In this article, we will see how to install minecraft on Linux. If you are a linux game lover, then chances are that you are already aware of a famous game called Minecraft. It is a popular 3D sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios, allowing players to interact with a customizable three-dimensional world made of blocks and entities. The game offers various gameplay options, enabling players to choose their play style, with three actively maintained editions: Java Edition, Bedrock Edition, and Education Edition.

Minecraft supports creative, survival, and adventure modes, among others, offering endless possibilities for building, exploring, and adventuring​. It is available on many platforms such as Windows, Mac, Linux, Xbox One, Xbox Series S and X, PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, Fire OS/TV, Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, and Samsung Gear VR. Here we will see the steps to install Minecraft on Linux based systems.

 

How to Install Minecraft on Linux [Easy Steps]

Also Read: How to Install Trivy Vulnerability Scanner on Ubuntu 22.04

Step 1: Prerequisites

a) You should have a running Linux Server.

b) You should have sudo or root access to run privileged commands.

c) You should have wget utility installed in your System.

d) You should have latest java version installed in our System.

e) Minimum hardware requirements:-

• CPU: Intel Core i3-3210 or AMD A8-7600 APU or equivalent
• RAM: 4GB
• GPU (Integrated): Intel HD Graphics 4000 or AMD Radeon R5 series with OpenGL 4.4
• GPU (Discrete): Nvidia GeForce 400 Series or AMD Radeon HD 7000 series with OpenGL 4.4
• HDD: At least 1GB for game core, maps, and other files

 

 

Step 2: Update Your Server

Before installing a new package into your system, it is highly recommended to upgrade your current installed packages to the latest version to make your system stable and secure.

a) For Ubuntu/Debian 

If you are using Ubuntu/Debian based systems then to update the packages to the latest version, run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade or sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade command.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

b) For RHEL/CentOS 

If you are using RHEL/CentOS based systems then to keep the system packages updated, run either sudo yum update && sudo yum upgrade or sudo dnf update && sudo dnf upgrade command.

sudo yum update && sudo yum upgrade
sudo dnf update && sudo dnf upgrade

 

 

Step 3: Install Graphics Driver

Playing Minecraft on Linux requires you to have 3D acceleration working on your system. You have to install the Graphics driver for best gaming experience. For instance, if you are looking to install Nvidia Graphics Driver on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS based systems, you can check the steps on How to Install Nvidia drivers on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa). Similarly, you can install the driver on other linux based systems as well. Once it is installed, you can check the working of 3D acceleration using a utility called glxgears.

Most of the time, you will find this utility installed in your system but in case it is not available then you have to install mesa-utils package to have glxgears utility available in your system. Once installed, you can run glxgears command as shown below. It should show output in FPS(Frame per second) which will tell you about your system rendering capability.

 

 

Step 4: Install Minecraft

In the next step, you can install Minecraft by using any of the below methods depending on your needs and requirements.

a) Using debian package

You can download minecraft debian package from official website using wget utility as shown below. It will download the package in current working directory.

cyberithub@ubuntu:~$ wget https://launcher.mojang.com/download/Minecraft.deb
--2024-03-02 09:14:21-- https://launcher.mojang.com/download/Minecraft.deb
Resolving launcher.mojang.com (launcher.mojang.com)... 13.107.246.58, 13.107.213.58, 2620:1ec:bdf::58, ...
Connecting to launcher.mojang.com (launcher.mojang.com)|13.107.246.58|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 500336 (489K) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘Minecraft.deb’

Minecraft.deb 100%[============================================================================>] 488.61K --.-KB/s in 0.1s

2024-03-02 09:14:21 (3.46 MB/s) - ‘Minecraft.deb’ saved [500336/500336]

Then install the package by using sudo dpkg -i Minecraft.deb command as shown below.

cyberithub@ubuntu:~$ sudo dpkg -i Minecraft.deb
[sudo] password for cyberithub:
Selecting previously unselected package minecraft-launcher.
(Reading database ... 332158 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack Minecraft.deb ...
Unpacking minecraft-launcher (1.1.26) ...
Setting up minecraft-launcher (1.1.26) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.36.0-1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.24-1ubuntu3) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.64ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ...

b) Using Snap

You also have the option to install Minecraft as a snap package. If you have snap utility available in your linux system then you can install Minecraft by using sudo snap install mc-installer command as shown below. To install snap utility on Ubuntu 22.04 based systems, you can check How to Install Snap on Ubuntu 22.04.

cyberithub@ubuntu:~$ sudo snap install mc-installer
mc-installer 13.0 from James Tigert (kz6fittycent) installed

c) Using tarball

Another method that can be used to install Minecraft is through the tarball. For that, you have to download the tarball by using wget https://launcher.mojang.com/download/Minecraft.tar.gz command as shown below.

cyberithub@ubuntu:~$ wget https://launcher.mojang.com/download/Minecraft.tar.gz
--2024-03-02 18:04:32-- https://launcher.mojang.com/download/Minecraft.tar.gz
Resolving launcher.mojang.com (launcher.mojang.com)... 13.107.246.58, 13.107.213.58, 2620:1ec:bdf::58, ...
Connecting to launcher.mojang.com (launcher.mojang.com)|13.107.246.58|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 609508 (595K) [application/x-gzip]
Saving to: ‘Minecraft.tar.gz’

Minecraft.tar.gz 100%[============================================================================>] 595.22K 2.50MB/s in 0.2s

2024-03-02 18:04:33 (2.50 MB/s) - ‘Minecraft.tar.gz’ saved [609508/609508]

To extract the tarball in current directory, run tar -xzvf Minecraft.tar.gz command as shown below. Once it is extracted, you can switch to minecraft-launcher directory and run minecraft-launcher to launch it.

cyberithub@ubuntu:~$ tar -xzvf Minecraft.tar.gz
minecraft-launcher/
minecraft-launcher/minecraft-launcher

 

 

Step 5: Launch Minecraft

To launch Minecraft on Ubuntu/Debian based systems, go to Activities and type minecraft in the search bar. Once the game appears, tap on it to open.

It should be launched as shown below. If you have Microsoft Account then you can directly login using Microsoft Login. Otherwise you have to first create a Microsoft account by going to Create a new Microsoft account.

Once you have the account, you can login with the account credentials and start playing the game.

 

 

Step 6: Uninstall Minecraft

Once you are done using Minecraft, you can choose to uninstall it from your system by using any of the below methods depending on how you installed it.

a) Using Apt

If you installed Minecraft from debian package then to uninstall you can use sudo apt remove minecraft-launcher command as shown below.

cyberithub@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt remove minecraft-launcher
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
minecraft-launcher
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
(Reading database ... 296679 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing minecraft-launcher (1.1.26) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.64ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.36.0-1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.24-1ubuntu3) ...

b) Using Snap

If you installed Minecraft as snap package then to uninstall you have to run sudo snap remove mc-installer command as shown below.

cyberithub@ubuntu:~$ sudo snap remove mc-installer
mc-installer removed