Is "Java Virtual Machine" related to IE files?

[Ruu]

I'm using an image editor that apparently requires a function called either Java Virtual Machine or Java Advanced Imaging to launch. The wording of the actual error is "Java error: Can't create JVM."

I'm not a power user, just like to use nLite to slim down the install and tweak the registry a bit, so I'm really not sure which component I removed that I shouldn't. I have used nLite to remove components many times before, with no errors from this image editor. The only thing I can think of is that this last time, I removed Internet Explorer, although I left the core files intact. Copious Googling and forum browsing has failed to determine how Internet Explorer files are related to Java. Would anyone care to explain that to me, or to explain what I might have done wrong?

Have tried installing Java Runtime Environment from the Sun Microsystems website, to no avail. Don't even know if that is relevant, in this case.

Interesting symptom is that when the photo editor is first installed, it works fine. As soon as the system is rebooted, it refuses to launch forever after.

Running XP SP3, nLiting XP SP3.

Any help or input would be appreciated. Thanks much!

Edited June 22, 2008 by Ruu

[Glenn9999]

the Sun JRE would have been the relevant thing to install in the case since it would be a JVM. My guess from here, since you say it didn't work with the Sun JRE, is that the image editor is looking for the Microsoft JVM, which has been left for dead long ago (but not long enough ago that it wouldn't have been in Windows XP - can't remember if it was added back in in SP2 after the SP1A thing or not). If you started from a vanilla XP disk (SP0) or SP1 then you might have removed it. Otherwise, it might not be in there in the first place. In any event, if you determine this image editor requires MSJVM, I'd look for a new image editor.

[cluberti]

You could install the Microsoft JVM on XP SP0, but it was SP1 that brought about it's demise - if you had it already, you could still install it (and even on SP2, if you had it - it would work), but you could no longer get it from Microsoft.

[Ruu]

Hi all, thanks for the replies.

The issue can't be related to the MSJVM because a completely untouched and untweaked install with SP3 slipstreamed allows the image editor to work perfectly. The second I start taking out or changing any of the default settings, the image editor refuses to work again.

I'm wondering if anyone more knowledgeable than I am could explain to me how a Java environment is created in Windows? Clearly, I'm removing some component or turning off some service that's crucial for the image editor to create its Java environment, but I have no idea what the component might be. My suspicions at this point are that the culprit is either Smart Cards, the Teletext... thingy, the IE files (but not the core files), or some kind of service. But like I said, I know very little about Java, so I could be on the totally wrong track.

Then there is the curious symptom of the image editor always being able to be run after the initial install, and then never again after. Is there any Windows component that could behave this way?---run when a program is being installed, and then never run as soon as said program is closed?

Very puzzled and a bit frustrated. I could just leave the OS untouched, but... what's the fun in that?

Thanks for reading!

[Glenn9999]

You're probably removing Java files that you think are IE files. M$ offers it no more (like I said, dead buried, gone, etc), but if you want to double-check what you're doing you can always search for MSJAVX86.EXE and attempt installing it and see if that changes anything.

But remember, too, since it's dead buried gone for almost 4 years now, you introduce a TON of security nightmares and problems by having it.

[BikinDutchman]

Did you have this problem with WinXP SP2?

[Ruu]

Nope, no problems with the program in SP2. No problems with the program in an untouched SP3, either. Now that I think about it, I reduced components more aggressively in my SP3 install (since I'd gotten used to nLiting... well, a little bit), so if I went back to reducing and removing the same components in my SP3 install as I did in my SP2 install, the image editor should still work fine. This of course doesn't satisfy my curiosity, lol. I want to pinpoint the exact component that's causing the program's failure to launch, but short of tons of trial and error imaging and an extensive knowledge of Java, I don't know if I'll be able to find out.