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Java SE - "Error occurred during initialization of VM java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: java.lang.Object" (Doc ID 1006790.1)

Last updated on MARCH 31, 2023

Applies to:

Java SE JDK and JRE - Version 5 to 8
All Platforms

Symptoms

When trying to run a Java SE application, the following error message is reported:

Changes

Actions that are known to trigger this problem:

  1. Trying to run a 64-bit JVM on Solaris (SPARCv9 or x64) when the required 32-bit JVM is not installed. This does not apply to JDK 8 and later since starting with JDK 8 there is no longer a 32-bit JVM.
  2. Removing the file rt.jar from the JVM installation folder, implicitly or explicitly. Third-party anti-virus software has been known to cause this problem on Microsoft Windows platforms.
  3. Lack of read access rights to the file rt.jar.
  4. Using the JVM's -Xbootclasspath switch to modify the search path of the bootstrap class loader and not including the file rt.jar on the search path.

Cause

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