The alternative for ~ (user’s home directory) on Windows command prompt

The bug you reference (bug 4787391) has been fixed in Java 8. Even if you are using an older version of Java, the System.getProperty("user.home") approach is probably still the best. The user.home approach seems to work in a very large number of cases. A 100% bulletproof solution on Windows is hard, because Windows has a shifting concept of what the home directory means.

If user.home isn't good enough for you I would suggest choosing a definition of home directory for windows and using it, getting the appropriate environment variable with System.getenv(String).

If you added it in the control panel while your command prompt was open, that won't affect your current command prompt. You'll need to exit and re-open or simply do:

set "path=%path%;c:\program files\java\jdk1.6.0_16\bin"

By way of checking, execute:

echo %path%

from your command prompt and let us know what it is.

Otherwise, make sure there is a javac in that directory by trying:

"c:\program files\java\jdk1.6.0_16\bin\javac.exe"

from the command prompt. You can also tell which executable (if any) is being used with the command:

for %i in (javac.exe) do @echo %~$PATH:i

This is a neat trick similar to the which and/or whence commands in some UNIX-type operating systems.