MIRC Installation on Vista

This article describes how to install MIRC on a Vista system. The procedure is quite different from that for XP because Vista treats Windows services differently from XP. Currently (5/2007), Tomcat cannot run under Vista as a Windows service. This means that Tomcat cannot be installed using the Tomcat service installer for Windows. Instead, it must be installed by expanding the Tomcat zip file. This in turn requires that the Java Developer's Kit (JDK) be installed rather than just the JRE, which is sufficient for running as a Windows service.

1 Install the Java Developer's Kit

Download the latest standard edition JDK for Windows from http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp. It will have a name like jdk-6u1-windows-i586-p.exe.

Run the file. The installer will provide a page for selecting which components to install. It is safe to accept the defaults, but you can save space by deselecting the documentation and the source code. The JDK itself and the JRE are both required.

2 Install the JAI ImageIO Tools

Download the latest release of the Java Advanced Imaging ImageIO Tools for the JDK from http://java.sun.com/products/java-media/jai/downloads/download-iio-1_0_01.html. It will have a name like jai_imageio-1_1-lib-windows-i586-jdk.exe. Note that the ImageIO Tools are separate from the JAI, so be careful to obtain the ImageIO Tools. The JAI itself is not required.

Run the file and accept all the defaults.

3 Define a System Variable for Java

After installing the JDK and the these files, you must define a system variable which points to the JDK. This will allow Tomcat to find Java when it starts. If you install the JDK is the standard place, it will be in the following directory: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_01

• Click the Start button.
• Right-click the Computer button in the Start menu.
• Select Properties in the pop-up menu.
• In the Tasks pane, click Advanced System Settings.
• In the System Properties dialog, click the Advanced tab.
• Click the Environment Variables button.
• In the lower part of the next window, click New....
• In the Variable name field, enter: JAVA_HOME
• In the Variable value field, enter the path to the JDK.
• Finally, click OK on all the dialogs.

4 Install Tomcat

Obtain the latest Tomcat 5.5 Core zip file from http://tomcat.apache.org/download-55.cgi. Be careful to obtain 5.5 rather than 5.0, which is also available on the same page. It will have a name like apache-tomcat-5.5.23.zip.

Expand the zip file. A convenient place to put it is in the root of the C drive.

5 Configure the Memory Settings

After installation, there will be a folder with a name like apache-tomcat-5.5.23 containing numerous subfolders, including one called bin.

Open the bin directory and then open the catalina.sh file with a text editor like NotePad or TextPad. The top part of the file is a set of comments. About 55 lines from the top, the comments section ends. The last few lines of the comments section and the first few lines that follow it look like this:

#   CATALINA_PID    (Optional) Path of the file which should contains the pid
#                   of catalina startup java process, when start (fork) is used
#
# $Id: catalina.sh 498126 2007-01-20 15:38:39Z markt $
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# OS specific support.  $var _must_ be set to either true or false.
cygwin=false
os400=false

Paste the line below into the file just after the comments section and then save the file.

JAVA_OPTS='-Xms256m -Xmx512m'

The result should look like this:

#   CATALINA_PID    (Optional) Path of the file which should contains the pid
#                   of catalina startup java process, when start (fork) is used
#
# $Id: catalina.sh 498126 2007-01-20 15:38:39Z markt $
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

JAVA_OPTS='-Xms256m -Xmx512m'

# OS specific support.  $var _must_ be set to either true or false.
cygwin=false
os400=false

6 Define a System Variable for Tomcat

To make it easier to start and stop Tomcat, it will be convenient to define a system variable pointing to the top-level Tomcat directory. Use the procedure described above to define a system variable named CATALINA_HOME. If the top-level Tomcat folder is located at C:\apache-tomcat-5.5.23, then set the value of the variable to C:\apache-tomcat-5.5.23.

7 Starting and Stopping Tomcat

To start Tomcat, open a command window, and enter: %CATALINA_HOME%\bin\startup.bat. Tomcat will start and open its own command window. You can close the original command window, but do not close Tomcat's window while Tomcat is running.

To stop Tomcat, open a command window, and enter: %CATALINA_HOME%\bin\shutdown.bat.

You may find it convenient to create a shortcut which starts a command window in the %CATALINA_HOME%\bin directory. This would allow you to start and stop Tomcat just by typing startup and shutdown.

8 Install MiRC

To install and configure MIRC, follow the instructions available on the Downloads page of the wiki.