How to reinstall Minecraft

You are used to playing Minecraft, the famous sandbox game set in the world of cubes created by Mojang, and you spend a lot of time building new structures or exploring the length and breadth of the game world. Over time, you have enriched your version of Minecraft with numerous mods, or you have improved the graphics of the game through the use of shaders and resource packs.

Unfortunately, however, the game is no longer as stable as it used to be and is giving you problems that you just don’t know how to solve. So you thought of doing a nice “reset” and restore everything, but you do not know how to reinstall Minecraft correctly in order to resume playing on a “clean” version of the title. I guessed it, right?

Don’t worry then: if you want, I can help you reach your goal. If you give me a few minutes of your free time, I can in fact tell you how to reinstall your copy of Minecraft on your computer, regardless of whether you’re using a Windows PC or a Mac, and on consoles. I assure you that this is really a breeze. Having said that, I just have to wish you good reading!

Index

• Preliminary information
• How to reinstall Minecraft from the official launcher
  • How to uninstall mods
  • How to save the game worlds
  • How to install Minecraft
• How to reinstall Minecraft from Twitch
  • How to uninstall mods from Twitch
  • How to save game worlds from Twitch
  • How to install Minecraft from Twitch
• How to reinstall Minecraft on console

Preliminary information

Before explaining in detail the steps that will lead you to reinstall Minecraft on your computer, let me tell you about some important differences regarding the installations of the famous game.

You must know, in fact, that Minecraft can be played using two different types of launchers, or two software that can manage the installation of the game and allow the launch of the same with the mods and customizations set by the user.

In addition to using the official launcher downloadable from the official Minecraft website , in fact, it is possible to use the famous Twitch program as a launcher and mod manager. Depending on the method you use, you will find that reinstalling Minecraft will take different steps, but fear not: I’m here to explain in detail what to do.

How to reinstall Minecraft from the official launcher

In this first part of the guide, I will explain how to reinstall Minecraft if you use the official launcher. The steps that I am about to describe to you are valid for all versions of the title, so you will have no difficulty in following them.

How to uninstall mods

If you’ve installed some mods and your game isn’t what it used to be since then, maybe you don’t need to completely reinstall Minecraft. It may be enough for you to start the game without the mods to realize that they were the ones who gave you the problems. How to uninstall mods on Minecraft then?

As a first step, locate the Minecraft installation folder. It is in the path C:\Utenti\[nome utente]\AppData\Roaming\.minecraftor, if you use macOS, in the path ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft. For Windows, my guide on how to view hidden folders may be helpful . Within this folder you will find other subfolders, including the mods, resourcepacks and shaderpacks folders.

In the mods folder locate the file related to the mod you want to uninstall, then move it to any other folder or delete it. This way, the game will not load it on the next start. Similarly, in the resourcepacks folder or in the shaderpacks folder locate the files containing the resources or shaders to uninstall and move them elsewhere or delete them to start Minecraft without them.

How to save the game worlds

If your copy of Minecraft doesn’t work properly by uninstalling mods, then you need to reinstall Minecraft to fix the game’s problems. Before I do this, however, I have good news for you: you can save the game worlds and therefore not lose what you have painstakingly built.

To proceed, also in this case locate the Minecraft installation folder, located in the path C:\Utenti\[nome utente]\AppData\Roaming\.minecraftor, if you use macOS, in the path ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft. Inside it you will find various folders, including a folder called saves, containing all the worlds you have created within Minecraft. So you just need to copy the contents of the folder to a safe place, to save your worlds and proceed with the reinstallation.

Once you have followed the next steps, in which I will explain how to reinstall Minecraft, you can copy your worlds to the same saves folder within the new installation, to recover all your worlds in the blink of an eye. Convenient, right?

How to install Minecraft

Now that you have saved your worlds and can therefore install Minecraft again with peace of mind. Therefore, locate the Minecraft installation folder, located in the path C:\Utenti\[nome utente]\AppData\Roaming\.minecraftor, if you use macOS , in the path ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft. Once found, simply delete or rename it to completely uninstall Minecraft.

Once this is done, start the official game launcher again, which will download a clean and updated version of Minecraft. If you want to restore the worlds saves, you can copy the worlds files to the Saves folder, as I explained to you in the chapter on saving game worlds.

How to reinstall Minecraft from Twitch

If you’re using Twitch as a Minecraft launcher, here’s how to reinstall the game. Again, the steps I am about to describe are valid for all versions of the title.

As a preliminary operation, start Twitch and press on the Mod item in the top menu. Then click on the Minecraft item, to view all the installed versions and select the one you want to reinstall.

How to uninstall mods from Twitch

As mentioned above for the official launcher, even for the Twitch launcher I invite you first to uninstall the mods, to see if they are the ones that cause problems in Minecraft.

To uninstall a mod on Twitch, you won’t have to go through any kind of complicated operation. In the screen for the version you have chosen, in fact, you will surely have noticed a menu at the bottom called Mods installed, with the list of mods enabled in the game.

To disable a mod, press the switch next to the mod name. If you want to permanently delete it, you can press the button with the trash can design to the right of the mod name. You can then start the game normally by clicking the play button on the right.

How to save game worlds from Twitch

If you need to reinstall Minecraft completely, you may want to save the game worlds and thus not lose your progress. To do this, in the screen for the version you have chosen, press the button with the design of a gear on the right and select the menu item open folder.

In the opened folder you will find various subfolders, including a called saves , containing all the worlds you have created within Minecraft. So you just need to copy the contents of the folder to a safe place, to save your worlds without fear of losing them during the reinstallation.

Once you have followed the next steps, in which I will explain how to reinstall Minecraft from Twitch, you can copy your worlds to the same saves folder within the new installation to safely recover all your worlds.

How to install Minecraft from Twitch

You have secured your saves and are now ready to reinstall your copy of Minecraft completely.

On the Twitch screen for the version you have chosen to reinstall, press the button with the design of a gear on the right and select the item open folder from the proposed menu. Now delete all files in the displayed folder or move the files to a backup folder if you prefer.

Now, on Twitch, press the play button, on the right, and then the green Play button. This way, Minecraft will download a clean and updated version of the game, ready to run.

If you want to restore your worlds saves, you can copy the worlds files to the Saves folder as I explained to you in the chapter about saving game worlds on Twitch. Easy, isn’t it?

How to reinstall Minecraft on console

Do you want to reinstall Minecraft on console? No problem, you can do that too. For my example I’ll be using a PS4, but the steps to take are very similar on other gaming platforms as well, such as Xbox One and Switch.

The first step you need to take is to make sure you have a backup copy of your saves (possibly even on the cloud). On PS4 you can check this by going to the Settings> Application’s Saved Data Management menu. You can download the saves on the cloud by going to the items relating to the data saved online and downloading them, selecting the title of the game you are interested in and then pressing the button to download the data.

Now, to uninstall Minecraft, go to the Settings menu > Storage memory> Applications, press the Options button on the pad, select the Delete item from the side menu, check the box related to Minecraft and press the Delete button located at the bottom right, then go back to PlayStation Store (the shopping bag icon), search for Minecraft and reinstall it. Of course, you won’t have to pay for the game again if you’ve already purchased it via PlayStation Store.

For more information, I leave you to my tutorial on how to install Minecraft, in which I explained how to download the game on all the most popular consoles and, if you need it, to my generic tutorials on how to download games on PS4, how to download games on Xbox One and how to download games on Nintendo Switch.