# ENVI 4.6 or 4.6.1 Help does not work

Most commonly seen on a **Windows x64 machine** running Java 6 64-bit— <span class="caps">ENVI</span> and <span class="caps">IDL</span> (64-bit) both load fine, <span class="caps">IDL</span> Help loads fine, but <span class="caps">ENVI</span> Help does not start.

The problem is only partially documented by <span class="caps">ITTVIS</span>, here:  
[https://kb.ucla.edu/link/1168](https://kb.ucla.edu/link/1168)  
[http://download.ittvis.com/envi\_4.6.1/Release\_Notes.html](http://download.ittvis.com/envi_4.6.1/Release_Notes.html)

The fundamental issue is that <span class="caps">ENVI</span> 4.6 and 4.6.1 require an old version of Java to run the **help** files (5.0 Update 11 is mentioned).

<span class="caps">SSC</span> has had success getting <span class="caps">ENVI</span> 4.6 and 4.61 running on 64-bit Windows system with Java 6 64-bit, but the common issue is that <span class="caps">ENVI</span> Help does not start. There is no error message most of the time. <span class="caps">IDL</span> Help **does** start.

---

The reason that <span class="caps">ENVI</span> 4.6 and 4.6.1 Help does not run is that, not only does it require Java 5.0, it specifically requires Java **32-bit** to be installed.

Reference:  
[http://forum.inforest.gr/index.php?topic=11.0](http://forum.inforest.gr/index.php?topic=11.0)

To correct this problem:  
<del>-</del>——————-

If attempting to start <span class="caps">ENVI</span> 4.6.1/4.6 Help on Windows fails with an error or you receive no response try the following steps. Note that administrative privileges may be required to complete these steps.

1\. Download and install the Java Runtime Environment (<span class="caps">JRE</span>) version 5.0 update 11 **32-bit**.

Note: If your system already has <span class="caps">JRE</span> version 5.0 update 11 **32-bit** (or later), proceed to configuring <span class="caps">ENVI</span> Help initialization file to use the installed Java version.

Note: 64-bit Windows may only have a 64-bit <span class="caps">JRE</span> installed, but not a 32-bit <span class="caps">JRE</span>. The <span class="caps">IDL</span> workbench, <span class="caps">IDL</span> Help and <span class="caps">ENVI</span> Help always require a 32-bit <span class="caps">JRE</span>. If you encounter the error “<span class="caps">JVM</span> terminated. Exit code=-1”, it may be caused by the missing 32-bit <span class="caps">JRE</span>. In that case, it will be necessary to install a 32-bit <span class="caps">JRE</span> on the system and then configure the help system as described below.

A compatible version of the <span class="caps">JRE</span> is a free download available directly from Sun Microsystems at:  
[http://java.sun.com/products/archive/j2se/5.0\_11/index.html](http://java.sun.com/products/archive/j2se/5.0_11/index.html)

2. Modify the <span class="caps" id="bkmrk-envi">ENVI</span> Help initialization file to use the <span class="caps" id="bkmrk-jre">JRE</span> installed on your system. You will need to modify the <span class="caps" id="bkmrk-envi-0">ENVI</span> Help initialization file located in the envi46/help/eclipse subdirectory of your <span class="caps" id="bkmrk-envi-1">ENVI</span> 4.6.1 or <span class="caps" id="bkmrk-envi-2">ENVI</span> 4.6 installation. To do this, edit (using a plain text editor, like Notepad) the envihelp.ini file located at, for example:C:\\Program Files\\<span class="caps">ITT</span>\\IDL708\\products\\envi46\\help\\eclipse\\envihelp.ini ( <span class="caps">ENVI</span> 4.6.1 )  
<del>or</del>  
C:\\Program Files\\<span class="caps">ITT</span>\\IDL706\\products\\envi46\\help\\eclipse\\envihelp.ini ( <span class="caps">ENVI</span> 4.6 )

and add the following two lines at the beginning of the envihelp.ini file:

-vm  
C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Java\\jre1.5.0\_11\\bin

where the second line should show the path to the actual directory that contains the file javaw.exe on your system.

After modification, the resulting contents of the “envihelp.ini” file might would look like this:

-vm  
C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Java\\jre1.5.0\_11\\bin  
-nosplash  
-application  
com.rsi.idldt.helpApplication  
-data  
@user.home/.idl/itt/envihelp-46