Installation Guide

XMCL provides multiple installation formats tailored for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Useful Guides

• 💾 Need to move the launcher or game data to drive D: or E:? Read the Drive Relocation Guide.
• 🧱 Want to play Minecraft Bedrock Edition (Windows 10/11)? Read the Bedrock Edition Guide.

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Windows

Several installation options are available for Windows:

1. APPX & Online AppInstaller — Recommended

• APPX is the modern Windows 10/11 sandboxed package format. Apps run in an isolated environment. When uninstalled, cache and registry changes are cleanly removed.
• AppInstaller automatically downloads and updates the APPX package via secure Microsoft delivery channels with incremental updates support.

2. Portable ZIP Package

• Requires no installation or administrator privileges.
• Extract the archive anywhere (e.g. D:\Games\XMCL) and run xmcl.exe directly.
• Ideal for USB drives or secondary disk partitions.

3. Running on Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 (VxKex Extended Kernel)

Important Compatibility Notice

Modern XMCL is built on Electron 43 / Chromium 130+. Chromium and Microsoft have officially dropped all support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. The launcher will not run natively on legacy Windows versions out of the box.

Workaround using VxKex Extended Kernel

You can run XMCL on Windows 7 / 8 using the unofficial VxKex extended kernel:

1. Download and install VxKex-NEXT.
2. Right-click xmcl.exe -> Properties -> VxKex tab.
3. Check "Enable VxKex NEXT for this program" and "Report other versions of Windows", then apply.

What works and what doesn't on Windows 7/8:

• ✅ Singleplayer (Java Edition) — Works normally with an appropriate Java runtime (Java 8 / 17 / 21).
• ❌ P2P WebRTC Multiplayer — Not supported (requires Windows 10+ network APIs).
• ❌ Bedrock Edition (UWP) — Not supported (requires Windows 10/11 UWP framework).

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macOS

DMG Package

1. Download and open the .dmg file.
2. Drag XMCL.app to your Applications folder.

Gatekeeper Clearance

To clear the unsigned application warning on macOS, run this command in Terminal:

sudo xattr -c /Applications/X\ Minecraft\ Launcher.app

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Linux

AppImage

• Universal binary for Linux distributions (Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, etc.).
• Mark as executable: chmod +x XMCL.AppImage and launch.

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Game Data Directory Selection

During initial setup, XMCL prompts for a Game Data Directory.

• It is recommended to choose a dedicated folder (e.g., D:\XMCL-Data).
• For details, see the Data Management Guide and Drive Relocation Guide.