IntelliJ: Abnormal build process termination Error with IDEA 2021.2 Update

Hirosh Tharaka
2 min readAug 24, 2021

If you have recently updated the IDEA to 2021.2 (Community or Ultimate Edition);

IntelliJ IDEA 2021.2 (Community OR Ultimate Edition)
Build #IU-212.4746.92, built on July 27, 2021

And if you are getting the following error during the compile,

Abnormal build process termination:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.8.0_291\bin\java.exe" -Xmx700m -Djava.awt.headless=true -Djava.endorsed........IdeaIC2021.2/compile-server
Unrecognized option: --add-opens=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.code=ALL-UNNAMED
Error: Could not create the Java Virtual Machine.
Error: A fatal exception has occurred. Program will exit.

Try out the following Fix;

Along with the latest update to IDEA 2021.2, Some configuration were changed. Therefore you will need to switch your project structure back to JDK8 :

  • Go to File > “Project Structure”.
  • In the ‘Project Structure’ popup-window, Select Project under the Project Settings (Project Settings > Project)
  • Check on the Project language level option.
    It should be selected as option 16
  • Change the selection to back to option 8
  • Click OK and Try to Invalidate Cache and Restart the IDE.

It should work out. Adios!!
Feel free to share your experience below.

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Hirosh Tharaka
Hirosh Tharaka

Written by Hirosh Tharaka

BSc(Hons), CSM®, ISTQB® (CTFL, CTAL-TTA, CTAL-TM) | Technical Writer | Technical Tester (QA Lead)

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