Installing JDK 1.3 on Windows 95, 98,or NT Systems

Files you need for installing the Java 2 SDK (sometimes called the JDK) are available for free download at java.sun.com

From there, follow the link to "Products & APIs".

From the "Product Shortcuts" pulldown list, choose Java 2 SDK, Standard Edition, v 1.3.  On the page that loads, look in the upper right hand corner and follow the link to "Download Now!". Another page will open that offers to let you download:

• Java 2 SDK, v 1.3.0 Documentation
• Download Java 2 SDK, v 1.3.0 Software for Windows 95 / 98 / 2000 / NT 4.0 (Intel Platform)

The second of these options is absolutely necessary for compiling and running Java programs.  In contrast, the documentaion is optional but useful.  However, when the documentation is installed, it takes up lots of hard drive space.

To get the necessary file for the Java 2 SDK Choose "One large bundle (~30MB)" under "Download Java 2 SDK, v 1.3.0 Software for Windows 95 / 98 / 2000 / NT 4.0 (Intel Platform)" and hit the "continue" button.  Accept the licence agreement.  Then choose "FTP Download".

This will get you the following file which you will later use to install Java 2 SDK 1.3:

• j2sdk1_3_0-win.exe

Java 2 SDK 1.3 includes the Java compiler, the Applet Viewer, and other files that are needed for developing Java programs. You need to have at least 51 megabytes of hard disk space available for your installation.  In order to install all optional components provided by j2sdk1_3_0-win.exe, you will need 86 megabytes of available disk space.  If you omit some options, you may be able to get by with 51 megabytes of available space.

In addition to the JDK, the file j2sdk1_3_0-win.exe will install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), which enables your browser to run applets that were written with Java 2 SDK 1.3.

If you want to install the on-line documentation for Java 2 SDK 1.3, you will need to go back to the page that the "Download Now!" link took you to earlier.   Then follow the link "Download Java 2 SDK, v 1.3.0 Documentation". Under Download JavaTM 2 SDK Docs - HTML Format. Choose "One large bundle (~23MB)" and hit the "continue" button.  This will get you the following file:

• j2sdk1_3_0-doc.zip

Note that you need to have a copy of WinZip to install the doumenation from this file.

To perform the installation of the java 2 SDK:

• Double-click j2sdk1_3_0-win.exe.  If you want to install the Java 2 SDK on your C drive, you may do so by accepting the license agreements and the defaults provided by the dialog boxes that appear in sequence during the installation process.  You may optionally choose another drive or folder for your installation.  If you do so, you will need to take note of where you installed the Java 2 SDK.
• One of the dialog boxes allows you to choose which components to install.  The default is to install all of them.  You can save disk space if you un-check Demos and Java Sources.
• In order to use the Java 2 SDK, you may have to add the location of the binary files for the JDK to your path.  If you used the default for the location of the Java 2 SDK, the binary files are in c:\jdk1.3\bin.
• You may be prompted to restart your computer as the installation completes.  You can choose to do this later.  It is possible that you will have to do this before you can start to use the Java 2 SDK.

To install the optional online documentation:

• If you want to install the JDK documentation, double-click j2sdk1_3_0-doc.zip.   The program WinZip will start if you have it.  If you do not have WinZip or some other program that can unpack zip files, you will not be able to install the documentation.
• After WinZip has started, you should extract all the files in the archive.  If you used the default location for your installation of the Java 2 SDK, extract the documents to the root of the C drive (c:\).  This will put the docs folder in the jdk1.3 folder.  If you changed the default for the location of the Java 2 SDK, you should extract the documentation to the drive where you would like it installed.

If you encounter any problems, email Glenn Richard.

Last modified September 8, 2000