How To Fix Minecraft Launcher Not Opening

is Minecraft launcher not opening for you? Minecraft launcher keeps closing the moment you launch it? Continue reading to know what causes Minecraft launcher failing to open and how to fix it.

Minecraft is an insanely popular sandbox game developed by Mojang. Released way back in 2009 as a public alpha for PC, the game took the entire world by storm. That was later followed up by the official release on 11th November of 2011. Being the best selling video game of all time, Microsoft then bought Mojang as a whole (including Minecraft) in 2014. But still, the game is available on a plethora of platforms and supports crossplay.

Minecraft currently has more than 112 million concurrent active players and is deemed as one of the most played video games of 2019. But with so many new and veteran players alike installing the game, many PC players are left stranded as Minecraft won’t open for them at all. Minecraft players are not just plagued by launcher not opening but several other issues like launcher not available, connection refused, not working on LAN, launcher not responding and crashing on Windows are troubling for some time. 

Why Minecraft Won’t Open?

Few people have had issues where Minecraft won’t open since some of the recent updates. But most reports of Minecraft launcher not working came since 2017 when Mojang brought the massive “Better Together” update for all the editions of the game in all platforms, including the Java edition, the Bedrock edition, and the PE (Pocket Edition). So in case you are a returning player and the launcher used to work on your system just fine before these updates, you may face issues like Minecraft not opening while trying to jump back into the game. 

Checkout: Fix League of Legend won’t open.

How to Fix Minecraft Not Launching

1. Run Minecraft Launcher As Administrator

Let’s get the easy troubleshooting steps out of the way first. Sometimes giving the Minecraft launcher admin privileges can help with Minecraft not opening or crashing. Simply right-click on the Minecraft launcher shortcut on your desktop and choose “Run as administrator.” If that helps with your Minecraft launcher not working problem, then set Minecraft to always run as administrator. Here is how you can do it:

1. Right-click on the Minecraft launcher again.
2. Then click on Properties.
3. After that, go to the Compatibility tab.
4. Make sure “Run this program as an administrator” is checked.
5. Hit Apply and OK.

2. Update Graphics Card Drivers

Outdated GPU drivers can be the cause of not only Minecraft launcher not working but many issues on other games. So we always recommend you to keep your GPU drivers updated. Depending on the manufacturer of your GPU, go to their respected websites. Then download and install the latest driver for your GPU. In case you are running on integrated graphics, it’s better to get the required drivers from your motherboard vendor’s website.

Nvidia: https://www.nvidia.in/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-in

AMD: https://www.amd.com/en/support

Intel iGPU (Integrated GPU): https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/80939/Graphics-Drivers or your motherboard vendor’s website

AMD APU: https://www.amd.com/en/support or your motherboard vendor’s website

Download DirectX 11.

3. Reinstall to Fix Minecraft Launcher Not Opening

Uninstalling and reinstalling Minecraft can also help if Minecraft won’t open even after trying the previous two methods. Corrupted installation is one of the major reasons for Minecraft not launching, or Minecraft launcher not working to be specific. To fix this, simply navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Minecraft in the File Explorer and double click uninstall. After that, reinstall the latest version of Minecraft from here. Note: Remember to back up your worlds before uninstalling Minecraft.

Fix Steam Client Not Opening.

4. Delete Minecraft Launcher Profiles

A corrupt launcher profile can be one of the main reasons why Minecraft won’t open. Do note that this method would delete all your previous profiles, and you have to install all of them from scratch once again. So in case you do not want that, you should avoid this method. Here is how you can perform it:

1. First of all, we have to check if it is a corrupted profile that is causing the Minecraft launcher to crash. Although it is one of the main reasons for Minecraft not launching, there can be other problems too. To check, press the Windows+R key.
2. On the pop-up, type in ‘%AppData%’ and hit Enter.
3. Then find the ‘.minecraft’ folder and open it.
4. After that, find the file named ‘launcher_profiles.json’ and move it to any other folder as a backup.
5. Now try to open the Minecraft launcher. In case Minecraft won’t open, then it is not your profiles causing the problems. So you can put the ‘launcher_profiles.json’ back in the ‘.minecraft’ folder again to avoid losing your profiles. But if it does work, simply delete the ‘launcher_profiles.json’ file.

5. Use Windows Compatibility Mode

Using the Minecraft legacy launcher, you can redownload the Minecraft launcher to make it work. Here is how you can open the legacy launcher:

1. At first right click on the Minecraft launcher shortcut.
2. Click on Properties.
3. Now go to the Compatibility tab.
4. Check “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” and select Windows Vista.
5. Then hit Apply and OK.
6. Now try to open the Minecraft launcher. It should run the legacy launcher. And the current launcher should redownload itself.
7. Launch Minecraft once in this launcher and close it. Close the launcher as well and end any remaining Minecraft launcher tasks in the Task Manager.
8. After that, right-click on the Minecraft launcher shortcut again and go to Properties. Go to the compatibility tab.
9. Uncheck “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” to stop it from running the legacy launcher.
10. Finally, hit Apply and OK once again.

Now the launcher should open fine for the most part. Even if that doesn’t work, you can install the OLS launcher from here (Windows alternative, the .exe file).

Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed how you can fix Minecraft launcher startup issues. In case Minecraft won’t open even after following all the methods listed above, try updating or reinstalling Java from here, and it should work. An outdated version of Java can definitely pose problems and be the reason for Minecraft not launching. Now you can finally go back to expanding your land and killing creepers in Minecraft.