Enabling the Java Plugin for Chrome in Mint

So, you've gone to the Oracle web site and installed Java. But when you visit a website that requires Java, you still get a message that directs you back to the Oracle web site to install Java. The problem is that your browser doesn't know that you've installed Java, so you need to tell it where to look.

Both Ubuntu and Mint use Firefox as a default browser.  If we tell Firefox where to look, Chrome will also know. So we actually get a 2 for 1 deal.

You'll need to know where Firefox is installed, as well as Java. On my machine, these are:

• Firefox - /usr/lib/mozilla
• Java - /usr/local/jdk1.7.0_45/jre

If you've only installed the java runtime, it's probably in /usr/local/jre1.7.0_45. Your folder structure may be for a different version. If you're not sure where Java is, you can open a terminal window and enter:

$ sudo find / -name libnpjp2.so

Armed with this information, open a terminal window, and go to the Firefox folder:

$ cd "/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins"

Now,  create a symbolic link in that folder that points back to the plugin:

$ sudo ln -s "/usr/local/jdk1.7.0_45/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so"

Now, you can restart your browser, and enable the plugin:

• Firefox - Select Tools > Add-ons (Ctrl+Shift+A) from the Menu Bar.  Then select the Plugins panel, and enable Java(TM) Plug-in
• Chrome - type chrome://plugins in the Navigation Bar to enable the plugin.

Now goto http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp to verify the plugin is working.

I've recently upgraded from Xubuntu to Linux Mint. What is nice is that since Mint is based on Ubuntu, many of the tricks and tips that I've learned for Ubuntu also work on Mint. This tip that worked on Xubuntu 11.10 with Java 1.6, still works on Mint 16 Cinnamon with Java 1.7.