Where Them
Logs AppWTLA-01

Java

11 log locations · Windows, macOS, Linux

Oracle Corporation · Vendor documentation

Where Java keeps its logs

Java logs to %TEMP%\jreMSI.log on Windows. 6 other Windows log locations are recorded below.

Java logs to /var/log/install.log on macOS. 1 other macOS log location is recorded below.

Java logs to ~/.java/deployment/log/ on Linux. 1 other Linux log location is recorded below.

Paths are printed exactly as Java writes them. Environment variables like %LOCALAPPDATA% and $XDG_STATE_HOME are never expanded, so a path can be pasted straight into a shell. Where a path differs between installer types or shipping flavours, each one is racked as its own card below - why that happens.

Finding your way around Windows, macOS and Linux.

WIN

Java

Oracle Corporation
Installer log%TEMP%\jreMSI.log- Written when the installer runs with /LV*
Installer log%TEMP%\java_install.log
Installer registry log%TEMP%\java_install_reg.log
Deployment registration log%TEMP%\JavaDeployReg.log
Java Update Scheduler log%TEMP%\jusched.log- Java 8 and earlier only; JDK 11 removed the deployment stack.
Plug-in, Web Start and Control Panel trace and log files%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Sun\Java\Deployment\log\- Java 8 and earlier only; JDK 11 removed the deployment stack.
JVM fatal error log%TMP%\hs_err_pid<pid>.log- Written to the process working directory first; %TMP% (else %TEMP%) only when that fails
per-user
Wrong path? Add a variant
MAC

Java

Oracle Corporation
Installer log/var/log/install.log- Shared macOS log; take only the Java installer entries
Plug-in, Web Start and Control Panel trace and log files~/Library/Application Support/Oracle/Java/Deployment/log/- Java 8 and earlier only; JDK 11 removed the deployment stack.
systemper-user
Wrong path? Add a variant
LNX

Java

Oracle Corporation
Plug-in, Web Start and Control Panel trace and log files~/.java/deployment/log/- Java 8 and earlier only; JDK 11 removed the deployment stack.
JVM fatal error log/tmp/hs_err_pid<pid>.log- Written to the process working directory first; /tmp only when that fails
per-user
Wrong path? Add a variant

How to turn on debug logging for Java

  1. Open the Java Control Panel and select the Advanced tab.
  2. Under Debugging, select Enable tracing and Enable logging.
  3. For full trace detail, add deployment.trace.level=all to the user deployment.properties file.
  4. Or enter -Ddeployment.trace=true -Ddeployment.trace.level=all in the Java Runtime Parameters field.
  5. To keep more than the default 5 trace files, add deployment.max.output.files=<n> to deployment.properties.
  6. Windows: For a detailed installer log, run the installer as <filename>.exe /LV* %TEMP%\jreMSI.log.
  7. To send JVM crash logs to a fixed folder, start Java with -XX:ErrorFile=/var/log/java/java_error%p.log.

How to collect Java logs

  1. Reproduce the problem with tracing and logging turned on.
  2. Windows: Zip the %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Sun\Java\Deployment\log folder.
  3. macOS: Zip the ~/Library/Application Support/Oracle/Java/Deployment/log folder.
  4. Linux: Zip the ~/.java/deployment/log folder.
  5. Add any hs_err_pid<pid>.log files from the process working directory or the temp folder.
  6. Windows: For install problems, add jreMSI.log, java_install.log, java_install_reg.log, jusched.log and JavaDeployReg.log from %TEMP%.
  7. macOS: For install problems, copy only the Java installer entries from /var/log/install.log.