When I was installing WAS, there was a prompt alerting me to use Java 8 by default. I aggreed, because back then it wasn't matter which version to use.
Time passed and now I have necessity to use Java 6 in one of my profiles, which is coming with the WAS by default. Since I aggreed to use newer Java, WAS working on Java 8 by default now. I searched in installation repository, but in IBM Installation Manager Java versions I need are greyed out and cannot be installed separately.
Is there a way to install Java 6 alongside Java 8 in WAS, so I could just switch between them in profiles' setting? I tried official repository for Java 6, but it is empty since IBM dropped it's support in April.
P.S. I tried to change variable JAVA_HOME in Websphere profile setting (as well as in system variables) to look at JDK 1.6 I installed separately, but then my profile refuses to start.
Java 6 is no longer supported, so the WAS Installation Manager has likely removed the option to use JDK 6. For WAS 8.5 you can use either Java 7 or Java 8.
This article talks more about Java 6 End of Support:
https://developer.ibm.com/wasdev/blog/2017/10/25/java-6-end-support/