Why does my eclipse.ini file not recognize the following command?

Question

I need to use a 64-bit JRE to run eclipse and my browser needs to use a 32-bit. To differentiate, I want to leave the 32-bit version on the system PATH, and simply tell eclipse to open with the 64-bit version. Based on the answer to other similar questions, I learned that I should be able to do this by adding the following to my eclipse.ini file:

-vm C:\users\myusername\eclipse\jdk1.8.0_20\jre\bin\javaw.exe

as that specifies where eclipse should find the JRE to run. This doesn't work. Does anyone know why? I am working in Windows 7. Also, there are no spaces in the path.

One final note: Adding this same path to the 'target' used to open eclipse in the start menu works (so I have a working solution, but would still like to know how to fix my ini file).

Answer 1

As with all entries in the eclipse.ini you must specify -vm and the path on separate lines:

-vm 
C:\users\myusername\eclipse\jdk1.8.0_20\jre\bin\javaw.exe

Also make sure it comes before any -vmargs line in the file - everything after that line is treated as a VM argument.

Answer 2

A couple common causes:

1. Make sure it's not listed after -vmargs ( -vmargs and everything after it are sent to the JVM)
2. Put the -vm and it's arg on separate lines
3. Make sure it's not being overridden by an active argument (like if you run from a shortcut or an alias)