Hi! It is now Dec 29th 2013. I spent 4 of the past 5 days including Christmas day troubleshooting the install, config and launch of Minecraft. This was done for a child who was extremely ecstatic to get the Minecraft gift card as a present. Little did I know that I would be spending a couple days getting this running for him.
I am taking the time to write up what I did in the hopes that someone else may find this of use. My background is in deploying Windows OS', automating the install and config of apps, and the in/outs of drivers. This write up is part rant and part troubleshooting steps. First the rant. Developers of Minecraft: Build in some code to your installer that detects minimum requirements such as free disk space, version of OS, OpenGL support, version of Java installed. And have it display a readable failure message in the event that any of the minimum requirements are not met. Your current install is lacking on providing easy to interpret failure messages for the common user. The detailed logging is ok for someone who can interpret it. Add easier to understand messages during install like, - "You need Java" - "A newer version of Java is needed" - "Your video drivers do not support OpenGL Check for a driver that supports OpenGL". With the newer Minecraft versions, this message "Your display adapter's version of OpenGL will not work with this version of Minecraft. Select an older version of Minecraft to run such as version 1.7.2". Now for the troubleshooting: The laptop on which I have Minecraft running is a Dell Latitude D530 (Intel Core 2 Duo processor) with 8 GB of memory. It is running Windows 8 Enterprise (64-bit, English). It has a Mobile Intel 965 display adapter. This adapter is considered old. I am logged in with a user account that is a member of the local Administrators group. My Problem Symptoms: I downloaded the Windows version of Minecraft. Ran the executable (Minecraft.exe). The launcher started and prompted me for my Minecraft credentials. I entered them and clicked [Play]. The progress bar showed that the download of files was proceeding. When the progress reached all the way across (100%), the launcher screen went away. Another screen with the text "MOJANG" appeared which was about the same size as the Launcher screen. After a few seconds, "MOJANG" went away and I was back at the Launcher screen. Minecraft failed to launch. Clicking on the Development Console tab showed some good detailed information. During my troubleshooting, the console showed me things like: - My video drivers didn't have OpenGL support. This is common for Windows 8. - My Java install was having issues. - When I did try to install drivers that supported OpenGL, they weren't installed properly. This is what I did to fix it. The key things for me was finding out what Minecraft needs and how to get these pieces in place. Minecraft needs video drivers that support OpenGL and it needs Java. These steps assume you know how to navigate Windows 8 to get to the Control Panel, the file system. Preparation: - Locate drivers for your display adapter that support OpenGL. My display adapter is old. The drivers that Windows 8 installed (version 8.15.10.2697) or updates from Windows Update do not include OpenGL. I needed to find a Windows 7 version of drivers for my Mobile Intel 965 from Intel.com. I found this version (8.15.10.1930) that provides support for OpenGL. Don't install them yet. Save these drivers in an easily accessible location like a folder off the root of C: (C:\FIXMINECRAFT) - Also, I should note, if you can, find out what version of OpenGL, your display adapter can support. My adapter would only support up to OpenGL version 1.5. I found this info on a chart at (http://www.intel.com...b/cs-033757.htm). I'm not sure what the minimum level of OpenGL is that Minecraft needs, but when Minecraft finally ran, it stated this message "Old graphics card detected; This may prevent you from playing in the far future as OpenGL 2.1 will be required". I think Minecraft 1.7.4 needs support for the newer OpenGL than what my display adapter can support. More on this later. - Download the latest stand-alone Java installs from java.com. Since I have Win8 64-bit, I download both the 32 bit and 64 bit installs of Java. Save the Java install exe's to the easily accessible folder (C:\FIXMINECRAFT). I will install them soon Begin to fix: - Log in as THE Administrator. If you are already logged in as Administrator, skip to the next step. Being logged in as a user who is a member of the local Administrators group was not good enough when installing the older video drivers. The typical install of Windows 8 has the Administrator account set to an inactive state. To check the state of the Administrator account, open a command prompt window that is running with Admin privileges: Press <winkey>+X and select " Command Prompt (Admin)". Run: NET USER ADMINISTRATOR If the "Account Active" status says, "No" then run this command: NET USER ADMINISTRATOR /ACTIVE:YES