Possible causes of Java VM EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION?

Answer found!

I had the same error and noticed that others who provided the contents of the pid log file were running 64 bit Windows. Just like me. At the end log file, it included the PATH statement. There I could see C:\Windows\SysWOW64 was incorrectly listed ahead of: %SystemRoot%\system32. Once I corrected it, the exception disappeared.

Most of the times this is a bug in the VM. But it can be caused by any native code (e.g. JNI calls).

The hs_err_pidXXX.log file should contain some information about where the problem happened.

You can also check the "Heap" section inside the file. Many of the VM bugs are caused by the garbage collection (expecially in older VMs). This section should show you if the garbage was running at the time of the crash. Also this section shows, if some sections of the heap are filled (the percentage numbers).

The VM is also much more likely to crash in a low memory situation than otherwise.