Primavera P6: Export Result Error – application cannot be found.

Do you get this Primavera P6 Export Result Error?

Error message reads: “The selected application c:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\BIN\JAVA.EXE cannot be found.”

Example:

The following error occurs when you attempt to export a P6 XML file using Primavera P6 Professional.

Cause:

This error will be seen if your java home directory has been moved or renamed. Primavera P6 Professional uses Java code for certain functions including the processing of the XML export feature. For example, you upgraded your java version from Java 7-nn to Java 8-nn, and removed Java 7. Doing so removes the \BIN\JAVA.exe file to a new home directory on a different path to the original java 7 home. Primavera P6 can no longer find the java.exe file and generates the above error.

Solution:

Update your JAVA_HOME environment variable to describe the current full path to your java installation.

Here’s how to do it.

Note: this is a windows 7 example, but the principle is the same with all windows operating systems.

Open the windows file explorer and locate your current java home directory.
Highlight the java home directory and then click in field at the top (1) to select the full path.
Right-click on the full path and select Copy from the menu (2).
This copies the fully qualified path string to the clipboard. We will paste this path into the Java_Home environment variable in a later step.
Open the windows Control Panel, go to System and Security and then select System
Select the Advanced system settings option.
In the Advanced tab of the System Properties dialog, click the Environment Variables… button.
In the Environment Variables dialog, select the Java_Home system variable and click Edit…
In the Edit System Variable dialog, right-click to paste the new Java_Home path into the Variable value: field.
Click OK to close each of the System dialogs to save your changes.
Restart your Primavera P6 Professional client for the changes to take affect.