How to add the ".jar" extension into your PATHEXT environment variable in order to fix the problem for Windows

Question

Hi, I am trying to download bundletool.jar to my machine windows 10, also downloaded appium-doctor when I run it it tells me that bundletool doesn't downloaded and give me this output

"✖ bundletool.jar cannot be found"

"➜ bundletool.jar is used to handle Android App Bundle. Please read http://appium.io/docs/en/writing-running-appium/android/android-appbundle/ to install it. Also consider adding the ".jar" extension into your PATHEXT environment variable in order to fix the problem for Windows"

I try to add .jar to PATHEXT like that

".COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC;.JAR"

but when I run "appium-doctor" doesn't recognize it.

Help me, please.

Answer 1

Hello Sherif,

Thank you for your question and for reaching out with your question today.

To resolve the issue and make `bundletool.jar` recognizable by `appium-doctor`, follow these steps:

1. Download bundletool.jar:
   - Go to the official bundletool GitHub repository: *********************************************
   - Download the latest version of `bundletool.jar` from the "Assets" section of the release page.

2. Place bundletool.jar in a directory:
   - Create a directory on your machine where you want to store `bundletool.jar`.
   - Move the downloaded `bundletool.jar` file to that directory.

3. Update the PATH environment variable:
   - Press `Win + X` and select "System."
   - In the System window, click on "Advanced system settings" on the left.
   - In the System Properties dialog, click on the "Environment Variables" button.
   - In the Environment Variables dialog, locate the "Path" variable under the "System variables" section and click "Edit."
   - Append a semicolon (;) followed by the path to the directory where you placed `bundletool.jar`. For example: `C:\path\to\bundletool\directory`.
   - Click "OK" to save the changes.

4. Update the PATHEXT environment variable:
   - In the Environment Variables dialog, locate the "PATHEXT" variable under the "System variables" section and click "Edit."
   - Add `.JAR` to the list of extensions. Ensure each entry is separated by a semicolon (;). For example: `.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC;.JAR`.
   - Click "OK" to save the changes.

5. Restart your command prompt or PowerShell window:
   - Close any open command prompt or PowerShell instances.
   - Open a new command prompt or PowerShell window.

6. Run `appium-doctor` again:
   - Launch a new command prompt or PowerShell window.
   - Run `appium-doctor` command again.
   - It should now recognize `bundletool.jar` and proceed without showing the previous error.

By following these steps, you should be able to make `bundletool.jar` accessible to `appium-doctor` and resolve the "bundletool.jar cannot be found" issue.

I used AI provided by ChatGPT to formulate part of this response. I have verified that the information is accurate before sharing it with you.

If the reply was helpful, please don’t forget to upvote or accept as answer.

Answer 2

The link that you posted returns a 404 page not found error.

In any event, did you download both files to your downloads folder? If so, open a command prompt and "CD" to that folder. Run a "dir" command to verify that you can see both files.

Is appium-doctor an executable? That is, do you see a file named appium-doctor.exe?

This site appears to document the command line switches. Do they work?

https://www.npmjs.com/package/appium-doctor

A .jar file is a Java program. Kind of like a .vbs file is a VB script. So if you would double click on a .vbs file, pathext would tell Windows that this can be executed and it would look to the registry to ultimately find that a .vbs file is processed by cscript.exe or wscript.exe.

So you would normally need to install Java in order for the pathext addition of .jar to do anything. I don't know anything about appium. Sorry.

You might have better luck asking your question in an appium forum because your question is more about appium, and not Windows.