What causes "Unable to access jarfile" error?

Question

I want to execute my program without using an IDE. I've created a jar file and an exectuable jar file. When I double click the exe jar file, nothing happens, and when I try to use the command in cmd it gives me this:

Error: Unable to access jarfile <path>

I use the command: java -jar Calculator.jar

How I created the jar:

1. Right click on project folder (Calculator)
2. Select
3. Click on Java Folder and select "Exectuable Jar File", then select next
4. Launch Configuration: Main - Calculator
5. Create Export Destination
6. Hit "Finish" and profit! Well, not really.

Answer 1

I had encountered this issue when I had run my Jar file as

java -jar TestJar

instead of

java -jar TestJar.jar

Missing the extension .jar also causes this issue.

Answer 2

Fixed

I just placed it in a different folder and it worked.

Answer 3

[Possibly Windows only]

Beware of spaces in the path, even when your jar is in the current working directory. For example, for me this was failing:

java -jar myjar.jar

I was able to fix this by givng the full, quoted path to the jar:

java -jar "%~dp0\myjar.jar" 

Credit goes to this answer for setting me on the right path....

Answer 4

I had this issue under CygWin in Windows. I have read elsewhere that Java does not understand the CygWin paths (/cygdrive/c/some/dir instead of C:\some\dir) - so I used a relative path instead: ../../some/dir/sbt-launch.jar.

Answer 5

I had the same issue when trying to launch the jar file. The path contained a space, so I had to place quotes around. Instead of:

java -jar C:\Path to File\myJar.jar

i had to write

java -jar "C:\Path to File\myJar.jar"

Answer 6

Just came across the same problem trying to make a bad USB...

I tried to run this command in admin cmd

java -jar c:\fw\ducky\duckencode.jar -I c:\fw\ducky\HelloWorld.txt  -o c:\fw\ducky\inject.bin

But got this error:

Error: unable to access jarfile c:\fw\ducky\duckencode.jar

Solution

1st step

Right click the jarfile in question. Click properties. Click the unblock tab in bottom right corner. The file was blocked, because it was downloaded and not created on my PC.

2nd step

In the cmd I changed the directory to where the jar file is located.

cd C:\fw\ducky\

Then I typed dir and saw the file was named duckencode.jar.jar

So in cmd I changed the original command to reference the file with .jar.jar

java -jar c:\fw\ducky\duckencode.jar.jar -I c:\fw\ducky\HelloWorld.txt  -o c:\fw\ducky\inject.bin

That command executed without error messages and the inject.bin I was trying to create was now located in the directory.

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

None of the provided answers worked for me on macOS 11 Big Sur. The problem turned out to be that programs require special permission to access the Desktop, Documents, and Downloads folders, and Java breaks both the exception for directly opened files and the permission request popup.

Fixes:

• Move the .jar into a folder that isn’t (and isn’t under) Documents, Desktop, or Downloads.
• Manually grant the permission. Go to System Preferences → Security and Privacy → Privacy → Files and Folders → java, and check the appropriate folders.

Answer 8

If you are using OSX, downloaded files are tagged with a security flag that prevents unsigned applications from running.

to check this you can view extended attributes on the file

$ ls -l@
-rw-r--r--@ 1 dave  staff  17663235 13 Oct 11:08 server-0.28.2-java8.jar
com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms         619
com.apple.quarantine          68

You can then clear the attributes with

xattr -c file.jar

Answer 9

I had a similar problem and I even tried running my CMD with administrator rights, but it did not solve the problem.

The basic thing is to make sure to change the Directory in cmd to the current directory where your jar file is.

Do the following steps:

1. Copy jar file to Desktop.

2. Run CMD

3. Type command cd desktop

4. Then type java -jar filename.jar

This should work.

---

Edit: From JDK-11 onwards ( JEP 330: Launch Single-File Source-Code Programs )

Since Java 11, java command line tool has been able to run a single-file source-code directly. e.g.

java filename.java

Answer 10

It can also happen if you don't properly supply your list of parameters. Here's what I was doing:

java -jar [email protected] testing_subject file.txt test_send_emails.jar

Instead of the correct version:

java -jar test_send_emails.jar [email protected] testing_subject file.txt

Answer 11

This worked for me.

cd /path/to/the/jar/

java -jar ./Calculator.jar

Answer 12

For me it happens if you use native Polish chars in foldername that is in the PATH. So maybe using untypical chars was the reason of the problem.

