Issues with executing sonarQube on project Caused by: java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: org/sonarsource/scanner/maven /SonarQubeMojo
<p>Im getting the below exception when executing the sonarQube on a project. when I try to run sonarQube on our project, we get the below unsupportedClassVersion Exception</p>

<pre><code>D:\Repos\testPA\testPA&gt;mvn sonar:sonar
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building testPA 1.0
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO]
[INFO] --- sonar-maven-plugin:3.0.1:sonar (default-cli) @ testPA ---
[WARNING] Error injecting: org.sonarsource.scanner.maven.SonarQubeMojo
java.lang.TypeNotPresentException: Type org.sonarsource.scanner.maven.SonarQubeM
ojo not present
        at org.eclipse.sisu.space.URLClassSpace.loadClass(URLClassSpace.java:115
)
        at org.eclipse.sisu.space.NamedClass.load(NamedClass.java:46)
        at org.eclipse.sisu.space.AbstractDeferredClass.get(AbstractDeferredClas
s.java:48)
        at com.google.inject.internal.ProviderInternalFactory.provision(Provider
InternalFactory.java:86)
        at com.google.inject.internal.InternalFactoryToInitializableAdapter.prov
ision(InternalFactoryToInitializableAdapter.java:54)
        at com.google.inject.internal.ProviderInternalFactory$1.call(ProviderInt
ernalFactory.java:70)
        at com.google.inject.internal.ProvisionListenerStackCallback$Provision.p
rovision(ProvisionListenerStackCallback.java:113)
        at org.eclipse.sisu.bean.BeanScheduler$Activator.onProvision(BeanSchedul
er.java:176)
        at com.google.inject.internal.ProvisionListenerStackCallback$Provision.p
rovision(ProvisionListenerStackCallback.java:122)
        at com.google.inject.internal.ProvisionListenerStackCallback.provision(P
rovisionListenerStackCallback.java:68)
        at com.google.inject.internal.ProviderInternalFactory.circularGet(Provid
erInternalFactory.java:68)
        at com.google.inject.internal.InternalFactoryToInitializableAdapter.get(
InternalFactoryToInitializableAdapter.java:46)
        at com.google.inject.internal.InjectorImpl$2$1.call(InjectorImpl.java:10
09)
        at com.google.inject.internal.InjectorImpl.callInContext(InjectorImpl.ja
va:1059)
        at com.google.inject.internal.InjectorImpl$2.get(InjectorImpl.java:1005)

        at com.google.inject.Scopes$1$1.get(Scopes.java:59)
        at org.eclipse.sisu.inject.LazyBeanEntry.getValue(LazyBeanEntry.java:82)

