Setting up Eclipse for Web Development with Tomcat on Windows 7 (64bit)

This has been a major headache for me. This is what you have to do:

• Uninstall any JDK or JRE you might have via Windows (or the uninstaller in the appropriate installation directory)
• Download the 64bit JDK version 20 (important! version 21 is buggy!). Its on this page. Search for “JDK 6 Update 20 with Java EE”, choose 64bit version (skip registration) and download and install it. (just ignore the other stuff you’re installing with it)
• get Tomcat 6.0.28 (the 64bit version, or the itanium 64bit version if you have an intel processor)
• get the Galileo (important! Helios is buggy with Tomcat!) 64bit version (important!) of Eclipse. This is no official download: Its the “Windows (x86_64)” version on this page.
• as for 64bit there’s only the basic version of Eclipse Galileo available, install the Web Developer Tools via Help > Install New Software
• create a Server with the Tomcat runtime you just downloaded
• (for some reason my autocompletion didn’t work, needed to activate it in Window > Perferences > Java > Editor > Content Assist > Advances > check Java Proposals)