Using Mineshire
Changing a server’s Minecraft version in Mineshire
A new Minecraft version comes out and you want your server on it. In Mineshire that’s a short flow, but a few lines in it make people hesitate. Why are older versions missing? What does “moves along” mean? Here’s what each part is telling you.
Why you can’t go back
The list only shows versions newer than the one you’re on. Mineshire says so directly: going back isn’t supported, because the world may already use newer blocks.
That’s a Minecraft rule more than a Mineshire one. Once a newer version has opened a world, an older version can’t be trusted to read it. If you might want to return, take a backup before you change. Mineshire can take one for you as part of the flow.
Snapshots and pre-releases
By default you see full releases. A tick box adds snapshots and pre-releases. They’re test versions, and a world opened in one often can’t go back to a normal release, so use them on a duplicate and not on the world you care about.
The window also tells you where the list comes from and whether you’re looking at a live list or an older saved copy, which matters if you’re offline.
Java moves by itself
You don’t install Java for Mineshire. It downloads a Temurin build from Adoptium for whichever Java your Minecraft version needs, and servers that need the same Java share one copy.
On the review screen, if the version needs a different Java, you’ll see something like Java 17 to Java 21, downloaded by itself. Nothing for you to do. If a plugin or mod needs a newer Java than the server has, Mineshire moves the server up for you.
What the plugin and mod check says
Before anything changes, Mineshire looks at your plugins or mods and tells you what it found.
- “Moves along” means a version for the new Minecraft exists and the plugin or mod will be updated with the server.
- A plugin or mod with no version for the new Minecraft stays as it is. It may not work until its author updates it, and you’ll see its name in the warning.
- A file Mineshire doesn’t recognise stays as it is as well.
- If a site like Modrinth didn’t answer, those files couldn’t be checked and stay as they are.
The warning isn’t a block. It’s information. If a plugin you can’t live without is on the missing list, cancel and wait.
Slow builds
Some server software isn’t downloaded ready-made. It’s built on your computer, and Mineshire warns you that this takes several minutes and that the server stays stopped meanwhile. That’s normal. Leave it running.