Run: NET USER ADMINISTRATOR and the "Account Active" status should now read "Yes". Press CTRL-ALL-DEL and select Sign-out. Log in as Administrator. Once logged in a Administrator, proceed. - Uninstall all Java. Minecraft needs Java, but to start with a clean slate, uninstall the current Java. Go into Control Panel, and uninstall Java. Since I'm running a 64-bit Windows, I had to uninstall both the 32 and 64-bit versions of Java. I uninstalled both of them. They were already the current version (Java 7 Update 45), but I wanted to make sure I was starting off clean. - Install Java. I first ran the install of the 32-bit Java and then the install of the 64-bit Java. So Java 7 update 45 is now in place. - Uninstall and remove the current drivers used by the display adapter. Go into Device Manager. Right-click your display adapter and click Uninstall. A confirmation screen appears. Make sure to click the box that says "Delete the driver software for this device". Click [Ok] to proceed with the uninstall. Once the uninstall is done, reboot the system. When Windows starts, log in as the Administrator. Go into Device Manager. For me, Windows used a generic driver for my display adapter. It was named "Microsoft Basic Display Adapter". - Install desired video driver. Ok, now the tricky part...Install the Windows 7 drivers. This step is the main reason why we're logged in as the Administrator. I wasn't having luck logged in as a user and doing these same steps. My driver install was in the form of a single exe (win7_64_1512754.exe). If your drivers are uncompressed, you might need to do the following to the install exe perhaps it is named Setup.exe. I right-clicked my install exe and chose Properties. On the Properties screen, choose the Compatibility tab. Make these changes: - Check "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" Windows 7 - Check "Run this program as an administrator." Click [Change settings for all users] and make the same settings in the screen that appears. Click Apply and OK to leave the Properties screen. Right-click the install exe and select "Run as Administrator". Answer the prompts to install the driver. Reboot when prompted. (NOTE: There were times that the install seemed to hang. It was having problems removing things from the registry. I ended up reading through the driver install INF file and manually deleting the registry items (a major PITA). I will not write up those steps) Testing : At this point, Java is installed and the desired video drivers are in place. I am still logged in as the Administrator. To test, go to Minecraft.net and run the demo. I found that if everything is in place, the demo is a good test even though it is an older version (1.5.2). If the demo doesn't run, then the downloaded Minecraft won't run. If the demo fails to run, it left a log file on my desktop named: hs_err_pid2000.log. My log file had these lines in it: # A fatal error has been detected by the Java Runtime Environment:
#
# EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at pc=0x4dadd09f, pid=2000, tid=1068
#
# JRE version: Java™ SE Runtime Environment (7.0_45-b18) (build 1.7.0_45-b18)
# Java VM: Java HotSpot™ Client VM (24.45-b08 mixed mode windows-x86 )
# Problematic frame:
# C [ig4dev32.dll+0xd09f] This failure of the demo occurred when I tried to install the video drivers while logged in as the user. Once I logged in as the Administrator and install the drivers, the demo worked for me. Once the demo runs, then run the standalone Minecraft exe. IMPORTANT: I could not run the latest Minecraft. I had to tell the launcher to run an older version of Minecraft. So after entering in your credentials, DO NOT CLICK [Play]. Click [Edit Profile]. When the Profile Editor screen appears, set the "User Version" field to "release 1.7.2". Click [Save Profile]. Now click [Play]. At this point, Minecraft downloads its files and then Minecraft 1.7.2 ran for me!!! If you need to reset Minecraft so that it re-downloads its files do this: Open a command prompt window. Run: CD %APPDATA% List the files/folders at that location: DIR The Minecraft files are stored in the .Minecraft folder. I deleted all Minecraft files and folders (this includes saved games) by running: RD .MINECRAFT /S/Q If you don't want to delete saved games, you'll have to do some research on what you should back up. At this point, Minecraft is reset. Ok, so if the demo and stand-alone Minecraft are working for you, now you need to log out and then log in as your user account. Once logged in with your user account, do the steps above to reset the downloaded Minecraft info. First test using the Minecraft demo on Minecraft.net. Then test using the stand-alone Minecraft exe. Make sure to change the version of Minecraft to an older version like 1.7.2. I hope you have found this info useful. For me, it's beer time. Pete
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I am taking the time to write up what I did in the hopes that someone else may find this of use.
