How to Fix Error: There Is Insufficient Memory for the Java Runtime Environment to Continue in Eclipse

1. Error’s Description and Its Causes
2. Possible Solutions to Fix There is insufficient memory for the Java Runtime Environment to continue Error

Today, we will learn about an error stating, There is insufficient memory for the Java Runtime Environment to continue. We will also find possible reasons for it, which will take us to its solutions.

Error’s Description and Its Causes

We have a simple Java program that we are trying to run using Eclipse IDE. As soon as we run the program, we get an error saying, There is insufficient memory for the Java Runtime Environment to continue.

It is also important to note that we have a personal computer with 4GB RAM. We are using Windows 8 with a core i3 processor having around 20GB of empty disk space in the C drive.

We have also changed our Java Runtime Environment (JRE) from version 1.7 to 1.8, but the problem seems not fixed.

What does this error mean? Remember, we have two kinds of out-of-memory errors.

The first error is the OutOfMemoryException that we get when a Java program is running, and Java heap is not that large. It means the Java program asks the Java runtime for more memory.

We can fix it with -Xmx....

The error we face belongs to the second type, which occurs when the Java runtime runs out of memory. We get it when Java requires the operating system for additional memory, and the operating system says sorry, we don’t have anymore.

The following are a few more reasons.

1. This error is not about Java, and there is no need to update a Java option. This error means that we are running multiple programs on our computer, resulting in no memory left to run any single program.
2. There is a possibility that we are running a program that is consuming all of our memory. The Task Manager would be useful to find that program.
3. The system might be out of swap space or physical RAM.
4. Another possibility is that a process is running with the CompressedOops enabled, and the Java heap may be blocking the native heap’s growth.

Possible Solutions to Fix There is insufficient memory for the Java Runtime Environment to continue Error

There are many possibilities for the JVM process runs out of memory that we could do. In our view, the possibilities listed below are most promising if we want to have the current limitations for a process.

1. Reduce the Java Heap Size using -Xmx/-Xms. In the eclipse.ini file, there is a line like -Xmx1024m that we can replace, for instance, -Xmx640m.

   We can try various options to find which maximum heap size is sufficient for our needs. Remember, the -Xms must be less than the -Xmx.

2. We can use Eclipse 64-bit and Eclipse OpenJ9 if we have a 64-bit system. This solution is suggested if only we have a 64-bit system because OpenJ9 is more efficient considering memory consumption. We can also tune it in this respect.

3. Type Task Manager by using the Search option on the taskbar and figure out how much of our RAM is free. Why are we checking it?

   Because there is a possibility that we are running a program that is eating all of the memory, so we need to find that and kill it.

4. Close all the applications or reboot your machine to clean up the memory fragmentation.