How to Install: Eclipse (32 bit version) on a Windows Machine

Mobile Game Development

Overview

Follow these instructions to install Eclipse Helios version 3.6 on your machine.
Note: if you have a version of Eclipse older that version 3.5 (Galileo) installed on your machine---in C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86), you should uninstall it (following the instructions below) before you install the current version.

Eclipse is a free, open-source IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for Java

Your computer should  have a working Java Runtime Environment (JRE) v6 to run Eclipse. If you do not already have one, follow these instructions for installing Java 6 before installing Eclipse.

Installing Eclipse

Follow all of the following steps to install and configure Eclipse on Windows:

  1. Download and Install Eclipse (without plugins; add them manually)
    1. Login to an Administrator account on your Windows machine.
    2. If you have a prior version of Eclipse (prior to 3.5), uninstall your existing version(s). With Eclipse, this just involves deleting the application's folder from C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86).
    1. Click this link to access the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers page.
      Under Download Links, click Windoes 32 bit.
      Choose a mirror close to you and download the zip file on your local machine to a place of your choosing.
    2. Use a zip extracting program to extract the Eclipse zip file that you downloaded in the previous step, above.
    3. If at any point you are asked to trust the software, indicate that it should be allowed to run.
    4. Open a "Windows Explorer" window to the folder in which you extracted the Eclipse zip file.
    5. On the left panel of your window expand Local Disk (C:) which should be your C: drive.
    6. Drag the eclipse folder from inside the folder in which you extracted the Eclipe zip archive to C:\Program Files; if there is a dialog box which pops up asking for administrator permission to move to that folder, select continue.
  2. Add an Eclipse Shortcut
    1. Open the folder C:\Program Files\eclipse.
    2. Right click on the eclipse application file icon and select Pin to Start Menu. This creates a new shortcut in the start menu which you can now go to to open Eclipse.
    3. Other options are available such as Pin to Taskbar and Create Shortcut; any of these options will work.
  3. Configure Eclipse.

    Follow the appropriate link to configure Eclipse for

    1. Java.
    2. J2ME Development.