What causes "Unable to find JRE '%s'" in SonarSource/sonarqube?

Use a jreFilename exactly as listed by the jres listing endpoint

SonarSource/sonarqube · error · NotFoundException

Unable to find JRE

Error message

Unable to find JRE '%s'

What it means

Thrown when the requested JRE binary cannot be found on disk under the 'jres/' directory while serving GET of a JRE for a scanner. SonarQube converts the FileNotFoundException into a 404 NotFoundException naming the JRE file.

Solutions

Use a jreFilename exactly as listed by the jres listing endpoint
Verify the server distribution's jres/ directory contains the requested JRE file
Restart/repair the SonarQube installation to restore shipped JREs
Ensure the server process runs from the installation home so the relative 'jres/' path resolves correctly

Example fix

// before
return new FileInputStream("jres/" + jreFilename);
// after
File jre = new File(fs.getHomeDir(), "jres/" + jreFilename);
if (!jre.isFile()) {
  throw new NotFoundException(String.format("Unable to find JRE '%s'", jreFilename));
}
return new FileInputStream(jre);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const jres = await fetch(`${baseUrl}/api/v2/analysis/jres`).then(r => r.json());
if (!jres.jres.some(j => j.filename === requestedJre)) {
  throw new Error(`JRE '${requestedJre}' not offered by this server; pick one from the jres list`);
}

Type guard

function hasJre(jreList, filename) {
  return jreList?.jres?.some(j => typeof j.filename === 'string' && j.filename === filename) ?? false;
}

Try / catch

try {
  const jre = await fetchJreBinary(filename);
} catch (err) {
  if (err.status === 404) {
    // fall back to the first JRE listed by the server
  } else { throw err; }
}

Prevention

Discover available JRE filenames from the listing endpoint instead of hardcoding
After server upgrades, refresh the JRE filename used by scanners
Ensure the server runs from its installation home so relative 'jres/' paths resolve
Don't manually delete files under the server distribution

When it happens

Trigger: GET api/v2/analysis/jres/{jreFilename} (via JresHandlerImpl.getJreBinary) where jreFilename does not correspond to a file in jres/ relative to the working directory.

Common situations: Scanner requesting a JRE filename the server build does not ship (version mismatch), JRE files removed by cleanup, running server from a non-standard working directory so the relative 'jres/' path resolves incorrectly.

Understand the failure class

Background: "File not found" and ENOENT errors: why libraries can't find a file that should exist — this error's family across 50 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of SonarSource/sonarqube@184c821202 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7db7f859f07e39c6. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at server/sonar-webserver-webapi-v2/src/main/java/org/sonar/server/v2/api/analysis/service/JresHandlerImpl.java:104

    Predicate<JreInfoRestResponse> archFilter = isBlank(arch) ? jre -> true : (jre -> Arch.from(jre.arch()) == Arch.from(arch));
    return metadata.values().stream()
      .filter(osFilter)
      .filter(archFilter)
      .toList();
  }

  @Override
  public JreInfoRestResponse getJreMetadata(String id) {
    return Optional.ofNullable(metadata.get(id))
      .orElseThrow(() -> new NotFoundException("JRE not found for id: " + id));
  }

  @Override
  public InputStream getJreBinary(String jreFilename) {
    try {
      return new FileInputStream("jres/" + jreFilename);
    } catch (FileNotFoundException fileNotFoundException) {
      throw new NotFoundException(String.format("Unable to find JRE '%s'", jreFilename));
    }
  }
}

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