How to make Eclipse behave well in the Windows 7 taskbar?

Specify the latest available Java VM in your eclipse.ini. I.e.:

-vm
jdk1.6.0_10\jre\bin\client\jvm.dll
  1. Make sure they are on separate lines
  2. Anything after the "vmargs" is taken to be vm arguments

(More info)

Or alternatively add the java bin folder to your Windows PATH before the "windows32" folder, because otherwise eclipse uses "javaw.exe" in the win32 folder instead of the JDK one.


Riccardo's solution from the Eclipse bug report worked for me, but I don't get recently opened projects, etc. from the task bar. Is anyone experiencing that these workarounds restore that behavior?

I have the same problem on Windows 7 x64 with Helios x64, but for me the following workaround works with the option "Always combine, hide labels" for taskbar buttons.

  • Check your "eclipse.ini" for the specified VM and make sure the path points to the bin directory of your JDK or JRE (and not to javaw.exe). For me the argument is "D:/Development/Languages/Java/Development Kit/bin/" without quotes.
  • Unpin Eclipse from the taskbar or delete the shortcut
  • Run "eclipse.exe" from the explorer and choose your workspace
  • Pin Eclipse to the taskbar after the splash screen was loaded and when the main window is shown

setting eclipse.exe to compatibility mode works


I just want to add this for the Win10 users.

Edit eclipse.ini to add these lines at the end before the line --launcher.appendVmargs:

-vm C:/Program Files/Java/jdk1.8.0/jre/bin/server/jvm.dll

You need set the compatibility to Windows Vista as well in order for it to work.


I think it's important to mention that at least for me it was important to add the path to the vm in the eclipse.ini with forward slashes, even though I'm working with Windows (7, that is). Eclipse didn't start when I used backslashes.