NoClassDefFoundError - spent 2 hours looking for answer

Question

Hopefully you will not have seen this error message in the title and just discounted me as lazy. I have searched several tutorials and replies, all of which make sense, but none of which work for me.
I am trying to run the following very simple program from the command line (I can run it fine in my IDE):
public class Welcome1 {
public static void main( String args[] )
System.out.println( "Welcome to Java Programming!" );
I am using Windows 2000 and have set the following environment variables:
CLASSPATH %JAVA_HOME%\lib\tools.jar;.
JAVA_HOME C:\JBuilder9\jdk1.4
Path c:\JBuilder9\jdk1.4\bin
I try and run the file by changing to the directory where Welcome1.java is, and then typing:
java Welcome1
(This is not part of a package). I get the following error message:
Exception in thread "main": java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError
I have even tried moving Welcome1.java into the same directory as java.exe, and it still failed.
Please help, I have a more complicated program I have just developed and am extremely frustrated by being caught up on such a simple problem.
Thank you for time.

Answer 1

Ditch that JBuilder IDE. Better to learn Java with a text editor and a command shell than using a big IDE that's another black box to you. JMO.
You don't need that system CLASSPATH variable. Best to get rid of it.
This is the most common newbie problem in Java: CLASSPATH.
Open a command shell, go to the directory where your Welcome1.java lives, and type:
javac *.javaThis should give you a Welcome1.class file in that same directory.
To run it, type:
java -classpath . Welcome1The JVM argument "-classpath ." tells the class loader to look in the current directory for class files that it needs.
If you ever have third-party JARs (e.g., JDBC), you'll add them to the CLASSPATH the same way:
javac -classpath jar1.jar;jar2.jar *.java
java -classpath .;jar1.jar;jar2.jar Welcome1Try it and see if it helps. - MOD