Answer 13

sometime it happens when you try to (run or create) a .jar file under /libs folder by right click it in android studio. you can select the dropdown in top of android stuio and change it to app. This will work

Answer 14

My particular issue was caused because I was working with directories that involved symbolic links (shortcuts). Consequently, trying java -jar ../../myJar.jar didn't work because I wasn't where I thought I was.

Disregarding relative file paths fixed it right up.

Answer 15

In my case the suggested file name to be used was jarFile*.jar in the command line. The file in the folder was jarFile-1.2.3.jar . So I renamed the file to jarFile. Then I used jarFile.jar instead of jarFile*.jar and then the problem got resolved

Answer 16

It can happen on a windows machine when you have spaces in the names of the folder. The solution would be to enter the path between " ". For example:

java -jar c:\my folder\x.jar    --> 
java -jar "c:\my folder\x.jar"

Answer 17

To avoid any permission issues, try to run it as administrator. This worked for me on Win10.

Answer 18

I know this thread is years ago and issue was fixed too. But I hope this would helps someone else in future since I've encountered some similar issues while I tried to install Oracle WebLogic 12c and Oracle OFR in which its installer is in .jar format. For mine case, it was either didn't wrap the JDK directory in quotes or simply typo.

Run Command Prompt as administrator and execute the command in this format. Double check the sentence if there is typo.

"C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.xxxxx\bin\java" -jar C:\Users\xxx\Downloads\xxx.jar

If it shows something like JRE 1.xxx is not a valid JDK Java Home, make sure the System variables for JAVA_HOME in Environment Variables is pointing to the correct JDK directory. JDK 1.8 or above is recommended (2018).

A useful thread here, you may refer it: Why its showing your JDK c:program files\java\jre7 is not a valid JDK while instaling weblogic server?

Answer 19

For me it happen because i run it with default java version (7) and not with compiled java version (8) used to create this jar.

So i used:

%Java8_64%\bin\java -jar myjar.jar

Instead of java 7 version:

java -jar myjar.jar

Answer 20

I had a similar problem where TextMate or something replaced the double quotes with the unicode double quotes.

Changing my SELENIUM_SERVER_JAR from the unicode double quotes to regular double quotes and that solved my problem.

Answer 21

this is because you are looking for the file in the wrong path 1. look for the path of the folder where you placed the file 2. change the directory cd in cmd use the right path

Answer 22

I use NetBeans and had the same issue. After I ran build and clean project my program was executable. The Java documentation says that the build/clean command is for rebuilding the project from scratch basically and removing any past compiles. I hope this helps. Also, I'd read the documentation. Oracle has NetBeans and Java learning trails. Very helpful. Good luck!

Answer 23

Maybe you have specified the wrong version of your jar.

Answer 24

I finally pasted my jar file into the same folder as my JDK so I didn't have to include the paths. I also had to open the command prompt as an admin.

1. Right click Command Prompt and "Run as administrator"
2. Navigate to the directory where you saved your jdk to
3. In the command prompt type: java.exe -jar <jar file name>.jar

Answer 25

Keep the file in same directory where you are extracting it. That worked for me.

Answer 26

This is permission issue, see if the directory is under your User. That's why is working in another folder!

Answer 27

Rename the jar file and try

Explanation : yes, I know there are many answers still I want to add one point here which I faced.

I built the jar and I moved it into the server where I deploy (This is the normal process) here the file name which I moved already existed in the server, here the file will override obviously right. In this case, I faced this issue. maybe at the time of overriding there can be a permission copy issue.

Hope this will help someone.

Answer 28

If you are on WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), and following a guide which say, says this:

java -Djava.library.path=./DynamoDBLocal_lib -jar DynamoDBLocal.jar -sharedDb

You actually need to specify the full path, even though you've provided it in the java.library.path part.

java -Djava.library.path=/mnt/c/dynamodb_local/DynamoDBLocal_lib -jar /mnt/c/dynamodb_local/DynamoDBLocal.jar -sharedDb

Answer 29

When you see the error Error: Unable to access jarfile, check the directory where you placed the .jar file and verify its naming.

In my case, when copying the .jar file to another directory in the Dockerfile of the Spring Boot service a different .jar file was placed.

Answer 30

Have you tried to run it under administrator privoleges? meaning, running the command in "Run As" and then select administrator with proper admin credentials

worked for me