java unrecognized command issues

I'm having some issues with Java this morning after replacing a win xp machine with a win 7 machine(64 bit)

The old machine had java jre6 on it. This machine had a .bat file which called another .bat file on a public drive which in turn called 3 java programs. This has been working for years.

The new machine has jre7 on it and when I run the same .bat file I get a 'java not recognized as an internal or external command'.
In researching I keep seeing that I should update the environment path to point to the java directory. I have done this but without success. The old machine did not have this set up.

I do believe it is simply a path issue, but I'm not sure how to fix it.

First. On the old machine I can go to command prompt and type 'Java -version' this works.
On the new machine, I get the 'java not recognized.... ' error.

Second, If I fully qualify the java calls with the directory for java it will run. I have done this to temporary fix the issue.

Any ideas on how to get this working without the full qualification?

Mike
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