Minecraft Launcher

The Minecraft Launcher is the game downloader and launcher for Minecraft: Java Edition and Minecraft Dungeons. It is available for Windows, macOS and Linux, but Minecraft Dungeons can only be played on Windows.

Features


On the initial login screen, users must log in with a pre-existing Microsoft account, Mojang Studios account, or legacy Minecraft account, otherwise they can create a new Microsoft account by clicking the link. Subsequent logins can be done in the "Settings" tab.

On the left side, a "News" tab, a tab for each game, and the launcher "Settings" tab can be seen.

The top left corner of the launcher contains the user's currently active account name. If a Microsoft account is used, this will be their Xbox Gamertag (which might differ from Minecraft: Java Edition username), otherwise it will be their Java Edition username. By clicking on it, users can manage or log out of their active account, and see a "Help" page with various links to helpful sources.

Minecraft: Java Edition
The main "Play" section allows the user to download (if needed) and launch the game with the "Play" button, and also includes an installation selection on the left (which sorts installations by last played), the user's Java Edition username on the right, and a list of the latest news for the game from minecraft.net below.


 * One can launch multiple instances of the game by pressing the "Play" button whilst the game is running.
 * If the device is not connected to the internet, the game can be run in offline mode, but only if the game has been initially downloaded.
 * If the user isn't logged into an account that has purchased the game, the "Play" button will instead be a "Play demo" button which will launch the demo version of the game.

There is also a "Patch notes" section where the patch notes of the game's update can be seen, including the snapshots (if enabled).

Installations
In the "Installations" section, Custom installations can be created and edited. There are buttons to sort and search installations, as well as checkboxes to enable installations with "Releases", "Snapshot", and "Modded" versions of the game. Installations are stored in launcher_profiles.json in the game's directory (.minecraft).

By default, there are installations for the "Latest release" and for "Latest snapshot" (if enabled), both of which the game versions cannot be changed. A new installation can be created by clicking the "New installation" button and an existing installation can be edited by clicking on it. There is a "Play" button that launches the selected installation and a folder icon that takes to the installation's game directory. The ellipses button contains the options to edit, duplicate, or delete an installation.

On the create/edit installation page, the following can be changed:
 * Icon, by selecting one of the default ones or adding a custom one. Custom icons must be a .png and 128×128 pixels in size.
 * Name, by default called " ".
 * Version, which includes access to older releases and snapshots (if enabled).
 * Game directory, the location of where the game files are saved, the default being .minecraft. The location can be typed in or selected using the "Browse" button.
 * Resolution, which changes the game's windows size. It has a list of resolutions, or a custom one can be typed in.
 * Java executable, by default uses the bundled java runtime.
 * JVM arguments, such as heap size. Users can manually set a logging configuration (see Debugging on wiki.vg for more info).

A specific game version's server jar can also be downloaded by selecting the version in the list and pressing the "Server" button next to it.

Backwards compatibility


The launcher has the ability to play most older releases of the game (and older snapshots, if enabled) by default, but also some older versions prior to Release 1.0. In order to see these versions in the installations section, the player must enable "Show historical versions of Java Edition" in the launcher settings tab. Because these versions are outdated and unsupported, they may contain bugs and errors which are not present in newer versions. It is recommended to run old versions of the game in a separate directory and backup worlds to avoid save corruption or other problems. Once historical versions are enabled, the following can be accessed:
 * Most beta versions.
 * Most alpha versions.
 * One infdev version.
 * Four classic versions.
 * Five pre-classic versions.

Some issues with these older versions include:
 * Some sounds are wrong; bows, doors, and explosions use their sounds from RC1, even in versions released prior to it. In versions before Alpha 1.1.2_01, sounds do not work at all.
 * Skins are missing in versions prior to 1.7, as earlier versions used a different skin server which has since been shut down. Capes may still work, however.
 * In Alpha 1.0.15 and from Alpha 1.2.0 to Alpha 1.2.6, the launcher does not set the player's name properly, resulting in everyone using default names: "Player" followed by a random 3-digit number. This makes multiplayer very difficult to play, as a player's location and inventory will be reset every time they relaunch their client.
 * In Alpha 1.2.5 and Alpha 1.2.6 specifically, players will always be named "Player524". Playing multiplayer in these versions is impossible, as joining a server will kick other players with the same name.


 * As a side effect of the above, and as a result of old authentication servers being shut down, online mode no longer works in versions before Beta 1.8.

