Installing from .jar file

May 14, 2009 6:25 AM

I am trying to install an application called jalmus in vista and windows 7. It uses an executable .jar file. When I get to selecting a directory, it will not let me write to C:/programe files.

I get the error: "This directory can not be written! Please chose another directory"

Does anyone know why this might be and if there is a way to solve the problem?

posted by jcwilliams to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Run the installer as an administrator. (Right-click, Run as Administrator)
posted by smackfu at 6:52 AM on May 14, 2009

I can't help with your filesystem/security question, but you almost certainly need a Java runtime environment, which will open and interpret the contents of the .jar . This is kind of weird, though.

Alternatively, that *is* the installer program, and if you had a Java environment installed, your browser would run it instead of saving it, and that would do something to install the real stuff.
posted by cmiller at 7:10 AM on May 14, 2009

If you can't run the installer as an admin, you could *try* installing it to another directory and then copying over to the program files directory.

The other thing that comes to mind is some installers are not well-behaved enough to create their own directory first, and perhaps this is part of the problem? First try creating a folder called jalmus in the program files directory and see if you can install into that folder.
posted by Deathalicious at 7:29 AM on May 14, 2009

Run the installer as an administrator. (Right-click, Run as Administrator)

Alternatively, if all you have is the .jar file, you could run your web browser as an administrator and then drag the .jar file into the browser window.

Presuming you actually have administrative rights to your PC.
posted by JaredSeth at 7:56 AM on May 14, 2009

On Vista you're probably getting the error because of User Account Control. C:\Program Files\ is a protected directory that only Administrator can write to. Normal apps, when installing, trigger a UAC dialog for you to click and approve the operation. The Jamus installer probably doesn't do whatever magic thing is required to request the privilege escalation.

The simplest solution is to right click the installer and choose "Run as Administrator". Other options include installing it somewhere else (say, your user folder), logging in as administrator, or (temporarily) disabling UAC.
posted by Nelson at 7:59 AM on May 14, 2009

Response by poster: Ok, great, I've got it now. thanks everyone.

There is no 'run as admin' on the context menu with .jar files. So I just turned off the UAC. Ahh thats better, no more being constantly nagged either!
posted by jcwilliams at 8:29 AM on May 14, 2009

Turning off UAC and leaving it off is not a good idea. UAC is major protection against malware.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:05 AM on May 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

Best answer: For further reference - this is how I did it:

1. Right click "Command prompt" in the start menu (just search for it) and select "Run as administrator", agree to the prompt asking you whether you really want to do this

2. Change to the directory where the file installjalmus.jar is located on the command prompt (e.g. type "cd \users\myusername\desktop" + Enter, if the file is located on the desktop and your username is "myusername")

3. Type "java -jar installjalmus.jar" + Enter

This should run the installer with admin privileges and allow you to install it under Vista or Windows 7.
posted by The Toad at 10:44 AM on November 5, 2009 [1 favorite]