You can quickly install Liberty by running a self-extracting Java archive (JAR)
file.
About this task
The
wlp-<edition>-all-<fix_pack>.jar files
installs the Liberty runtime environment for your edition and any Liberty features that
apply.
Note: A removal notice was issued for the Liberty runtime, extended programming model, and
extras JAR files. Although you can still install from these files, they are eligible to be removed
in the future as described in
Removal notices.
Procedure
- Download the JAR file for your edition.
Each Liberty image is packaged as a JAR file called
wlp-<edition>-all-<fix_pack>.jar. For a
list of the available archives, see List of installation Java archive files.
- Extract the distribution image to your preferred directory by running the following
command.
java -jar wlp-<edition>-all-<fix_pack>.jar
All application server files are stored in subdirectories of the wlp directory.
For a list of the available extraction options, see Java archive file extraction options.
- Optional: Set the JAVA_HOME property for your environment.
Liberty requires a Java runtime environment (JRE) or Java SDK in which to run. It does not share the Java SDK or JRE that WebSphere® Application Server traditional uses. You can specify the
Java SDK or JRE location using the JAVA_HOME property in the
server.env file, as described in Customizing the Liberty environment.
When you set the JAVA_HOME property in the server.env
file, Liberty uses the same Java runtime location regardless
of the user profile that the Liberty server runs under.
On the IBM i platform, setting the
JAVA_HOME property as a system-level environment variable is not recommended.
The IBM i platform is a shared environment, and changing
system-level environment variables might affect other applications.

On Linux or UNIX systems, you can instead set
JAVA_HOME in the user
.bashrc file, or append the JDK or JRE path to the
PATH
environment variable. On Windows systems, you can instead
set
JAVA_HOME as a system environment variable, or append the JDK or JRE path
to the
PATH system variable. For example, on Windows systems you can use the following commands to set the
JAVA_HOME property, and to add the Java
/bin directory to the
path:
set JAVA_HOME=C:\Progra~1\Java\JDK8
set PATH=%JAVA_HOME%\bin;%PATH%
Note: the Liberty runtime environment searches for the java command in this
order: JAVA_HOME property, JRE_HOME property, and system
PATH property.
For more information about supported Java environments and where to get them, see Minimum supported Java levels.
- Optional: Upgrade your Liberty installation to a more advanced supported edition. For example, you can upgrade from WebSphere
Application Server Liberty Core to WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment. For more
information, see Upgrading Liberty installations.
What to do next
After you install Liberty, you can further customize your
environment by installing additional assets; see Installing Liberty Repository assets.
On the IBM i
platform, after you extract the distribution image, you can configure all servers to run as jobs in
the batch subsystem under the QEJBSVR user profile that is provided with the product. For more
information, see Configuring the Liberty server to start as a job in the QWAS9 subsystem on IBM i.