How to change or update your Minecraft server version

• Make a backup. A world that has been opened in a newer version cannot safely go back to an older one, so the backup is your way back. See back up and restore your server.
• Check your plugins or mods. Each one needs a build for the new version. Their download page lists the versions they support.
• Tell your players. Everyone on Java has to start the game with the same version as the server.

1. Open the control panel of your server and go to Settings.
2. Under Server software, set Minecraft version to latest for the newest release, or type the exact release you want.
3. Save the change. The matching Java version is set with it.
4. Restart the server and watch the Console. The first start on a new version takes a little longer while the world is upgraded.

Your world, settings and play address stay as they are. Only the server software changes. Which Java version your server needs explains the Java side, in case you ever set it by hand.

These Java versions can be picked for a server. The Java version that belongs to each one is set for you.

1.20.6 runs on Java 21 and 1.20.4 on Java 17; the panel takes care of the difference. The Java version for each Minecraft version has the full table.

After 1.21.11, Mojang switched to version numbers based on the year. 26.1 is the first big release of 2026, 26.2 the second, and so on. A third number, as in 26.1.2, is a smaller fix release of that version.

For a server the rule stays the same: the server and the players' game need the same version, or a plugin such as ViaVersion that bridges the difference.

When a newer version loads your world for the first time, it converts the saved chunks to the new format. Land you already explored keeps its shape. New biomes, blocks and structures from the update appear in chunks generated after the update, so players have to travel to new land to find them.

Pre-generated land counts as explored. If you pre-generated a large area, new terrain features only appear outside it.

Since 1.18, Minecraft blends the edge between old land and newly generated land, so the border between the two looks natural. Still, the new features only appear where land is generated for the first time. Three ways to get them:

• Travel further out. Everything beyond the explored area is generated with the new version.
• Widen the world border and pre-generate the new ring, so players find fresh land close to home.
• Remove chunks nobody used. With a backup in hand, a tool such as MCA Selector can select the chunks players spent only a few minutes in and delete them. Minecraft generates them again with the new version, while bases stay untouched.

Removing chunks cannot be undone without the backup. Download the world first, and try it on a copy before you upload the result.

Minecraft does not support opening a world in an older version than the one it was last played on. The server may start, but chunks, items and entities can break or disappear.

1. Set the older version in Settings.
2. Restore the backup you made before the update, from the Backups tab.
3. Start the server.

If you have no backup from before the update, a fresh world on the older version is the only clean option.

• Paper and Purpur: most plugins keep working across the small releases of one version, but a big update often needs new builds. Update them in the Plugins tab. A plugin that is not ready yet shows errors in the console at startup and stays off.
• Fabric, Forge and NeoForge: every mod needs a build for the exact Minecraft version and loader. Most Fabric mods also need the Fabric API for that version.
• Modpacks: do not change the Minecraft version by hand. Pick a newer version of the pack instead, as in install a modpack; that sets the right loader and Minecraft version for you.

On the day a big update comes out, vanilla and Fabric are usually ready first. Paper and many plugins need some days or weeks. If your server depends on plugins, wait until each of them lists the new version.

To play an older version in the Minecraft Launcher, open Installations, click New installation, choose the server's version and click Create. Start the game from that installation.

On Paper and Purpur, the ViaVersion plugin lets players with a newer game join an older server, and ViaBackwards does the reverse. Mods cannot be bridged like that: on a modded server every player needs the server's exact version. Can't connect to your server covers the other reasons a join fails.

Bedrock players update automatically, so a Bedrock or crossplay server has to keep up rather than choose a version.

• Crossplay: the server is Java, so its version follows the steps above. What has to follow Bedrock is Geyser. Update Geyser and Floodgate in the Plugins tab when Bedrock players suddenly cannot join after a Bedrock update.
• Bedrock: when players see that the server is outdated, select the newest version under Server software in Settings and restart. Our support team can help if the newest Bedrock release is not listed yet.

When Geyser falls behind a new Minecraft version, Bedrock players are the first to be turned away; Java and Bedrock crossplay explains why.