In your favorite web browser(Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, etc) navigate to your favorite search
engine(www.google.com, www.yahoo.com, etc) and enter "Java download jdk". In the search results look
for the link that points to Oracle's web address. Before installing the jdk get something to write
on and use it to write down the file path to where you are going to install the jdk in the next step.
Navigate to that link and select the version of Java that corresponds to your operating system.
If you don't know which operating system you are currently using then in Microsoft Windows you can type
"System" into the search bar and click the icon that displays system to find the information. If you
are using an operating system that is older than the current operating systems on devices then in Microsoft
Windows you can use the start menu and go to the Control Panel item and click on it and look for the System
inside of Control Panel.
Setting the PATH environment variable on your operating system. Now that you have the jdk installed
on your computer you need to set the PATH variable, so that your command line console knows where
to look for the jdk executables. On current Microsoft Windows operating systems you can find the
environment variable in System then on the left choose the link "Advanced system settings". A dialog
box will popup with "System Properties". If you aren't already on the Advanced tab then click on it
now, and at the bottom of the dialog click the button "Environment Variables". In the System variables
section look for an entry with Variable name of "Path".
If you found the "Path" variable then click the button "Edit". Use your arrow keys to move the text
cursor all the way to the left. Next, type in the path to the "bin" folder of your jdk that you
just installed. For my computer I have to type the following into the Path value
"C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_92\bin;". The ";" is necessary to separate other file paths already
entered into the Path variable.
If you didn't find the "Path" variable then click "New" and type in "Path" for "Variable name" and
type in the path to the "bin" folder of your jdk that you just installed. No ";" is necessary because
the "Path" environment variable is new, so there were no existing file paths.
Next, you will need to open a command line console window. In current versions of Microsoft Windows
you can type "cmd" into the operating system search bar and click the "Command Prompt" option that appears.
In older versions of Microsoft Windows you can type "cmd" in the Run field in the Start menu.
You should currently have a black box on your screen with your current file path written inside of it.
To change your file path use the "cd"(stands for change directory) command by typing "cd ".
One special utility of the "cd" command is a command for navigating to the directory containing the
current file path, and it is used by typing "cd..". If your current file path was "c:\Users\matthew" then
after the "cd.." command the current file path will be "c:\Users". For practice, you can try typing
the command to navigate back to the original directory. In my case, "cd matthew". Now my current file
path will be back to where I started with "c:\Users\matthew". Another useful command is "dir" which
will display a list of directories and files in your current directory. The "cd" command can only
be used to navigate to directories. Try practicing some navigation to and from directories.
At this point, try typing in "javac". If you get text that says "Usage: javac ..." then you have
a jdk installed on your computer and your Path environment variable knows where it is located.
Congratulations you have successfully installed the Java Development Kit on your system you are
now ready to start writing your first applications.
