There are many reasons to want to change your Minecraft version, and this guide will show you how! Whether your game has been updated to a version that you don’t want to play yet or you want to see what Minecraft was like 10 years ago, there are lots of reasons!
- Click Installations on the launcher start page, and then click New.
- In the Create new installation box, select a name for the installation and choose the game version from the VERSION list.
- Click Create to save the change, and then click Play on the top menu.
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Understanding how to change and save your Minecraft version number is necessary for maintaining old world saves, experimenting with new features, and maintaining compatibility with your preferred multiplayer server. Read on as we show you how.
Why Adjust the Version and Use Profiles?
By default the Minecraft launcher has one profile. Without your involvement, this profile, which bears your Minecraft username, automatically updates to the most recent version of the game. Many players don’t mind because they always want the most recent version, only play on their computer alone (without anyone else), and/or don’t mod games.
However, maintaining your version number (and making separate profiles for various purposes) is a crucial part of the Minecraft experience for other players. Here are just a few reasons you might want to manage your version number or need to do so.
You must lock the profile to the older version of Minecraft if you want to protect an older world you made from corruption or update issues when you switch to a newer version of the game.
When you play multiplayer games online, the majority of servers typically don’t update right away to the most recent version because doing major updates is a huge hassle for server owners. Mincraft 1. For instance, 8 has been available for almost three months as of this tutorial, but the majority of multiplayer servers are still operational 1 7. *.
On the other end of the gameplay spectrum, if you want to test out the cutting edge features of the new experimental releases, you should create a profile for the most recent “snapshot” builds so you can use features that might take months (or longer) to make it to the public release build.
Additionally, you can make everything mentioned above (and more) incredibly convenient by using the straightforward profile system included in the Minecraft launcher to make it simple to choose the appropriate version for the task at hand as well as (and this part is incredibly helpful) isolate your world saves to keep them safe from corruption.
Changing Your Minecraft Version Number
If all you need to do is alter the version number, the procedure is very straightforward. We’ll begin by emphasizing that procedure so those of you who are just stopping by the tutorial for a quick fix can get that fix and resume playing. We do, however, recommend that you read the next section, “Using Profiles,” to separate and protect your world saves and to make your life a little easier.
Run the launcher and sign into your Minecraft account to change your version number. Click the “Edit Profile” button next to your profile name in the lower left corner of the main launcher screen.
Changing your version number inside the profile editor is as easy as using a drop-down menu.
Midway down the Profile Editor screen, click the “Version Selection” box. From the dropdown menu that appears, choose the version you want to use. After making your selection click “Save Profile. ”.
If all you want to do is change the version number for your main profile, you can do that. Utilize the profile system to make using different version numbers very convenient and to keep your worlds organized according to the version of Minecraft you’re using. Let’s take a look at it now.
The profile system in the Minecraft launcher is a very useful way to keep your Minecraft words isolated from one another based on version number (and, if you’ve modified your client, based on mods too), as well as to make your Minecraft experience easier.
The version number, which we discussed in the previous section, and the Game Directory, which is where the game data is kept, are the two important considerations when using profiles. The majority of users never use the profile system, and those who do almost never change the default game directory. This is a problem because it saves all of your worlds, including those created with outdated or modified versions of Minecraft, in the same directory. That’s basically a recipe for disaster because using the incorrect version of Minecraft to open your worlds can corrupt them and lead to other issues.
We’re going to divide up the version numbers into some profiles and change the default game data directory for each profile in order to easily prevent that. Although this technically uses a small amount of disk space (between 100 and 130 MB per profile), it is well worth it to keep your world saves separate and other things.
Changing the Default Game Directory
To demonstrate, we’ll make a new profile and save the game’s data in a different location. Let’s create that new profile first before we start moving things around.
To do this, select “New Profile,” which will open the profile editor as shown below.
We’ve made two modifications here. In the first step, we gave the profile the name “Snapshot Tester” and specified a different data directory by checking “Game Directory” and adding the default “” to the end. minecraft” directory to “. minecraft-snapshottester”. All of our world saves will now be stored separately from the default profile in a directory designated for the Snapshot Tester profile.
Enabling Older and Experimental Versions
Playing very old versions of Minecraft (that don’t show up in the standard list) or very new snapshot versions is one of the reasons you might want to fiddle with version numbers and use profiles. Let’s enable those items in the version selection list.
Check off all the options under the “Version Selection” section that apply to what you want to load from the profile editor. If you want to enable experimental releases, select the first option. If you want to experiment with very old Beta and Alpha releases from roughly 2010–2011, select the next two options.
You will receive the following notice when you check the “Enable experimental development builds” box:
We are using the profile system and maintaining our worlds in separate game data directories for precisely this reason. Similar warnings will appear if you enable Alpha and Beta builds. This is the reason we strongly advise using profiles along with separate game data directories: it protects your worlds.
The “Use version” dropdown menu will display a significantly increased number of versions once you’ve checked them off and acknowledged the warning.
Public releases, as well as snapshot, beta, and alpha builds, are now available for selection. But keep in mind the warning: Don’t mix snapshot worlds with old Alpha worlds; instead, create a profile and separate directory for each major version you try out.
If you need a different profile for anything, you can repeat this process of building profiles. Play on an old server that never updated past 1. 6. 4? Make a profile for it. Create an Alpha profile to play Minecraft like it’s 2010. You can also create profiles if you want to give your children a place to play around in Minecraft without destroying each other’s worlds.
We advise against it and hope you’ll practice good data hygiene by keeping all of your versions and world saves happily siloed in their own profiles and folders even though the majority of players stick with the default profile and simply dump everything in the same game data folder.
How to Change your Version of Minecraft (Java Edition)
FAQ
How do I update my Minecraft Launcher 2022?
How to download and update Minecraft for all platforms in 2022Go to the official download page and download the PC version of the game. Once downloaded, run the install file and install the game. Once the game is installed it will open the Launcher.
How do I update my Minecraft 1.18 2 launcher?
It shows nowhere how I can update to Minecraft 1. 18. 2. Replies (8) Uninstall Minecraft. Find “Microsoft Store,” then right-click and select “App Settings.” Then, scroll down and choose “Terminate, Reset, Repair.” Restart your PC. Download Minecraft. Minecraft should display the latest verison available to you.
How do I update Minecraft to 1.19 10?
Go to the Minecraft Windows Launcher, Xbox Store, PlayStation Store, Nintendo eShop, App Store, Google Play Store, or other stores where you downloaded the game, depending on what device you’re using to play it on. Look right next to the Play/Install button. You will see an option for ‘Download 1. 19. 10 update’.