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To play Minecraft from a custom directory, you can use these simple steps.
If you have anything important in your Minecraft directory, it is strongly recommended you make a backup before moving it!
Method A
Note: This doesn't work when using a launcher installed via the Microsoft App Store
- Go to the directory where you installed Minecraft.
- Shift right click in a blank space and press "Open Command Window Here."
- Get the Directory Path of where you want to store the game.
- In the Command Prompt window, type in:
echo java -jar Minecraft.exe --workDir=" . Do not press enter yet.
- In the file browser, find the directory you want Minecraft to be installed in to.
- Click and drag the directory to the open command prompt window. It should fill in the path automatically.
- Finish typing
" > run.bat and press enter.
- In the directory, run the "run.bat" file.
Method B
Use this method if you've installed Minecraft via the Microsoft App Store.
- Create a directory in the location you want Minecraft moved to. We will call this the 'destination directory', but you can name it whatever you want.
- Open the original .minecraft directory (By default, you can find this by going to %appdata%, then opening roaming\.Minecraft)
- Copy all contents of the original .minecraft directory and paste them into the destination directory
- Delete the original .minecraft directory
- In the search bar, find Command Prompt, right click and open as administrator
- Paste
cd %appdata% and click enter. The command prompt should acknowledge the appdata\roaming directory
- Paste
mklink /D ".minecraft" "<destination directory>" Replace <destination directory> with the address of the destination directory. For example, if you're moving Minecraft to "E:\MyMinecraft", the command would be mklink /D ".minecraft" "E:\MyMinecraft"
- Press enter. Command prompt should say "symbolic linked created for .minecraft"
- If command prompt says "cannot create file when that file already exists", it is because you didn't delete the original .minecraft directory. Delete it and run the command again
- Right click the Minecraft shortcut on your desktop and select "Properties".
- If you do not have a shortcut, navigate to the directory where you installed Minecraft, right click MinecraftLauncher.exe, and click "Create Shortcut".
- There should be a line labeled Target. After the file path, add a space and type: --workDir DIR_PATH
- Replace "DIR_PATH" with the path of the directory you want the game to use.
- Minecraft will now use that directory as long as you launch it from that shortcut.
