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Removing Versions of Java on Mac OS

Sometimes multiple versions of Java being installed can contribute to issues with Java applications. An important step in fixing an issue such as this is uninstallation of older Java versions.

Java is installed to the following locations on Mac OS (folders within the /Library folder structure will require use of ‘sudo’ in the Terminal in order to allow removal):

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/

/Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/

/Library/PreferencePanes/JavaControlPanel.prefPane/

~/Library/Application\ Support/Oracle/Java/

Note

Please proceed with caution as the following commands remove files and folders from system areas of Mac OS. For a bit of additional safety, the commands presented here are wrapped in an if statement to ensure the specific folder(s) exist prior to deletion.

The following document is an example of the procedure to remove these files and folders, actual steps may differ as Java files can exist in multiple areas.

Check whether the JavaVirtualMachines folder exists

ls -d1 /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/*

Note

If you receive an error message indicating ‘No such file or directory’, continue to the JavaAppletPlugin.plugin step.

Removing JavaVirtualMachine subfolders

Run the following command for each of the folders returned from the above.

Important

Substitute the proper folder name(s) in both portions of the example below:

if [[ -d /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_181.jdk/ ]]; then \
sudo rm -rf /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_181.jdk/; fi

The above is just an example, substitute each of the folder names returned from the previous command. Mac OS will prompt for an administrative user password.

Removal of the JavaAppletPlugin.plugin location

Proceed with removing the JavaAppletPlugin.plugin location:

if [[ -d /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin ]]; then \
sudo rm -rf /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/; fi

Mac OS will prompt for an administrative user password.

There may also be a symlink in place of the above folder:

if [[ -L /Library/PreferencePanes/JavaControlPanel.prefPane ]]; then \
sudo unlink /Library/PreferencePanes/JavaControlPanel.prefPane; fi

Mac OS will prompt for an administrative user password.

Removal of the Oracle Application Support Folder

Proceed with removing the Application Support/Oracle/Java folder:

if [[ -d ~/Library/Application\ Support/Oracle/Java/ ]]; then \
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Oracle/Java/; fi

Confirming success of the Uninstall process

Upon uninstallation, the java -version command should report the following:

Screenshot

Important

Do not follow the instructions indicated regarding navigating to Java.com as the CSE Department recommends AdoptOpenJDK rather than any Java.com or Oracle versions of Java.

Next steps and (re)installing Java

Proceed with reinstallation of an appropriate Java build by following the steps in the ‘Installing Java on Mac’ document.