[MCL-4011] Not able to launch after switching OSX user

Workaround

A workaround by @unknown can be found in this comment.

After executing the last launcher's update everything is working fine but not when I switch user on the Mac and try to launch MC again.

The message I get then is:

"Minecraft updater. Unable to start Minecraft, if you are running from a dmg, please drag to Applications and try again"

As a check I reinstalled MC on the account with the problem and then the situation is reversed: everything works fine but when I switch user I get exactly the same error.

Linked issues

is duplicated by 9

MCL-4047 Minecraft under El Capitan will only launch for one user. Resolved

MCL-4058 Unable to launch after switching OS X User, running from dmg, drag and drop Resolved

MCL-11618 Minecraft Launcher admin permission requirements are *wrong* on OSX Resolved

MCL-13556 Not able to launch after switching users on Macbook Resolved

MCL-14056 Multi user installation does not work. Only one user can run Minecraft Launcher Resolved

4 more links

relates to 1

MC-242113 On Launch, Pops Up Saying Running Off DMG. Resolved

Attachments

Screen Shot 2021-06-11 at 8.47.20 PM.png

Comments 34

migrated 2015-09-23T11:52:22Z

Hey, is anybody there? Is it a problem related to my computer or else?
I tried already reinstalling MC but same problem.

migrated 2015-09-26T19:23:01Z

Please dear Mojang staff, can I have at least a confirmation that somebody has read this thread?

migrated 2015-09-28T08:06:00Z

I am having the exact same problem.

migrated 2015-09-28T10:02:33Z

No w
hite

migrated 2015-10-01T04:54:37Z

I'm seeing this issue as well. Went back to using the "legacy" launcher to get it to work with multiple OSX users.

24 more comments

migrated 2015-10-04T18:29:40Z

I only saw this problem arise when I updated my system to El Capitan. In Yosemite, all was fine. I still have one system on Yosemite running the latest launch and it's working fine.
What do you call the legacy launcher ?

kumasasa 2015-10-09T15:56:16Z

Is this co-fixed with the fix of MCL-4022 ?

migrated 2015-10-09T16:41:06Z

This is not fixed with the new update this morning. I still have the same user problem. Having to re install the app in each user when I switch users.

migrated 2015-10-15T21:29:37Z

Seeing the same error after reinstalling Minecraft multiple times from the newest standard release.

migrated 2015-10-20T18:50:50Z

I should add for clarity that this is not about logging into to Minecraft with more than one user ID. That seems to work as long as one does it from the the same exact Mac OS X user environment.

It's only when you switch from one Mac login to another that Minecraft launch then fails on that same Mac.

migrated 2015-10-24T20:47:20Z

Same problem here. I have 3 accounts on my Mac, one is my account and the other two for my daughters. The game works fine in my account but in the other two accounts does not work.The OS is El Capitan.

migrated 2015-10-27T09:17:52Z

While on a machine with a single home directory/logon this will be hard to notice, on machines with multiple user IDs this makes things fairly hellish. Every time one new user launches Minecraft, all others get the error message and are unable to launch it. If any one of those uses the only workaround I've found - to reinstall from scratch - that in turn disables Minecraft for all the others.

migrated 2015-11-01T21:08:25Z

When I first experienced the problem I had a feeling it has something to do with permissions. And the more I've delved into it, the more convinced I've become of that supposition.

When the installer is first run, it creates the /Applications/Minecraft.app folder under the user's userid with Read-Write permissions for the user and defaults the group and other users Read-Only permissions. Changing to another Mac user's profile presents the above error dialogue because the new user is a member of the 'EVERYONE' group, which only has READ access to the folder. Installing the application again under the new user's Id changes the ownership and consequently facilitates access to the application. However, it now denies access to the previous user. Hmm! Permissions!

Simply using the Get Info window to give read-write permissions to everyone only changes the permissions on the parent folder of the Minecraft.app folder. However, changing permissions to read-write on ALL items in the container enables all Mac users to run the application in their own user profiles.

This lends more credence to my suspicions the application is making changes to the /Application/Minecraft.app folder hierarchy after execution. Using a debugger to monitor file writes to the system would confirm this, I'm sure.

