title: %JAVA_HOME%\bin not working on Windows 8.1 for javac
body: <p>There are a lot of posts about <code>JAVA_HOME</code>, but I couldn't find an answer for this:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>On Windows 8.1 command prompt, I was not able to run javac, getting
  the error: <code>'javac' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.</code></li>
  <li><code>javac is located at: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_11\bin</code>.  And,</li>
  <li><code>JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_11</code>.
  Based on many suggestions here, I added to</li>
  <li><code>PATH=....;%JAVA_HOME%\bin;</code> Unfortunately, system gave the same error message with javac.</li>
  <li>So I removed <code>JAVA_HOME</code> from <code>PATH</code> and replaced it with the fully qualified path.  Problem solved!</li>
  <li>My question: Does anyone know why the more elegant solution didn't work?</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Thanks in advance.</p>