Notes regarding Patch-in-place configuration:

The patch-in-place mode implies that when a version of the JRE exists on a machine, any updates belonging to the same JRE family will be done in place, meaning, the existing JRE will be patched with changes. A JRE is installed in patch-in-place mode by default. The default installation directory is c:/Program Files/Java/jre where n is the Java SE minor version number (for example, n = 6 for version 1.6.0_10).

For example, if a user has previously installed JRE 6u10 in the c:/Program Files/Java/jre6 directory, and now attempts to install JRE 6u14, the version 6u14 installer does not create a new directory. Instead, it updates the pre-existing c:/Program Files/Java/jre6 directory with the new 6u14 content. The user is left with the 6u14 JRE only. The 6u10 JRE no longer exists.

Static configuration

When a JRE is installed in the static mode, it will not be updated in place by newer versions. A later version of the same JRE family will be installed in a separate directory. This mode ensures that vendors, who require a specific version of the JRE for their product, can be certain that the JRE will not be overwritten by a newer version.

Some of the characteristics of a static JRE installation are as follows:

A static JRE installation (example: 6u15) will ignore a previous patch-in-place installation of another JRE (example: 6u10)

A static JRE installation is never overwritten by another JRE version

When a newer JRE version is present (example: 6u15), older JRE versions ( example: 6u12) are installed in static mode only

A patch-in-place JRE can be overwritten by a static JRE installation of the same version. The user will be left with one static JRE installation.

The default installation directory of a static JRE is of the form c:/Program Files/Java/jre. For example, by default, a static JRE for Java SE 6u10 will be installed in the directory c:/Program Files/Java/jre1.6.0_10.

See JRE Update Scenarios to see examples of how the installer behaves.

JRE Installation Command Line Syntax

.exe [/lang=] /s [INSTALLDIR=:\] [REBOOT=Suppress]

[STATIC=1]

where

.exe is the single executable installer for the Java Runtime Environment (JRE)

/lang=, if used, sets the localized language for the installer (see language IDs)

/s, if used, specifies a silent installation

INSTALLDIR, if used, specifies the drive and path of the installation

If INSTALLDIR is not specified, the installation will go into C:\Program Files\java\jre6 (default location).

REBOOT=Suppress, if used, indicates that if locked files are encountered the computer should not be rebooted. Most JRE installations will not ask for a reboot.

STATIC=1, if used, specifies a static installation