Adjusting the permissions to allow standard users, and those under parental control, to change files in a folder in the /Applications folder is a no, no. Particularly from a SECURITY perspective. If anything an elevation prompt should be given to the user especially those that have limited access.

migrated 2015-11-03T21:11:02Z

BTW same exact problem happens in El Capitan OS X 10.11.1

I suspect this is related permissions managed in the kernel since it galls the conscience that invoking Minecraft under one user ID would affect/be permitted to write to another user's directories/files.

migrated 2015-11-05T01:25:26Z

Dragging the Minecraft.app from the .dmg into the user's Application directory (instead of the one shown in the dmg which is an alias for the system's Application directory seems to be a valid workaround for this issue. If you do it from one account, then switch to another account the dmg should still be mounted (in other words, no need to eject/re-download for each user just leave it mounted and drag from there to the user's application directory).

migrated 2015-12-05T10:35:36Z

I installed Minecraft 1.8.8 for Mac OS but have same issue.

migrated 2015-12-28T01:16:45Z

I just bought Minecraft for my son, and this caused me several hours of wasted effort figuring out how to get it to run on his account. Please fix this.

migrated 2015-12-28T05:53:37Z

The work around of putting minecraft in the user/application folder works great. I haven't looked back since then.

migrated 2015-12-29T23:35:49Z

I was able to get it running again by finding the app in the root application folder and doing the following:

Right click Minecraft.app
Get info
Set permissions to Read & Write for all entries
Click OK
Right click Minecraft.app
Show package contents
Right click the directory "Contents"
Get info
Click the lock icon and authenticate
Set permissions to Read & Write for all entries
Click the gear and select Apply to all enclosed items
Click OK
Run program.

More work than moving to the ~username/Applications, but then you don't have to move the application from where it should actually be installed.

migrated 2016-02-28T03:32:28Z

Changing permissions does not work for me. Copying to ~/Applications works.

This is needs to be fixed properly though.

galaxy_2alex 2017-02-13T13:15:34Z

Is this still a concern in the current Minecraft Launcher version 2.0.805 / 2.0.806? If so, please update the affected versions in order to best aid Mojang ensuring bugs are still valid in the latest releases/pre-releases. If this has been done, we can reopen the issue.

Keep in mind that the "Resolved"-Status on this ticket just means "Answered", and that we are waiting for further information on whether this issue still exists or not. It will be reopened it as soon as the requested information has been delivered.

migrated 2017-11-06T01:07:32Z

This is not resolved.

UPDATE: My friend sent me his .app and ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft folder and the game works for me now... So I believe what ever is in the .DMG is broken.

Macbook Pro 13" (latest gen) Mac OS X 10.12.5

Installed latest Java, restarted, downloaded the Mac OSX build from the website, tried running in /Applications/ and ~/Applications and changing permissions as mentioned by @Vincent Sanchez and it gives the same message as OP.

Here is the logs from ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft:

nativelog.txt

Native Launcher Version: 1235
Operating System: OSX Version 10.12.5 (Build 16F73)
Application Hash: a65f19af68db0b738ab82b2715d4554a81b790da
Application Data directory: /Users/kus/Library/Application Support/minecraft
Executable Path: /private/var/folders/7y/cpvw_fkx7hjd9kszvnhlgm0r0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/2EB21797-B5E3-4113-8555-5D5CC87819AB/d/Minecraft.app/Contents/MacOS/launcher
App Directory dir: /private/var/folders/7y/cpvw_fkx7hjd9kszvnhlgm0r0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/2EB21797-B5E3-4113-8555-5D5CC87819AB/d/Minecraft.app/Contents
Start dir: /Users/kus/Library/Application Support/minecraft
Launcher dir: /Users/kus/Library/Application Support/minecraft
TmpDir dir: /private/var/folders/7y/cpvw_fkx7hjd9kszvnhlgm0r0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/2EB21797-B5E3-4113-8555-5D5CC87819AB/d/Minecraft.app/Contents/tmp
(Optional) Java Launcher hash: 
Java Version: 1.8.0_74
x64: 1

