu-<major_version>-jre

    zulu-11-jre

  2. To verify your Azul Zulu installation, run the following command:

     
    <installation_folder>\bin\java -version

    If you chose to update the PATH environment variable during installation, simply run:

     
    java -version

    You should see output similar to the following:

     
    openjdk version "11.0.10" 2021-01-19 LTS
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Zulu11.45+27-CA (build 11.0.10+9-LTS)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Zulu11.45+27-CA (build 11.0.10+9-LTS, mixed mode)

Install from Command Prompt

To install Azul Zulu MSI installer from a Command Prompt, follow these steps:

  1. Open a command prompt or terminal window in the directory where you saved the .msi file.

  2. The general installation command looks like as follows:

     
    msiexec /i <zulu_package>.msi ADDLOCAL=<feature1>,...,<featureN> INSTALLDIR="<absolute_path_to_dir>" /qn

    The following features are available:

    • ZuluInstallation - installs Azul Zulu into the specified location

    • FeatureEnvironment - updates the PATH environment variable

    • FeatureOracleJavaSoft - updates the registry keys under the HKLM\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\ section

    • FeatureJavaHome - sets the JAVA_HOME environment variable to point to the installation directory

    To enable a specific feature, add the name of the feature to the ADDLOCAL parameter. For example, to install Azul Zulu and update the PATH environment variable, user the following command:

     
    msiexec /i zulu11.50.19-ca-jdk11.0.12-win_x64.msi ADDLOCAL=ZuluInstallation,FeatureEnvironment INSTALLDIR="c:\java\jdk11" /qn
    Example 1

    To install Azul Zulu into the default installation folder, run:

     
    msiexec /i zulu11.50.19-ca-jdk11.0.12-win_x64.msi /qn

    No optional features are selected.

    Example 2

    To install Azul Zulu into the c:\java\jdk11\ folder and add c:\java\jdk11\bin to the PATH environment variable, run:

     
    msiexec /i zulu11.50.19-ca-jdk11.0.12-win_x64.msi ADDLOCAL=ZuluInstallation,FeatureEnvironment INSTALLDIR="c:\java\jdk11" /qn
    Example 3

    To install Azul Zulu and set the JAVA_HOME environment variable, run:

     
    msiexec /i zulu11.50.19-ca-jdk11.0.12-win_x64.msi ADDLOCAL=ZuluInstallation,FeatureJavaHome INSTALLDIR="c:\java\jdk11" /qn

    To verify that JAVA_HOME is set correctly, restart Command Prompt to update the list of environment variables and run:

     
    > echo %JAVA_HOME%
C:\java\jdk11

Azul Zulu registry keys

During the installation, the MSI installer uses the registry to store path and version information. The installer creates two sets of registry keys: Azul Zulu keys and Generic keys. The second set includes registry keys typically created by Java installers to ensure Azul Zulu is compatible with other tools such as Launch4j and WinRun4J.

The table below shows the registry keys created during the installation of various types of Azul Zulu packages.

Binary type Azul Zulu keys Generic keys

JRE 64-bit

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Azul Systems\Zulu\zulu-<version>-jre

HKLM\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment

JRE 32-bit

HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Azul Systems\Zulu 32-bit\zulu-<version>-jre

HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment

JDK 64-bit

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Azul Systems\Zulu\zulu-<version>

HKLM\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Development Kit

JDK 32-bit

HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Azul Systems\Zulu 32-bit\zulu-<version>

HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\JavaSoft\Java Development Kit

Where <version> in zulu-<version>-jre stands for the version of Azul Zulu, for example, zulu-11-jre.

The MSI Installer creates registry keys during Azul Zulu installation and removes these keys during uninstallation. Please note that the MSI Installer creates the Generic keys only if Oracle Java has not yet been installed on the computer. If Java is already installed, this means that the keys exist, and the installer does not overwrite them.

Upgrade Azul Zulu

If you installed Azul Zulu using the MSI installer, you can upgrade it by following the same installation instructions. Note that you can upgrade within the same major version, for example from 8.52 to 8.54. If you install a different major version of Azul Zulu, such as 11, the installer does not remove the previous one but simply adds the new version to your machine.