Thursday, June 09, 2011

Switch JAVA_HOME environment variable with just a double click

Hassle-free way for setting JAVA_HOME quickly on windows machine using VB script.

Why I decided to write a (VB)script ?
Recently I had to work in environment where I had to set JAVA_HOME environment variable very frequently and I really got bored by the lengthy steps we usually follow to set an environment variable like open file explorer then right click My Computer -> select Properties -> Advanced Tab -> Environment Varibles -> choose ur variable and edit it and then again copy required path. So I searched on internet a bit and by spending few hours I could mange to write a successful vb script to do what was required.
Surprisingly, writing a registry file did not work..
To save the search effort, I am writing this blog..

Steps / Procedure to write the script:

[1] Create two VB Script files as shown below.

File Name: set_jdk6.vbs

Set WSHShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set WshEnv = WshShell.Environment("USER")
WshEnv("JAVA_HOME") = "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6"


File Name: set_jdk5.vbs

Set WSHShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set WshEnv = WshShell.Environment("USER")
WshEnv("JAVA_HOME") = "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.5"

[2] Now simply double click above files to switch JAVA_HOME environment variable on your windows machine.

That's it. Cheers...

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