Re-enable the Apple Java 6 plug-in for use with web browsers

Once the Java for OS X 2012-006 update has been installed, the Apple-provided Java applet plug-in from /Library/Internet Plug-Ins is removed, which means that web browsers will not be able to launch Java applets from inside the browser. The update also removes the Java Preferences application from /Applications/Utilities.

However, the rest of the Java 6 framework is still installed and it is possible to re-enable the Apple-provided Java plug-in and browser functionality. Apple has provided a KBase article showing how to do this process manually, which allowed me to build a script that automates the process of removing the Oracle Java 7 plug-in and replace it with the Apple-built Java 6 plug-in.

#!/bin/sh

# Checks for backup directory for Java 7 plug-in
# and creates it if needed.

if [ -d "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins (Disabled)" ]; then
     echo "Backup Directory Found"
  else
     mkdir "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins (Disabled)"
     chown -R root:wheel "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins (Disabled)"
fi

# If a previous version of the Java 7 plug-in is already 
# in the backup directory, the previously backed up Java 7 
# plug-in is removed.

if [ -d "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins (Disabled)/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin" ]; then
      rm -rf "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins (Disabled)/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin"
fi

# Moves current Java 7 plug-in to the backup directory

if [ -d "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin" ]; then
     mv "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin" "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins (Disabled)/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin"
fi

# Create symlink to the Apple Java 6 plug-in in
# /Library/Internet Plug-Ins 

ln -sf /System/Library/Java/Support/Deploy.bundle/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin"

# Re-enable Java SE 6 Web Start, which allows Java 
# applets to run in web browsers

ln -sf /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Commands/javaws /usr/bin/javaws

exit 0

This script is available here on my GitHub repo.

Update – 11-4-2012: I’ve received some emails asking for assistance with running this script. To help make this process easier, I’ve built and posted a payload-free installer package to my GitHub repo. If you need it, download the installer package and run it to execute the script on your own Mac.