What is the difference between java.exe and javaw.exe?

Question

On a Windows Server, I have 2 kinds of Java processes

• java.exe
• javaw.exe

What are the differences ?

Answer 1

java.exe pops up a console window. javaw.exe does not.

If you expect text output, you'll need to use java.exe. If the application pops up its own window (e.g., Eclipse), you can use javaw.exe.

Answer 2

From - http://www.neuber.com/taskmanager/process/javaw.exe.html

"The javaw.exe command is identical to java.exe, except that with javaw.exe there is no associated console window. This implies you can't get it to display the version with -version, since there is no console to display it on. Use javaw.exe when you don't want a command prompt window to appear. The javaw.exe launcher will, however, display a dialog box with error information if a launch fails for some reason."

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Java is the plain old java interpreter that runs in a DOS box (so you have a console window open all the time).

Javaw is a wrapper around java that doesn't open a console window (and I guess redirects stdio, stdout and stderr to NUL)

Answer 4

javaw.exe has no associated console window (wrapper) unlike java.exe, that's all the difference between them.