Summary

Synopsis

In InstallAnywhere versions preceding 2010, the following error "Could not find a valid Java virtual machine to load. You may need to reinstall a supported Java virtual machine" is displayed when launching the uninstaller:

Discussion

When installing a product created by InstallAnywhere on Windows, some of the library files will be installed to a target machine inside the same folder where the uninstaller launcher is created. In the $USER_INSTALL_DIR$ location, there is a sub directory for the product uninstaller where all files used by the uninstaller are installed. Inside this uninstaller directory, which by default is named as _$PRODUCT_NAME$_installation (this name is different for InstallAnywhere versions prior to 2010), there is another sub directory called ?resource? which includes files such as iawin32.dll, iawin64_x64.dll library files and other files used during uninstallation.

Depending on the JVM bundled with the installer, the installer installs the above libraries to the resource subdirectory in the $USER_INSTALL_DIR$ location.

Bundling a 32-bit JVM or running the installer with 32-bit JVM will install only the iawin32.dll library to the resource directory on a 64-bit Windows machine. This file is used by the uninstaller launcher during the uninstall time if the JVM used by the uninstaller is 32-bit, and if the library is not present in the resource directory, the uninstaller will not launch due to missing iawin32.dll library.

Thus, if for some reason, uninstaller created by the installer that ran with a 32-bit JVM, uses a 64-bit JVM present on the 64-bit target machine during uninstallation, then the above error ?Win64 not supported? will be displayed. If one has set the uninstaller to generate a debug uninstall log, then a stack trace similar to one shown below may be seen in the log:

Resource dir found under 'C:\2011Ent\_2011Ent_installation\resource'.
loading windoze dll: C:\2011Ent\_2011Ent_installation\resource\iawin32.dll
loading JNI... failed
java.lang.IllegalStateException: BidiUtilFactory must be initalized before it can provide the BiDiUtil implementation.
at ZeroGbb.b(DashoA10*..)
at ZeroGa7.a(DashoA10*..)
at ZeroGa7.<init>(DashoA10*..)
at ZeroGa7.<init>(DashoA10*..)
at ZeroGa5.a(DashoA10*..)
at ZeroGa5.a(DashoA10*..)
at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.b(DashoA10*..)
at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.a(DashoA10*..)
at com.zerog.ia.installer.Main.main(DashoA10*..)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at com.zerog.lax.LAX.launch(DashoA10*..)
at com.zerog.lax.LAX.main(DashoA10*..)

Additional Information

For additional information on how to generate an Install and Uninstall log, follow the Knowledge Base article: Generating InstallAnywhere Log for Install and Uninstall in InstallAnywhere 2011 And Later.