Java webstart max-heap-size causes JVM cannot be started

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Java
webstart max-heap-size causes JVM cannot be started

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We use java webstart on the client side for a java swing based aplication. Recently we have been experiencing a weird "Cannot start java Virtual machine " error when clicking in the jnlp link. We soon find out its because the max-heap-size setting in the jnlp file was set to 1024m whereas most of the clients PC only have 1 gb physical memory. Set the max-heap-size back to 512m solved the problem. Currently, the relevant line in the jnlp file looks like <j2se version="1.5+" initial-heap-size="100m" max-heap-size="512m"/> I looked into the jnlp spec, but cannot find anything related to the "Java Virtual machine" issue. In theory the max-heap-size should not matter as much as the initial-heap-size. But our experience suggested quite the contrary. The client environment: Windows XP SP2 ( 32bit ), Internet Explorer 8.06, Memory 1G Note max-heap-size set to 1024m can cause the same problem on a machine with 2G ram. Basically, what I am looking for here is some reference/spec/experience about why this is happening, and if there is any get-round for this issue besides increasing the physical memory size. Another thing is that if we leave the max-heap-size unspecified, will the actual physical memory size be used as the max-heap-size, or a system-default one will be used? Thanks, JasonW java jvm heap jnlp java-web-start share|improve this question asked Jul 19 '10 at 23:28 Jason Wang 10427

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It is likely that this problem is caused by the fact that a sufficiently large memory area could not be allocated to your JVM. The Java object heap has to be allocated in contiguous virtual addresses, for implementation reasons. I noticed that on a Win XP box with 2 Gb RAM this breaks at around 1.5 GB (this off course varies depending on what processes are running on each PC, so YMMV). Checkout the following posts for some explanations: Java maximum memory on Windows XP Why is the maximum size of the Java heap fixed? share|improve this answer answered Aug 22 '10 at 9:54 user159088

Very useful links. Thanks. It still supervises me that there is nothing (at least I cannot find anything)about the requirements for the jnlp max-heap-size parameter. – Jason Wang Aug 24 '10 at 0:31 feedback

up vote0down vote	I found that both the initial-heap-size and max-heap-size were not well respected by the Mac version of javaws. I ended up replacing them with something like this: <j2se version="1.6+" java-vm-args="-Xmx1024m -Xms256m -Xss8m" /> And finally got it working on Mac with the larger heap size share|improve this answer answered May 2 '11 at 16:08 sullivan- 1464
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Isn't there a possibility to set the Xmx for Clients with this problem permanently to a lower value? I tried to set Xmx in the Java Control Panel - without any effect. Additionally i exported the environment Varialbe jnlpx-heapsize=x,y without any effect. javaws -J-Xmx=y didn't work too. Only building manually the internal java.exe call did work. share|improve this answer answered Jan 25 at 11:13 sagi7 1

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