How to install the new Minecraft launcher for Linux

Minecraft is one of the few video games to support the Linux platform. In the past, we’ve talked about how to play Minecraft on Linux. In that tutorial, we outlined how to manually download the Jar package, install Java and get the game running.

The method covered in the old tutorial for playing Minecraft is now obsolete, and the standalone Jar file isn’t available for downloading anymore. As of now, if you want to continue enjoying Minecraft on Linux, you need to download the new Minecraft launcher for Linux from Mojang. So, in this tutorial, we’ll show you how to get the Minecraft game working by installing the new launcher. Let’s get started!

Download installer

Mojang has put the new Minecraft launcher for Linux on their website. To download it for your Linux distribution, go to Minecraft.net. Once there, log in to your existing account (or set up a new one if you need to do so).

After logging in to your Mojang account on the website, find the “back to Minecraft.net” button at the top and click it to return to the home page of the website. Then, click the menu button on the right, followed by the green arrow button under “download.”

Upon clicking the download button, the website should automatically detect your current operating system, and reveal the recommended download option for your Linux OS.

There are many different download options for the new Minecraft launcher for Linux, including a DEB package, and a community AUR package. Follow the download instructions below for your Linux OS.

Ubuntu/Debian

Mojang has created a new, installable DEB package for Ubuntu and Debian users. It’s an excellent way to get the game running, as the package pulls in Java, and everything you’ll need to enjoy the game with no fuss. To get your copy of the new launcher, look on the download page for “Desktops”, and click on the “Linux” option.

After clicking on “Linux,” the website should auto-detect that you need to download the DEB. If not, a direct link to it is here.

Download the DEB package to your Debian or Ubuntu Linux PC and move on to the set-up section of the guide.

Arch Linux

Mojang has linked to an official AUR package for getting Minecraft working on Arch Linux. To get your hands on it, you must install the Trizen AUR helper. To start, use the Pacman package manager to install both the Base-devel and Git packages.

sudo pacman -S base-devel git

Next, grab the code for the Trizen AUR helper. Getting this app will make getting Minecraft working way easier.

git clone https://github.com/trizen/trizen

Install the Trizen app.

cd trizen

makepkg -sri

With the Trizen app working on Arch, move down to the setup section of this tutorial.

Snap

The developers of Minecraft have a generic TarGZ archive on the download page for Linux users, which enables everyone, even those not using Ubuntu, Debian or Arch Linux to get the app working. Unfourtunately, that method is tedious, so it’s great to see that the new Minecraft  launcher for Linux is on the Snap store.

To download Minecraft from the Snap store, you must first enable Snapd on your system. To do that, head over to this tutorial here and follow the instructions specific to your Linux distribution. When done, move on to the setup section.

Flatpak

Minecraft is on Flathub as a Flatpak, so if you are running a distribution that supports it, you’ll be able to quickly grab the game. To get Minecraft downloaded over Flatpak, you need install the Flatpak runtime. here for help on how to do that.

Once the Flatpak runtime is up and running on your distribution, you’ll have to set up Flathub, so that the Minecraft package is accessable. To enable Flathub, open up a terminal and enter the command below.

sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

With the Flathub repo up and running, go to the setup section to finish the installation.

Set up the installer

Now that we’ve gone over how to download the Minecraft installation package for various Linux distributions, it’s time to install it to the system. To get it working on your particular Linux operating system, open up a terminal window and follow the instructions that correspond to the OS you use.

Ubuntu/Debian

To get the new launcher working on Ubuntu and Debian PCs, use the CD command to move to the “Downloads” directory.

cd ~/Downloads

Once inside the “Downloads” folder, run the dpkg tool to install the package.

sudo dpkg -i Minecraft.deb

After the initial package installation, you may run into some dependency issues. Fix this with:

sudo apt install -f

Arch Linux

The hard part of getting Minecraft working on Arch Linux is setting up Trizen. Now that you’ve got the tool ready to go, it’s one simple command to install the new Minecraft launcher. In a terminal, enter the following command.

trizen -S minecraft-launcher

Snap

With Snapd working, getting the new Minecraft launcher is a simple snap install command.

sudo snap install mc-installer

Flatpak

With the Flatpak runtime and the Flathub repo working on Linux, you’ll be able to quickly install the latest Minecraft launcher with flatpak install.

flatpak install flathub com.mojang.Minecraft