How should I compile my java project targeting Java SE 8?

Question

I have a Java Project (an application to play connect 4) and I want to turn it into an executable file. I created this project in VsCode, and I am using the Java Language Server (see details below). I extracted the .jar file, and used Launch4J to turn it into an executable, and when I run it, I get an error message (see below).
I researched the problem, and it seems that I need to compile my code targeting Java SE 8 rather than 17 (I have 17 currently installed). Could anyone explain to me how I should do this, or is there anything else I'm doing wrong?

The project has multiple files. I'm not sure if this is relevant, but the project has no external dependencies, although it does use javax.swing, javax.sound, and java.awt (as well as java.io.File, java.io.IOException, and java.util.Random, but I'm pretty sure those are irrelevant).

I have eclipse installed if it's necessary, but I only installed it today, and have no experience using it at all. The JDK I am using is (I believe) version 1.8.0_321. (At least this is what I get when I type in java -version.) The Java compiler version is javac 17.0.2

When I try to run the executable generated by Launch4J, I this is the error I get:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: Main has been compiled by a more recent version of the Java Runtime (class file version 61.65535), this version of the Java Runtime only recognizes class file versions up to 52.0
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
    at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
    at sun.launcher.LauncherHelper.checkAndLoadMain(Unknown Source)

And the popup error:

Java Virtual Machine Launcher  
Error: A JNI error has occurred, please check your installation and try again.

Here are the Settings I used in Launch4J:

Output File: C:\Users\username\OneDrive\Coding\Java Connect 4 v.2\Connect 4.exe
Jar: C:\Users\username\OneDrive\Coding\Java\Java Connect 4 v.2\Java Connect 4 v.2.jar
Don't wrap the jar, launch only: NOT ticked
Wrapper Manifest: none
Change dir: .
Command Line args: none
Process priority: Normal
Both Options NOT ticked
Min JRE version: 1.2.0, Prefer public JRE, but use JDK runtime if newer
Max JRE version: none, First 64-bit, then 32-bit. (This was the default.)
All other settings are default.

Answer 1

@Holger has answered this question. The answer to the problem was to ship a custom JRE image with the application with the help of JLink. That way it can be used regardless of the local version of JRE.