Play Minecraft in Ubuntu

A simple guide for Ubuntu-users on how to install Minecraft, and then create a nice-looking launcher for it.

Note: Ubuntu 11.04 is in the screenshots, but the instructions, with minor adjustments, should work for 9.04+, at least. It will not work in Ubuntu 12.10.

Steps

Graphical Interface Method

  1. Be sure to have OpenJDK Java 6 or Java 7 Runtime, which can be downloaded through Synaptic Package Manager or the Software Center by searching "Java", it varies). It can be downloaded from minecraft.net.
  2. Put your minecraft.jar file in /home/username.
  3. Right click on it and select "Properties", then switch to the "Permissions" tab and check "Allow executing file as a program".
  4. Switch to the "Open With" tab.
  5. Select "OpenJDK Java 6 Runtime" (if you cannot find this, hit the "Add" button, and select it from that list, if is still not present, be sure you installed it correctly)
  6. Select "Close"
  7. Now, when you double-click the icon, it should open up and run the game. If you are using 11.04 or earlier, you can follow the process below to make a shortcut on your Desktop. The process is a little more complex in 11.10+ with Unity Launcher (sidebar) then double-click on the file to run it. Then right-click on the Icon in the Unity Launcher sidebar and select keep in dock.
  8. Right click on your desktop and select "Create Launcher..."(For new versions of Ubuntu, please see in tips on how to create launcher).
  9. A window should pop up. Under "Name", type "Minecraft". Under "Description", type "The best game EVER".
  10. Under "Command", type "/home/username/MineCraft.jar"
  11. Then, click the springboard icon in the upper-left of the window and select a .png picture as your new icon. Preferably the one used as the picture for this article, which can be found by searching "Minecraft Logo" in Google.
  12. Happy Minecrafting

Command Line Method

This is a quicker method for more advanced users, but is easy to copy and paste.

  1. Open the Terminal or Command Line. To do this first, click the Ubuntu logo on the top of the Unity bar. Then search for terminal and open it. You can also right-click on the desktop and click "Open Terminal".
  2. Install OpenJDK. This is an open-sourced Java Runtime that will allow us to run our game.
    • In the terminal paste: sudo apt-add-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
    • After you enter your password paste: sudo apt-get update
    • After it is done paste: sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer
  3. Install Minecraft. Head over to https://minecraft.net/en/download/ and download Minecraft for Linux!
  4. Open Minecraft. To do this, right-click it and select "Properties". Then check "Allow executing file as a program".
  5. Enjoy Minecraft!

Tips

  • If you need to find .minecraft after installing the game via the method described in the steps, go to /home/username, hit ctrl+H (to show hidden files) and .minecraft should show up.
  • If you are used to using this game in Windows, the .jar file can be found in your %appdata% folder, which can be opened via "Run" (accessible on the start menu for XP, and you may search for it on the start menu in win7). The first file there, or near the first, should be ".minecraft", which contains minecraft.jar as well as save files and other such important files.
  • New version of Ubuntu does not have "Create Launcher" Option. For this you may need to install "gnome-tweak-tool" from terminal. After installing simply press Alt+F2 and execute command "gnome-desktop-item-edit --create-new ~/Desktop". This will start the launcher creator.

Warnings

  • Make sure that when you type in the command, it is the EXACT SAME (capitalization counts) as your directory says. So if it is "home/username/MinecraftSP.jar", don't type "home/username/minecraftsp.jar", but rather, type "home/username/MinecraftSP.jar" in the command space for the launcher.

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