My background is in deploying Windows OS', automating the install and config of apps, and the in/outs of drivers.
This write up is part rant and part troubleshooting steps.
First the rant.
Developers of Minecraft: Build in some code to your installer that detects minimum requirements such as free disk space, version of OS, OpenGL support, version of Java installed. And have it display a readable failure message in the event that any of the minimum requirements are not met. Your current install is lacking on providing easy to interpret failure messages for the common user. The detailed logging is ok for someone who can interpret it.
Add easier to understand messages during install like,
- "You need Java"
- "A newer version of Java is needed"
- "Your video drivers do not support OpenGL Check for a driver that supports OpenGL".
With the newer Minecraft versions, this message "Your display adapter's version of OpenGL will not work with this version of Minecraft. Select an older version of Minecraft to run such as version 1.7.2".
Now for the troubleshooting:
The laptop on which I have Minecraft running is a Dell Latitude D530 (Intel Core 2 Duo processor) with 8 GB of memory.
It is running Windows 8 Enterprise (64-bit, English).
It has a Mobile Intel 965 display adapter. This adapter is considered old.
I am logged in with a user account that is a member of the local Administrators group.
My Problem Symptoms:
I downloaded the Windows version of Minecraft. Ran the executable (Minecraft.exe).
The launcher started and prompted me for my Minecraft credentials. I entered them and clicked [Play].
The progress bar showed that the download of files was proceeding. When the progress reached all the way across (100%), the launcher screen went away. Another screen with the text "MOJANG" appeared which was about the same size as the Launcher screen. After a few seconds, "MOJANG" went away and I was back at the Launcher screen. Minecraft failed to launch.
Clicking on the Development Console tab showed some good detailed information.
During my troubleshooting, the console showed me things like:
- My video drivers didn't have OpenGL support. This is common for Windows 8.
- My Java install was having issues.
- When I did try to install drivers that supported OpenGL, they weren't installed properly.
This is what I did to fix it.
The key things for me was finding out what Minecraft needs and how to get these pieces in place.
Minecraft needs video drivers that support OpenGL and it needs Java.
These steps assume you know how to navigate Windows 8 to get to the Control Panel, the file system.
Preparation:
- Locate drivers for your display adapter that support OpenGL.
My display adapter is old. The drivers that Windows 8 installed (version 8.15.10.2697) or updates from Windows Update do not include OpenGL. I needed to find a Windows 7 version of drivers for my Mobile Intel 965 from Intel.com. I found this version (8.15.10.1930) that provides support for OpenGL. Don't install them yet. Save these drivers in an easily accessible location like a folder off the root of C: (C:\FIXMINECRAFT)
- Also, I should note, if you can, find out what version of OpenGL, your display adapter can support. My adapter would only support up to OpenGL version 1.5. I found this info on a chart at (http://www.intel.com...b/cs-033757.htm). I'm not sure what the minimum level of OpenGL is that Minecraft needs, but when Minecraft finally ran, it stated this message "Old graphics card detected; This may prevent you from playing in the far future as OpenGL 2.1 will be required". I think Minecraft 1.7.4 needs support for the newer OpenGL than what my display adapter can support. More on this later.
- Download the latest stand-alone Java installs from java.com. Since I have Win8 64-bit, I download both the 32 bit and 64 bit installs of Java. Save the Java install exe's to the easily accessible folder (C:\FIXMINECRAFT). I will install them soon
Begin to fix:
- Log in as THE Administrator.
If you are already logged in as Administrator, skip to the next step.
Being logged in as a user who is a member of the local Administrators group was not good enough when installing the older video drivers. The typical install of Windows 8 has the Administrator account set to an inactive state. To check the state of the Administrator account, open a command prompt window that is running with Admin privileges: Press <winkey>+X and select "
Command Prompt (Admin)".
Run: NET USER ADMINISTRATOR
If the "Account Active" status says, "No" then run this command:
NET USER ADMINISTRATOR /ACTIVE:YES
Run: NET USER ADMINISTRATOR and the "Account Active" status should now read "Yes".
Press CTRL-ALL-DEL and select Sign-out. Log in as Administrator.
