Eclipse - Incompatible JVM. Version 1.8.0_261 of the JVM is not suitable for this product. Version: 11 or greater is required

I just downloaded Eclipse as an archive and installed newest 64 bit Java and 64 bit Java Development Kit 15. And I get this error. I installed JDK 11 after and got the same error.

How can I make this work?

The Java to run Eclipse can be specified in the eclipse.ini file (see Eclipse wiki: eclipse.ini - Specifying the JVM). Add the following two lines directly before the line -vmargs and adapt the path to your Java 11 or higher 64-bit Java VM installation directory:

-vm
C:\Program Files\AdoptOpenJDK\jdk-14.0.2.12-openj9\bin\javaw.exe

Alternatively, you can put the Java VM into the jre subdirectory of the Eclipse installation or, if you do not install Eclipse but upgrade it, install Java 11 or better Java 14 as plugin before the upgrade from Eclipse JustJ (use JustJ OpenJDK Hotspot JRE Complete, not Base or Minimal).

Please note, that even if you run Eclipse with Java 11 or higher, Eclipse 2020-09 (4.17) still supports to code in Java 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 and even much older versions (down to Java 1.1). Java 15 can be installed via Marketplace.

I got it resolved by adding the vm parameters in the Eclipse configuration file at the top.

In text format

-vm
C:/Program Files/Java/jdk-11.0.9/bin/javaw.exe
-startup
plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.5.800.v20200727-1323.jar
--launcher.library
plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.win32.win32.x86_64_1.1.1300.v20200819-0940
-product
org.eclipse.epp.package.jee.product
-showsplash
org.eclipse.epp.package.common
--launcher.defaultAction
openFile
--launcher.defaultAction
openFile
--launcher.appendVmargs
-vmargs
-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=11
[email protected]/eclipse-workspace
-XX:+UseG1GC
-XX:+UseStringDeduplication
--add-modules=ALL-SYSTEM
-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=11
-Dosgi.dataAreaRequiresExplicitInit=true
-Xms256m
-Xmx2048m
--add-modules=ALL-SYSTEM

This works for me. Make sure you add -vm(Path_Of_Jdk) on top of -vmargs of eclipse.ini

E.g.,

-vm
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-11.0.10\bin\javaw.exe
-vmargs
-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=11

I was getting this error on a Linux OS, but the following solution should work for all OSes.

Step 1: Open a command prompt

Type: java -version

You will see something like this -

openjdk version "1.8.0_275"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_275-8u275-b01-0ubuntu1~16.04-b01)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.275-b01, mixed mode)
(may vary depending on your computer and OS)

Step 2: open the eclipse.ini file

The file is located at C:\Users\Yourusername\eclipse\java-2019-12\eclipse

Locate the following line -

-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=11

Change it to

-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.8

and restart Eclipse. It is there twice so change at both places. You may try to give the Java version specific to your system (from the output of step 1). This has worked for me.

To resolve the incompatible JVM Exception, specify the specific JVM for Eclipse.

1. Open the eclipse folder and look for the eclipse.ini file.
2. Before the -vmargs option, add the -vm option.
3. Find and copy the path of the javaw.exe file in the JDK folder
4. In the eclipse.ini file, add the path of the javaw.exe file to the new line following the -vm option.
5. Restart Eclipse after saving the eclipse.ini file.

As a result, the eclipse.ini file looks like this:

-startup
plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.6.200.v20210416-2027.jar
--launcher.library
C:\Users\Admin\.p2\pool\plugins\org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.win32.win32.x86_64_1.2.200.v20210429-1609
-product
org.eclipse.epp.package.java.product
-showsplash
C:\Users\Admin\.p2\pool\plugins\org.eclipse.epp.package.common_4.20.0.20210612-1200
--launcher.defaultAction
openFile
--launcher.appendVmargs
-vm                                          //NEW
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-16\bin\javaw.exe   //NEW
-vmargs
-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=11
[email protected]/eclipse-workspace
-Dsun.java.command=Eclipse
-XX:+UseG1GC
-XX:+UseStringDeduplication
--add-modules=ALL-SYSTEM
-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=11
-Dosgi.dataAreaRequiresExplicitInit=true
-Dorg.eclipse.swt.graphics.Resource.reportNonDisposed=true
-Xms256m
-Xmx2048m
--add-modules=ALL-SYSTEM
-Declipse.p2.max.threads=10
-Doomph.update.url=http://download.eclipse.org/oomph/updates/milestone/latest
-Doomph.redirection.index.redirection=index:/->http://git.eclipse.org/c/oomph/org.eclipse.oomph.git/plain/setups/