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How to Install or Update PaperMC on your Minecraft Server

This guide will work for more or less all hosting companies or deployments on linux based systems.


Notes about Updating versus Installing PaperMC​

Broadly, PaperMC is a straight forward, out of the box server solution designed to replace, but still support, plugins built on the Bukkit/Spigot engine. Updating works the same way as installing a fresh copy with either of the methods below, and Paper will automatically update any world files when you update to a newer version. We highly advise against attempting to downgrade Paper as it can cause corruption; we will not assist users attempting to do this.


We advise creating a backup before making any changes, whichever method you use, as mistakes can happen and files can accidentally be overwritten.


Method 1: Installing with EnviroMC's version installer

This process is near identical to the process we outlined in our articles on how to install Forge or Fabric via the version installer.

Head to the Versions tab on your server and select Paper. Pick the Minecraft version you're after from the list - the panel will show you how many builds are available for each version. Snapshot/experimental builds are hidden by default and, as with all snapshots, should be used with caution in production.


Unlike Vanilla, Paper publishes multiple builds per Minecraft version (usually bugfixes/small patches), so you'll get an extra dropdown to pick a specific build - the latest is selected by default and is almost always what you want. You'll then see two toggles:

  • Wipe Server Files - leave this off when you're updating. Paper will be installed over the top of your existing files, so your world, plugins and configs are all kept and your server is simply updated in place - Paper will migrate your world data to the new version on first boot. Only turn this on for a completely clean slate; it deletes everything first and cannot be undone.
  • Accept EULA - toggle this on to pre-accept Minecraft's EULA, or leave it off and accept the pop up on first boot instead.

Hit Install and give it a few seconds.


Once it's finished, head to the Console tab and hit Start. If you didn't tick "Accept EULA" during install, the Accept Minecraft® EULA pop up will appear - click I ACCEPT and the server will carry on booting. Paper will generate the world and finish with Done (33.060s)! For help, type "help", at which point your server is up and running.

If you're moving to a brand new Minecraft version, it's worth checking under Startup > Docker Image that your Java version is still appropriate for the version you just installed.



Method 2: Installing manually from PaperMC's website

Head to papermc.io/downloads/paper. The big blue button gives you the latest build of the newest version - use the arrow next to it to pick a different Minecraft version or build. Click it to download the .jar file to your PC.


Make sure your server is stopped, then head to the Files tab and hit Upload (or drag and drop the file straight onto the panel) to upload the jar. If you're updating an older server, delete any other .jar files in the root directory first so they don't conflict.


Head to Startup and update the startup command so it points at the jar you just uploaded - for example changing server.jar to paper-26.2-112.jar. If you need to overwrite your startup parameters entirely, tick Custom Startup and use something like:

java -Xms128M -Xmx{Amount of RAM}G -Dterminal.jline=false -Dterminal.ansi=true -jar {jarfile.jar}

making sure to change the Xmx and jar values to match your server.

Make sure your server has the correct Java version too, under Startup > Docker Image. At the time of writing, for anything post 1.18.2, Java 21 is advised. Anything prior to 1.16.5 can be run on Java 8.


Finally, head back to the Console tab and hit Start. Accept the EULA pop up if it's a fresh installation - this pop up can sometimes be obscured by advert/JS blockers, in which case you'll need to manually verify that the eula.txt file contains the line eula=true.


Updating manually is exactly the same process - just upload the newer jar, update the startup command's filename if it's changed, and start the server again. Your world and plugins are untouched.