Minecraft 1.18 Pre-Release 2 Server Jar Download

Version facts

What changed

Newest upstream commits:

• #1 · 16 Nov 2021 MC-32813 Floating water / lava above caves / cave carver doesn't update water
• MC-206303 Minecarts have old textures on the bottom
• MC-217038 Large dripstone structures can be generated outside the caves
• MC-217056 Some high-speed particles lag/freeze the game
• MC-220061 Painting back texture is mirrored

Compatibility

No plugins or mods — the unmodified game exactly as Mojang ships it (data packs still work).

Players need a Minecraft: Java Edition 1.18 Pre-Release 2 client on the same version.

Minecraft 1.18 Pre-Release 2 in other server software

Known issues & safety notes

• Preview builds are experimental: they can corrupt or irreversibly upgrade worlds, and most plugins and mods do not support them yet. Test on a copy of your world.
• Log4Shell (CVE-2021-44228): Minecraft 1.18 is vulnerable. Upgrade to 1.18.1; if you cannot, add -Dlog4j2.formatMsgNoLookups=true to the Java start command (Mojang advisory).

How to set up Minecraft 1.18 Pre-Release 2

1. Install Java 17 or newer (e.g. Eclipse Temurin) and check it with java -version.
2. Download server.jar from Mojang (button above) into an empty folder.
3. Start it once with the script below; it creates eula.txt and stops.
4. Set eula=true in eula.txt to accept the Minecraft EULA, then start again. Players join on port 25565.

#!/bin/sh
# start.sh — Minecraft 1.18-pre2
cd "$(dirname "$0")"
JAVA_MAJOR=$(java -version 2>&1 | awk -F'"' '/version/ {split($2, v, "."); print (v[1] == "1") ? v[2] : v[1]}')
if [ "$JAVA_MAJOR" -lt 17 ] 2>/dev/null; then
  echo "Java 17 or newer is required (found Java $JAVA_MAJOR)."
  exit 1
fi
java -Xms4G -Xmx4G -jar server.jar nogui

@echo off
REM start.bat — Minecraft 1.18-pre2
REM Needs Java 17 or newer: run "java -version" to check.
java -Xms4G -Xmx4G -jar server.jar nogui
pause

Rule of thumb: 2–4 GB for a few friends, 6–10 GB for a public server with plugins. Set -Xms equal to -Xmx and leave 1–1.5 GB for the operating system. How much RAM?

Docker

docker run -d -p 25565:25565 -e EULA=TRUE -e TYPE=VANILLA -e VERSION=1.18-pre2 --name mc itzg/minecraft-server

Uses the community itzg/minecraft-server image, which downloads the file itself.

Upgrading

• Newer: Minecraft 1.18 Pre-Release 3
• Previous: Minecraft 1.18 Pre-Release 1
• How to update a Minecraft server safely