Selected directory is not a valid home for JDK - Intellij IDEA on Ubuntu

Question

After installing Intellij Idea 14, with OracleJDK 1.8 u25 (64 bit) on my 14.04 Ubuntu system, I cannot configure the Java SDK to use any JDK. When I navigate to Module Settings->SDK and click configure SDK, the add button, and then select /usr/java/jdk1.8.0_25 in the dialog, I get an error popup stating that "The selected directory is not a valid home for JDK."

I've checked the contents of the directory, which contains a bin folder with both java and javac inside, a lib folder and a jre folder.

I've tried selecting each of those in turn, to no avail, which I expected.

@A1ternat1ve Not a duplicate in the sense that accepted answer doesn't apply since the folder in question is a full jdk install, unlike as within that case. According to the answer, one of `bin`, `lib`, or `jre` was missing or incomplete. — Andrew Schade, May 08 '15 at 05:35
This might help: http://askubuntu.com/questions/130186/what-is-the-rationale-for-the-usr-directory — Evan Knowles, May 08 '15 at 05:43
@Evan Thanks! That provided me with a solution to the question. I've posted an answer with the method I used. — Andrew Schade, May 08 '15 at 05:52
Check you installed the jdk (not only the jre) : sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk — Remy Mellet, Aug 18 '16 at 08:57

score 76 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 18 '17 at 13:39

76

I had the same problem, in my case I wasn't able to select any of the "openjdk" directories under /usr/lib/jvm/, I solved with:

sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk

When restarting intellij it will find the path to the jdk automatically.

edited Nov 18 '17 at 13:39

Douy789

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answered Aug 07 '17 at 12:46

Francesco Borzi

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On ubuntu 16.04 I did not have a `/usr/local/java/` folder. This worked for me, however. Right after doing this IJ was able to let me select `/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.8.0-openjdk-amd64` – ferahgo Aug 12 '17 at 02:37
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Worked on Ubuntu 18.04 with openjdk-8-jdk, the folder can now be selected – kit Sep 23 '18 at 14:19
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Works for Ubuntu 16.04 – Ashutosh Chamoli Oct 03 '18 at 10:42
Works for debian 9 stretch, the folder can now be selected – ColdFire May 18 '19 at 15:39
Thanks, save my day! Works on Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS and Intellij Idea Community Edition 2019 3.4 – Marino Mar 25 '20 at 10:01
Ubuntu 20.04 and IntelliJ IDEA 2020 also worked. Thank You! – Dulkith May 31 '20 at 05:11

vdegenne · Answer 2 · 2020-05-07T13:13:28.330

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For the ones who run into this problem even though you select the right directory under /usr/lib/jvm, there is something you should know : The directories under /usr/lib/jvm are created when your system installs the minimum set of java tools. But it doesn't mean you have the development files available. You need to install the development files :

sudo apt-get install java-1.8.0-openjdk-devel

After installing this package, try to select the directory again and it should work.

edited May 07 '20 at 13:13

answered Apr 21 '18 at 14:38

vdegenne

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This is especially necessary if you want to install any jdk8+, thanks @vdegenne – Zarathustra Nov 24 '18 at 12:42

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:22

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Evan Knowles posted a link to https://askubuntu.com/questions/130186/what-is-the-rationale-for-the-usr-directory. It provided me with the solution to the problem.

Instead of using the JDK at /usr/java/jdk1.8.0_25, I instead used the JDK at /usr/local/java/jdk1.8.0_25. The reasons that this works rather than the other are explained in detail within the link.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:22

Community

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answered May 08 '15 at 05:50

Andrew Schade

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score 3 · Answer 4 · answered May 13 '19 at 22:06

I came across this error because I did not have JAVA_HOME set.

Adding export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64 (for openjdk 11 in my case) and export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH to my ~/.bashrc and then running source ~/.bashrc solved the problem for me.

Selected directory is not a valid home for JDK - Intellij IDEA on Ubuntu

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