openjdk/jdk · error

no '\' found in the full path of the executable

Error message

no '\' found in the full path of the executable

What it means

Windows launcher relauncher: after resolving the executable's full path, strrchr(path, '\\') returned NULL — the canonical full path contains no backslash, so the launcher cannot compute the directory prefix to append JAVA_EXECUTABLE_NAME ('java'). It prints the message and exits 1. GetFullPathName always returns a drive-absolute path containing at least one backslash, so in practice this is a defensive check that fires only on degenerate results.

Source

Thrown at src/java.base/windows/native/launcher/relauncher.c:126

    if (our_full_path_len == 0) {
        fprintf(stderr, "failed to get the full path of the executable: %lu\n", GetLastError());
        return 1;
    }

    char* our_full_path = malloc(our_full_path_len + 1);
    if (our_full_path == NULL) {
        perror("malloc failed");
        return 1;
    }

    if (GetFullPathName(argv[0], our_full_path_len + 1, our_full_path, NULL) == 0) {
        fprintf(stderr, "failed to get the full path of the executable: %lu\n", GetLastError());
        return 1;
    }

    char *last_slash_pos = strrchr(our_full_path, '\\');
    if (last_slash_pos == NULL) {
        fprintf(stderr, "no '\\' found in the full path of the executable\n");
        return 1;
    }

    size_t base_length = last_slash_pos - our_full_path + 1;
    size_t java_path_length = base_length + strlen(JAVA_EXECUTABLE_NAME) + 1;

    char *java_path = malloc(java_path_length);
    if (java_path == NULL) {
        perror("malloc failed");
        return 1;
    }

    memcpy(java_path, our_full_path, base_length);
    strcpy(java_path + base_length, JAVA_EXECUTABLE_NAME);

    ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    // Build the argument list: our executable name + launcher args + users args

View on GitHub (pinned to 88dfb74bbe)

Solutions

1. Run java.exe in a clean environment (disable DLL injectors, overlays, screen recorders, compatibility shims) and retry
2. Verify the same JDK image works on an unmodified Windows host to rule out the image itself
3. Reinstall the JDK if the binary may be corrupted
4. Report to the emulator/hooking vendor if this only happens under their environment

When it happens

Trigger: GetFullPathName returning a malformed result (e.g. a device path or empty string due to a filesystem filter or emulation layer), or memory corruption of the buffer — the normal Windows API contract makes a backslash-free full path essentially impossible.

Common situations: Exotic environments: Windows Subsystem/compatibility shims, Wine or other emulators with imperfect GetFullPathName, corrupted process memory from injected DLLs (hooking/overlay software), or a truncated buffer.

Related errors

• failed to get the full path of the executable: %lu
• WaitForSingleObject failed: %lu
• GetExitCodeProcess failed: %lu
• no '/' found in the full path of the executable
• CreateProcess failed: %lu

AI-assisted analysis of openjdk/jdk@88dfb74bbe (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d4456e6a52dfb030. Report an issue: GitHub.