FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
1.5.0 and 1.5_01

ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Windows 2000 SP 4

EXTRA RELEVANT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION :
This appears to be a Windows problem. Nevertheless, Java users should be aware of the problem and its cure because it prevents successful installation of Java. Sun could fix the problem by using an installer other than the Windows installer. This problem DOES NOT occur with J2SDKs up to 1.4.2_06, so something must have changed in the way that the Microsoft installer is being used in the 1.5 JDKs.

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
The JDK installed fails immediately, before displaying the License Agreement, with a Windows Error 1324 message: "The path XXXXXXX contains an invalid character".

This will occur when one or more of the Windows registry entries for

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/Shell Folders

contains a path that has been moved, refers to a disk that has been removed, etc. Is likely to occur after a new system drive has been installed, or the system drive letter has been changed.

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
Edit the registry entry

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/Shell Folders/Personal

to point to a disk drive that has been removed from the systems. Ordinarily, the value is something like

C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents

Under some circumstances, the installer will correct the bad data and proceed normally. Under other circumstances, the installer will error out with the 1324 Error. Unfortunately, I cannot tell under what circumstances the installer will take one action or the other.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
Installation of the JDK.
ACTUAL -
The JDK installed fails immediately, before displaying the License Agreement, with a Windows Error 1324 message: "The path XXXXXXX contains an invalid character".

The installer fails. The user is unable to install the JDK.

ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
"Error 1324: The path XXXXXXX contains an invalid character". (Windows error popup dialog). The string XXXXXXX will be replaced by some part of the bad registry data, but not the entire parameter value. Unfortunately, it may not be easy to find the references in the registry to this path by searching. For example, you may see "Documents and Settings" but there are hundred of occurrences of "Documents and Settings" in a typical registry.

REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
Edit the registry (using regedit or other registry editing tool) to remove the invalid entries. Corresponsing entries in both HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE should be checked and corrected.

The same problem as reported by Microsoft for Microsoft Office appears in:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;292582

Microsoft also recommends deleting the user's profile and creating a new one. This may not fix the problem if invalid data exists in the HKLM area.
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