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Install Azul Zulu on Windows

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This section explains how to install Azul Zulu Builds of OpenJDK on Windows.

Install Azul Zulu with MSI installer

Note
 For per-machine installation, you must have administrator privileges to run the .msi installer.

When running an 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-21

    JRE

    zulu-<major_version>-jre

    zulu-21-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 "21.0.4" 2024-07-16 LTS
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Zulu21.36+17-CA (build 21.0.4+7-LTS)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Zulu21.36+17-CA (build 21.0.4+7-LTS, mixed mode, sharing)

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

    Note
    		 These features are only supported since the October 2021 releases, e.g. version 8u312 or newer of JDK8.

    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, run the following command:

     
    msiexec /i zulu21.36.17-ca-jdk21.0.4-win_x64.msi ADDLOCAL=ZuluInstallation,FeatureEnvironment INSTALLDIR="c:\java\jdk21" /qn
    Example 1

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

     
    msiexec /i zulu21.36.17-ca-jdk21.0.4-win_x64.msi /qn

    No optional features are selected.

    Example 2

    To install Azul Zulu into the c:\java\jdk21\ folder and add c:\java\jdk21\bin to the PATH environment variable, run:

     
    msiexec /i zulu21.36.17-ca-jdk21.0.4-win_x64.msi ADDLOCAL=ZuluInstallation,FeatureEnvironment INSTALLDIR="c:\java\jdk21" /qn
    Example 3

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

     
    msiexec /i zulu21.36.17-ca-jdk21.0.4-win_x64.msi ADDLOCAL=ZuluInstallation,FeatureJavaHome INSTALLDIR="c:\java\jdk21" /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\jdk21

Per-user installation

You can install Azul Zulu to be available only for a specific Windows user. This type of installation requires no administrator privileges and stores all the Azul Zulu files in the current user’s workspace. This installation type is added in the following Azul Zulu versions: 17.30, 15.36, 13.44, 11.52, 8.58, 7.50.

To install Azul Zulu only for the current Windows user, use the option MSIINSTALLPERUSER=1 as shown in the example below.

 
msiexec /i {zulu_package} ADDLOCAL=ZuluInstallation,FeatureEnvironment MSIINSTALLPERUSER=1 /qn

When working with a per-user Azul Zulu instance, consider the following:

  • Avoid using per-user and per-machine Azul Zulu installations simultaneously if the two have identical major version but different minor versions (for example, Azul Zulu 8.54 and 8.56).

  • You cannot upgrade a per-user Azul Zulu installation to the per-machine type.

  • You cannot use the FeatureOracleJavaSoft option (updates Windows registry keys under HKLM\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\) with the per-user installation.

  • The system PATH environment variable takes precedence over the user PATH. Thus, if a system has a per-machine and a per-user Azul Zulu instances both added to user/system PATH, calling Java from an arbitrary location runs the per-machine Azul Zulu instance.

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 depending on the installation type:

  • per-machine installation creates Azul Zulu keys and Generic keys. Generic keys are typically created by Java installers and are used to ensure Azul Zulu is compatible with other tools such as Launch4j and WinRun4J.

  • per-user installation creates only Azul Zulu keys.

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

Installation: per-machine

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

Installation: per-user

JRE 64-bit

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

N/A

JRE 32-bit

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

N/A

JDK 64-bit

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

N/A

JDK 32-bit

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

N/A

Where <version> in zulu-<version>-jre stands for the version of Azul Zulu, for example, zulu-21-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 21, the installer does not remove the previous one but simply adds the new version to your machine.

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 "21.0.4" 2024-07-16 LTS
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Zulu21.36+17-CA (build 21.0.4+7-LTS)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Zulu21.36+17-CA (build 21.0.4+7-LTS, 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