        at org.eclipse.sisu.plexus.LazyPlexusBean.getValue(LazyPlexusBean.java:5
1)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.DefaultPlexusContainer.lookup(DefaultPlexusContai
ner.java:263)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.DefaultPlexusContainer.lookup(DefaultPlexusContai
ner.java:255)
        at org.apache.maven.plugin.internal.DefaultMavenPluginManager.getConfigu
redMojo(DefaultMavenPluginManager.java:464)
        at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo(Default
BuildPluginManager.java:119)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor
.java:208)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor
.java:153)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor
.java:145)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProje
ct(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:116)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProje
ct(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:80)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.builder.singlethreaded.SingleThre
adedBuilder.build(SingleThreadedBuilder.java:51)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute(Lifecycl
eStarter.java:120)
        at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:355)
        at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:155)
        at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute(MavenCli.java:584)
        at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain(MavenCli.java:216)
        at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:160)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.
java:39)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAcces
sorImpl.java:25)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Laun
cher.java:289)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch(Launcher.jav
a:229)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(La
uncher.java:415)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:
356)
Caused by: java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: org/sonarsource/scanner/maven
/SonarQubeMojo : Unsupported major.minor version 51.0
        at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
        at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:620)
        at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:12
4)
        at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:260)
        at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$000(URLClassLoader.java:56)
        at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:195)
        at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
        at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:188)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.realm.ClassRealm.loadClassFromSelf(Cl
assRealm.java:401)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.strategy.SelfFirstStrategy.loadClass(
SelfFirstStrategy.java:42)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.realm.ClassRealm.unsynchronizedLoadCl
ass(ClassRealm.java:271)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.realm.ClassRealm.loadClass(ClassRealm
.java:254)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.realm.ClassRealm.loadClass(ClassRealm
.java:239)
        at org.eclipse.sisu.space.URLClassSpace.loadClass(URLClassSpace.java:107
)
        ... 41 more
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 2.454 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2016-02-23T16:17:46+05:30
[INFO] Final Memory: 6M/12M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.sonarsource.scanner.maven:sonar-maven-plugin:
3.0.1:sonar (default-cli) on project testPA: Execution default-cli of goal
 org.sonarsource.scanner.maven:sonar-maven-plugin:3.0.1:sonar failed: Unable to
load the mojo 'sonar' in the plugin 'org.sonarsource.scanner.maven:sonar-maven-p
lugin:3.0.1' due to an API incompatibility: org.codehaus.plexus.component.reposi
tory.exception.ComponentLookupException: org/sonarsource/scanner/maven/SonarQube
Mojo : Unsupported major.minor version 51.0
[ERROR] -----------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] realm =    plugin&gt;org.codehaus.mojo:sonar-maven-plugin:3.0.1
[ERROR] strategy = org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.strategy.SelfFirstStrategy
[ERROR] urls[0] = file:/C:/Users/vb/.m2/repository/org/sonarsource/sca
nner/maven/sonar-maven-plugin/3.0.1/sonar-maven-plugin-3.0.1.jar
[ERROR] urls[1] = file:/C:/Users/vb/.m2/repository/org/apache/maven/sh
ared/maven-dependency-tree/2.2/maven-dependency-tree-2.2.jar
[ERROR] urls[2] = file:/C:/Users/vb/.m2/repository/org/codehaus/plexus
/plexus-component-annotations/1.5.5/plexus-component-annotations-1.5.5.jar
[ERROR] urls[3] = file:/C:/Users/vb/.m2/repository/org/eclipse/aether/
aether-util/0.9.0.M2/aether-util-0.9.0.M2.jar
[ERROR] urls[4] = file:/C:/Users/vb/.m2/repository/org/sonatype/plexus
/plexus-sec-dispatcher/1.4/plexus-sec-dispatcher-1.4.jar
[ERROR] urls[5] = file:/C:/Users/vb/.m2/repository/org/sonatype/plexus
/plexus-cipher/1.4/plexus-cipher-1.4.jar
[ERROR] urls[6] = file:/C:/Users/vb/.m2/repository/org/codehaus/plexus
/plexus-utils/3.0.22/plexus-utils-3.0.22.jar
[ERROR] urls[7] = file:/C:/Users/vb/.m2/repository/org/sonarsource/son
ar-runner/sonar-runner-api/2.5.1/sonar-runner-api-2.5.1.jar
[ERROR] urls[8] = file:/C:/Users/vb/.m2/repository/commons-lang/common
s-lang/2.6/commons-lang-2.6.jar
[ERROR] urls[9] = file:/C:/Users/vb/.m2/repository/com/google/guava/gu
ava/18.0/guava-18.0.jar
[ERROR] urls[10] = file:/C:/Users/vb/.m2/repository/com/google/code/fi
ndbugs/jsr305/2.0.3/jsr305-2.0.3.jar
[ERROR] Number of foreign imports: 1
[ERROR] import: Entry[import  from realm ClassRealm[maven.api, parent: null]]
[ERROR]
[ERROR] -----------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] -&gt; [Help 1]
[ERROR]
[ERROR] To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e swit
ch.
[ERROR] Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging.
[ERROR]
[ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please rea
d the following articles:
[ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/PluginContaine
rException
</code></pre>

<p>We have installed Sonarqube 5.3 and when I try to execute sonar via command prompt, I get the above exception. Im able to launch sonarQube via <a href="http://localhost:9000" rel="noreferrer">http://localhost:9000</a> and able to view the sonarqube ui fine. </p>