How to Switch Minecraft 1.17 back to 1.16.5 on Java Edition

With the first part of the vast Minecraft 1.17 Caves & Cliffs update officially being released two days ago, Minecraft fans have been keen to finally try out the new features.

Some players, however, may not be ready to make the leap onto 1.17, or their favorite Minecraft Servers may not be fully updated yet to support version 1.17.

Whatever the reason may be for wanting to use version 1.16 for just a bit longer, this helpful guide will explain exactly how players can switch back their game version in the easiest way possible.

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How to Downgrade Minecraft version 1.17 to 1.16.5 on PC (Java)

Step 1. Opening the launcher:

Players will need to open the Minecraft launcher and sign into their Minecraft account.

The Minecraft Java launcher should look like this

Step 2.1 Click "Installations":

Next, players will need to create a new installation profile. The first part of doing this is by clicking on the "Installations" tab at the top.

Click the "Installations" button here

Step 2.2 Click "New Installation":

After doing this, players must now click the "New Installation" button. This will allow a new installation profile to be selected and created.

Click the "New Installation" button

Step 2.3 Select "Release 1.16.5":

Players must now select which Minecraft version they want to play. This can be absolutely any Minecraft version that is available in the dropdown menu, but in this case the option "release 1.16.5" needs to be selected.

From the dropdown menu scroll down and find the release "1.16.5" option

Step 2.4 Name and create the installation profile:

After selecting the "release 1.16.5" option from the dropdown menu, players must now choose a name for their installation. This can be any name desired, here it is named "1.16.5 version".

After a name has been entered, players can simply press "create profile".

Choose a name for the installation profile, then press the "create button"

Step 3 Go back to the main menu:

After creating a new installation profile by following the previous steps, players must now navigate back to the original menu. This can be easily done by pressing the "play" button as seen below.

Press the "play" button as shown here

Step 4 Select the new installation profile:

The next thing to do is click the button as highlighted below. This will bring up the dropdown menu and players must now select the newly created installation profile from said dropdown menu.

Now, click the button as shown here and select the newly created 1.16.5 installation profile

Step 5 Hit the big green play button & enjoy!

After selecting the new 1.16.5 game version successfully, players can simply hit "Play" whenever they are ready to launch Minecraft in version 1.16.5.

The final step is to simply hit the green play button!

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