why can't I run JDK on windows xp?

[Kiedis]

Hi.

I'm using windows xp home edition:


So I choose a file to download:


And it's all - nothing happens after that! I can see JDK in control panel:


but i can't launch any java compiler in order to begin to learn programming. I have uninstalled and reinstalled JDK (also tried various versions) nearly 10 times but that didn't help at all.

[travishein]

i'm not sure, you can use the x86_64 version on windows xp? (or i didnt know there was a 64 bit windows xp anyway). i'd try the normal x86 build one.

but also the javac needs to be added to the path, for some reason the java installer never does this.
using control panel, environment variables, usually i create an environtment variable JAVA_HOME with value to the locaion of java installation (where ever this is, something like c:\program files\jdk6_u23

and then append to the PATH variable %JAVA_HOME%\bin

then when I open a cmd console, i am able to type "java -version" and "javac -version" and they work now that the JDK bin folder has been added to the PATH variable