Once logged in a Administrator, proceed.
- Uninstall all Java. Minecraft needs Java, but to start with a clean slate, uninstall the current Java. Go into Control Panel, and uninstall Java. Since I'm running a 64-bit Windows, I had to uninstall both the 32 and 64-bit versions of Java. I uninstalled both of them. They were already the current version (Java 7 Update 45), but I wanted to make sure I was starting off clean.
- Install Java. I first ran the install of the 32-bit Java and then the install of the 64-bit Java. So Java 7 update 45 is now in place.
- Uninstall and remove the current drivers used by the display adapter.
Go into Device Manager.
Right-click your display adapter and click Uninstall.
A confirmation screen appears. Make sure to click the box that says "Delete the driver software for this device". Click [Ok] to proceed with the uninstall.
Once the uninstall is done, reboot the system.
When Windows starts, log in as the Administrator.
Go into Device Manager. For me, Windows used a generic driver for my display adapter. It was named "Microsoft Basic Display Adapter".
- Install desired video driver.
Ok, now the tricky part...Install the Windows 7 drivers. This step is the main reason why we're logged in as the Administrator. I wasn't having luck logged in as a user and doing these same steps.
My driver install was in the form of a single exe (win7_64_1512754.exe). If your drivers are uncompressed, you might need to do the following to the install exe perhaps it is named Setup.exe.
I right-clicked my install exe and chose Properties.
On the Properties screen, choose the Compatibility tab.
Make these changes:
- Check "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" Windows 7
- Check "Run this program as an administrator."
Click [Change settings for all users] and make the same settings in the screen that appears.
Click Apply and OK to leave the Properties screen.
Right-click the install exe and select "Run as Administrator".
Answer the prompts to install the driver. Reboot when prompted.
(NOTE: There were times that the install seemed to hang. It was having problems removing things from the registry. I ended up reading through the driver install INF file and manually deleting the registry items (a major PITA). I will not write up those steps)
Testing
:
At this point, Java is installed and the desired video drivers are in place.
I am still logged in as the Administrator.
To test, go to Minecraft.net and run the demo.
I found that if everything is in place, the demo is a good test even though it is an older version (1.5.2). If the demo doesn't run, then the downloaded Minecraft won't run.
If the demo fails to run, it left a log file on my desktop named: hs_err_pid2000.log.
My log file had these lines in it:
# A fatal error has been detected by the Java Runtime Environment:
#
# EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at pc=0x4dadd09f, pid=2000, tid=1068
#
# JRE version: Java™ SE Runtime Environment (7.0_45-b18) (build 1.7.0_45-b18)
# Java VM: Java HotSpot™ Client VM (24.45-b08 mixed mode windows-x86 )
# Problematic frame:
# C [ig4dev32.dll+0xd09f]
This failure of the demo occurred when I tried to install the video drivers while logged in as the user. Once I logged in as the Administrator and install the drivers, the demo worked for me.
Once the demo runs, then run the standalone Minecraft exe.
IMPORTANT: I could not run the latest Minecraft. I had to tell the launcher to run an older version of Minecraft.
So after entering in your credentials, DO NOT CLICK [Play].
Click [Edit Profile].
When the Profile Editor screen appears, set the "User Version" field to "release 1.7.2".
Click [Save Profile].
Now click [Play].
At this point, Minecraft downloads its files and then Minecraft 1.7.2 ran for me!!!
If you need to reset Minecraft so that it re-downloads its files do this:
Open a command prompt window.
Run: CD %APPDATA%
List the files/folders at that location: DIR
The Minecraft files are stored in the .Minecraft folder.
I deleted all Minecraft files and folders (this includes saved games) by running: RD .MINECRAFT /S/Q
If you don't want to delete saved games, you'll have to do some research on what you should back up.
At this point, Minecraft is reset.
Ok, so if the demo and stand-alone Minecraft are working for you, now you need to log out and then log in as your user account.
Once logged in with your user account, do the steps above to reset the downloaded Minecraft info.
First test using the Minecraft demo on Minecraft.net.
Then test using the stand-alone Minecraft exe. Make sure to change the version of Minecraft to an older version like 1.7.2.
I hope you have found this info useful.
For me, it's beer time.
Pete