Glen, something is definitely wrong with your JVM Folder or your JAVA_HOME because this works for me like a charm. Default is derived from the Folder of the currently running JVM instance.
When I change the Default instance, Netbeans just follows. Have you tried to set JAVA_HOME to the actual folder of the JVM, instead using symlinks? Doesn't have Debian a Tool like Gentoo or Arch to manage different JDKs? Good luck!
