Installing Minecraft on Linux still means grabbing the official launcher. You can get it as a .deb for Debian-based distros, a .tar.gz for everyone else, or through a community snap installer if you prefer that route.
Install Minecraft on Ubuntu and its derivatives
Ubuntu and Debian-based distributions get a direct .deb package from Minecraft. This is the simplest path.
Step 1: Download the .deb from Minecraft.net
Go to minecraft.net/download and grab the Debian/Ubuntu package. The current launcher is version 2.1.3 as of September 2026, and you’ll agree to the Minecraft EULA and Microsoft’s privacy policy when you pull it down.
Step 2: Install the .deb with dpkg
Open a terminal in the download directory and run dpkg:
cd Downloads/
sudo dpkg -i Minecraft.deb
If the file name differs from what you downloaded, swap it in. When dpkg reports missing dependencies, fix them with:
sudo apt --fix-broken install
Step 3: Launch and log in
Minecraft Launcher now appears in your application menu. Open it.
The first screen asks for a Microsoft login. Minecraft accounts migrated to Microsoft years ago, so you need a Microsoft account that owns the game.
If you bought Minecraft through Mojang, that account was migrated too. Log in with your Microsoft credentials.
After login the launcher downloads the game files. Then you can hit Play.
Install using the community snap
A community snap called mc-installer downloads and installs the launcher for you. It is not an official Mojang package, but it pulls the official launcher from Minecraft’s servers. You need snapd installed first, which is pre-installed on Ubuntu.
sudo snap install mc-installer
Run it, sign in with Microsoft, and you are playing. The snap keeps itself updated.
Run on other distributions with the tar.gz
If you are not on a Debian-based distro, grab the .tar.gz archive from the same download page under the “Other” option. You also need a Java runtime, and OpenJDK 17 or later works.
Extract and run:
cd Downloads/
tar -xf Minecraft.tar.gz
cd minecraft-launcher/
./minecraft-launcher
The launcher opens, you sign in with Microsoft, and it handles the rest. No root, no package manager, just the binary in a folder.