Solving error “Java Was Started But Returned Exit Code=13 Error In Eclipse”

For those who are new to programming, installing Eclipse can be quite troublesome. One of the most common errors is “Java Was Started But Returned Exit Code=13 Error In Eclipse“. In this article, we will explain to you the causes of errors and how to effectively deal with them.

How does the error “Java Was Started But Returned Exit Code=13 Error In Eclipse” happen?

This error usually occurs during your Eclipse installation. Assume in the case below, when you run the path:

C:\Program Files\Eclipse-SDK-4.2-win32-x86_64\eclipse\eclipse.exe" -vm
C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin\javaw.exe

The system reported the error, it is displayed as follows:

Java was started but returned exit code=13
C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin\javaw.exe
-Xms40m
-Xmx512m
-XX:MaxPermSize=256m
-jar C:\Program Files\Eclipse-SDK-4.2-win32-x86_64\eclipse\\plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.30v20120522-1813.jar
-os win32
-ws win32
-arch x86_64
...

What causes the error and How to fix it?

Below we will analyze the causes of the above error and the most effective way to handle each of those causes.

Case 1: Conflicts between Eclipse and JDK

This is probably the most common reason why many users have this problem. If you are installing two different versions of JDK and eclipse, for example JDK 32 bit and eclipse 64 bit, the error “Java Was Started But Returned Exit Code=13 Error In Eclipse ” will occur.

Solution 1: 

If this is the cause of your errors, the simple way to deal with them is to combine compatible versions. We suggest the following combinations:

32-bit OS , 32-bit JDK , 32-bit Eclipse (32-bit only)
64-bit OS , 32-bit JDK , 32-bit Eclipse
64-bit OS , 64-bit JDK , 64bit Eclipse (64-bit only)

If you don’t know what your current bit version is, follow these instructions. Open the Run dialog box (Window + R), type “msinfo32” to access the system information. Continue to select System Summary / System type to check the version like the image below:

Case 2: There are special characters in eclipse installation directory

If your Eclipse installation directory contains characters like @, #, !.., the system will report an error as well.

Solution 2:

To resolve the error, you need to remove those characters. For example, your path is as follows:

C:\@IDE\eclipse4.6\

Let’s change it to:

C:\IDE\eclipse4.6\ 

Case 3: The environment path variable has a problem

In some cases, the environment variable path may be corrupted. This will cause the “Java Was Started But Returned Exit Code=13 Error In Eclipse” error to occur. The reason is that when developers update to newer versions of the application, the previous settings are messed up.

Solution 3:

The solution for the above situation is that you need to remove this faulty path. Here are the steps:

1. In the Run dialog box (Window + R) enter “sysdm.cpl“, the System Properties box appears.
2. Select Advanced/Environment Variables/System Variables. In here, look for the path relative to Java, e.g. “C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath” to remove it.
3. And add “C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_131\bin” to the system variable.

After completing the above steps, please reboot to check.

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed our article about discovering the answer for the topic “Java Was Started But Returned Exit Code=13 Error In Eclipse”. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to leave a comment. We are always excited when our posts can provide useful information.

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