Eclipse doesn’t come with an installer for Windows. As a result of this, installing Eclipse into Program Files is very awkward without getting into a tussle with User Account Control, and virtualisation of the Program Files directory.

After far too much effort I have finally found a sequence that Works For Me™ on Windows Vista Ultimate x64.

The procedure

1. Download eclipse-SDK-3.5-win32.zip
2. Extract the zip file into a temporary directory. I used C:\Users\<usename>\Documents\tmp\eclipse
3. Within the temporary directory (important!) edit eclipse.ini, adding the line

   -configuration @user.home\.eclipse_35_config
   

   My eclipse.ini then looked like this:

   -startup
   plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.0.200.v20090520.jar
   --launcher.library
   plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.win32.win32.x86_1.0.200.v20090519
   -showsplash
   org.eclipse.platform
   -configuration @user.home\.eclipse_35_config
   --launcher.XXMaxPermSize
   256m
   -vmargs
   -Xms40m
   -Xmx256m
   

4. Within the temporary directory create a UTF-8 text file called eclipse.exe.manifest file side-by-side with the eclipse.exe file with the following content:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
   <assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
     <assemblyIdentity version="1.0.0.0"
        processorArchitecture="X86"
        name="eclipse"
        type="win32"/>
     <description>Eclipse</description>
     <!-- Identify the application security requirements. -->
     <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2">
       <security>
         <requestedPrivileges>
           <requestedExecutionLevel level="asInvoker" uiAccess="false"/>
           </requestedPrivileges>
          </security>
     </trustInfo>
   </assembly>
   

5. Using drag and drop copy in Explorer, copy the entire eclipse directory from your temporary location to C:\Program Files (x86)\eclipse. We copy, rather than move simply so you can easily return to this step.
6. Right-click on eclipse.exe in Explorer and choose Properties
7. Click on the Security tab
8. Click Advanced in the lower right
9. In the Advanced Security Settings window that pops up, click on the
   Owner tab
10. Click Edit
11. Click Continue if you get a UAC dialog
12. Click Other users or groups
13. Click Advanced in the lower left corner
14. Click Find Now
15. Scroll through the results and click on your current user account
16. Click OK to all of the remaining windows
17. Right-click the file and select Properties (again)
18. Click on the Security tab
19. Click Edit…
20. Click on the Users group
21. Adjust the permissions for your user using the check boxes at the bottom of the dialog. e.g. enable Full Control
22. Click OK to all of the remaining windows
23. Right-click the file and select Properties (again!)
24. Click Unblock and close the dialog
25. Double click eclipse.exe to run it. You should not get an Open File – Security Warning dialog.
26. Remove the temporary eclipse directory you created when you unzipped the archive.

Credit where it is due

The above post is largely pulled together from various sources I located mixed with a good degree of trial and error. I found the following particularly useful:

• Open File – Security Warning on VistaHeads
• How do you run Eclipse 3.3 on Vista?