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How to Play Minecraft 1.8.9 on Apple Silicon Macs

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ILikePlayingGames edited this page Dec 4, 2022 · 2 revisions

Update Dec. 3, 2022

Mojang now prohibits newer Java versions. Please follow the workaround here: https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MCL-18306

The Issue

If you try to launch Minecraft 1.8.9 on an Apple Silicon Mac (with M1/M2 processor), you will be greeted by this error:

Error screen stating Couldn't select a valid version of the Java runtime to download.

The Cause

This error happens because the Minecraft Launcher detects that the architecture of the computer is ARM64 and tries to download a matching version of Java 8 for this architecture. Such a version doesn't exist, however, so it displays the error.

The Solution

The 64-bit version of Java runs fine using Rosetta so we have to install that and tell the launcher to use it.

  1. Download Java from here.
  2. Open the installer and follow the instructions to install Java.
  3. Open the Minecraft Launcher.
  4. Click on the "Installations" tab.
  5. Click on the three dots next to your 1.8.9 installation and click "Edit."
Installtions tab of the Minecraft launcher with the edit button under the 1.8.9 installation highlighted
  1. At the bottom of the popup menu, click "MORE OPTIONS."
  2. Paste the following text into the "JAVA EXECUTABLE" box: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/bin/java
Edit Installation popup menu with the above text pasted into the JAVA EXECUTABLE text box
  1. Save your changes
  2. Start Minecraft! It should now launch correctly.

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