Skins


In the "Skins" section, the user can view and change their in-game skin. By default, the skin will either be Steve or Alex.

In the skins library, skin can be applied by clicking "Use". The skin can also be edited, duplicate, or delete by clicking the ellipsis button. By default, the library contains the default Steve and Alex skins, which can be duplicated or applied, but not removed.

Visiting this section without the game purchased will show a button that redirects to the Minecraft: Java Edition buy page.

Minecraft Dungeons
There are 5 tabs on the Minecraft Dungeons page: Play, DLC, FAQ, Installation, and Patch notes. (Only Play, DLC, and Patch notes are shown on an unsupported platform.)

Play
The main "Play" section allows the user to download (if needed) and launch the latest version of Minecraft Dungeons with the "Play" button, and also includes images from the game and a list of the latest news articles from minecraft.net below. This section also contains a notice that the game can be purchased separately from the for. If the player is not playing on the supported platform, a small message on the bottom will be shown that displays:

DLC
There is a search bar and a filter option to narrow down the results when searching the DLCs. The bundle or/and the DLCs can be shown by checking the box.

Each DLC is shown in a card-like structure with the DLC info on the left and a cover image on the right. There is also a slideshow on the bottom of the card.

FAQ
The FAQ section is shown when pressing the FAQ tab. There is a list of troubleshooting sections and a link to the Help Center FAQ for Minecraft Dungeons.

Installation
Visiting this section without the game purchased will show a button that redirects to the Minecraft Dungeons buy page.

Patch Notes
This section shows cards of the patch notes. Each card contains an image on top and the text below stating the name of the patch notes. When clicked, this will show the patch notes.

Settings


In the main "General" section, users can:


 * Change the launcher language. There are 66 languages available, including 2 joke languages (as of February 2021).
 * Use the beta version of the launcher, which requires restarting the launcher to start downloading if there is one available.
 * Keep the launcher open while games are running.
 * Enable animations in the launcher, which are disabled by default to avoid potential motion sickness for some users.
 * Disable hardware acceleration.

Options exclusively for Minecraft: Java Edition:


 * Open the output log when the game starts.
 * Option to automatically send the game's crash reports to Mojang Studios.
 * Show historical versions of the game (versions prior to Release 1.0) in the version selector in the Installations section.

In the "Accounts" section, users can add, switch, manage, or remove their Microsoft, Mojang Studios, or Legacy Minecraft accounts.

The "About" section contains details about the launcher including its version, credits, and third-party licenses, as well as a list of patch notes by clicking the "What's New?" button.

Command line usage
As of version 2.2.25xx, the launcher has these command-line options available for Minecraft: Java Edition:


 * - This launches the demo version of the game, much like if the game hasn't been purchased yet.
 * - This option will display a help message on how to run it in the command line.
 * – This option deletes the " game " and " runtime " folders, including their contents, from the working directory.
 * - This option will present the login screen.
 * – This option, followed by a path (relative or absolute), changes the location (and/or name) of the .minecraft folder.
 * Can be used to create a portable installation of the game. For example,  (or  ) can be used to make the launcher use the current directory (no matter what the current folder is called).
 * – This option, followed by a path (relative or absolute), changes the location (and/or name) of the tmp folder.
 * - This option, followed by a path, will restrict the installation directory to specified folder.
 * – This option adds support for Windows 10. Since the launcher now supports Windows 10 fully, this option is unnecessary and seems to have no effect.
 * - This option changes where the host of the proxy is.
 * - This option changes the default port of the proxy.
 * - This disables GPU acceleration in the launcher, which might fix issues when playing minecraft.
 * - This debugs video drivers in the launcher, useful for troubleshooting
 * - This debugs video drivers in the launcher, useful for troubleshooting

Trivia

 * Both Alpha and Classic versions of Minecraft: Java Edition are listed as "old_alpha", despite them not being the same.
 * The launcher doesn't store passwords locally. Instead, it uses a 'refresh token'.
 * The current launcher is the eighth launcher for Minecraft: Java Edition, and the third that was built to automatically update itself.
 * Game crashes are reported to Mojang Studios through Hopper.
 * The legacy launcher can be downloaded here (version 1.6.93, ~4.6MB as opposed to the modern launcher's ~85MB). However, the legacy launcher is incompatible with Microsoft accounts and will be discontinued in Q2 2021 due to account migration.