nativeUpdaterLog.txt

Native Launcher Version: 1235
Operating System: OSX Version 10.12.5 (Build 16F73)
Application Hash: 8956b058e3de02ced3a10f4ddb7260f8ee63b615
Application Data directory: /Users/kus/Library/Application Support/minecraft
Executable Path: /private/var/folders/7y/cpvw_fkx7hjd9kszvnhlgm0r0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/A0D2EBAF-A0F5-468C-9B41-DC06620FF64F/d/Minecraft.app/Contents/Minecraft Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/nativeUpdater
App Directory dir: /private/var/folders/7y/cpvw_fkx7hjd9kszvnhlgm0r0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/A0D2EBAF-A0F5-468C-9B41-DC06620FF64F/d/Minecraft.app/Contents/Minecraft Updater.app/Contents
Start dir: /Users/kus/Library/Application Support/minecraft
Launcher dir: /Users/kus/Library/Application Support/minecraft
TmpDir dir: /private/var/folders/7y/cpvw_fkx7hjd9kszvnhlgm0r0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/A0D2EBAF-A0F5-468C-9B41-DC06620FF64F/d/Minecraft.app/Contents/Minecraft Updater.app/Contents/tmp
(Optional) Java Launcher hash: 
Java Version: 
x64: 1
LauncherConfiguration from: http://launchermeta.mojang.com/mc/launcher.json
Downloaded config
Native update needed
Native launcher outdated!
Hash should be a1a2533ee8365778cb9bb0684fb3a3973bcb2a86
We need to extract the launcher library, it doesn't exist!
Game launcher outdated!
Check to see if we can run the launcher
Hash of download was 
Hash expected was 79aa72759b9c9ab6a618507ca942c84c25f5d9b7
We tried to download file to /private/var/folders/7y/cpvw_fkx7hjd9kszvnhlgm0r0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/A0D2EBAF-A0F5-468C-9B41-DC06620FF64F/d/Minecraft.app/Contents/Minecraft Updater.app/Contents/tmp/tmpLauncher.tmp
Failed to download, hash mismatch
Size of downloaded file: 0 kB

Also tried the legacy installer (after installing legacy java) which also doesn't work and gives this error:

Bootstrap (v5)
Current time is Nov 6, 2017 11:55:49 AM
System.getProperty('os.name') == 'Mac OS X'
System.getProperty('os.version') == '10.12.5'
System.getProperty('os.arch') == 'x86_64'
System.getProperty('java.version') == '1.6.0_65'
System.getProperty('java.vendor') == 'Apple Inc.'
System.getProperty('sun.arch.data.model') == '64'

Downloading: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/launcher/launcher.pack.lzma
Exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLException: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected error: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trustAnchors parameter must be non-empty
Downloading: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/launcher/launcher.pack.lzma (try 2/10)
Exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLException: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected error: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trustAnchors parameter must be non-empty
Downloading: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/launcher/launcher.pack.lzma (try 3/10)
Exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLException: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected error: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trustAnchors parameter must be non-empty
Downloading: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/launcher/launcher.pack.lzma (try 4/10)
Exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLException: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected error: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trustAnchors parameter must be non-empty
Downloading: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/launcher/launcher.pack.lzma (try 5/10)
Exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLException: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected error: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trustAnchors parameter must be non-empty
Downloading: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/launcher/launcher.pack.lzma (try 6/10)
Exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLException: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected error: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trustAnchors parameter must be non-empty
Downloading: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/launcher/launcher.pack.lzma (try 7/10)
Exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLException: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected error: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trustAnchors parameter must be non-empty
Downloading: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/launcher/launcher.pack.lzma (try 8/10)
Exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLException: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected error: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trustAnchors parameter must be non-empty
Downloading: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/launcher/launcher.pack.lzma (try 9/10)
Exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLException: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected error: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trustAnchors parameter must be non-empty
Downloading: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/launcher/launcher.pack.lzma (try 10/10)
Exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLException: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected error: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trustAnchors parameter must be non-empty
Unable to download remote file. Check your internet connection/proxy settings.
FATAL ERROR: net.minecraft.bootstrap.FatalBootstrapError: Unable to download while being forced
	at net.minecraft.bootstrap.Bootstrap.execute(Bootstrap.java:95)
	at net.minecraft.bootstrap.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:381)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
	at apple.launcher.LaunchRunner.run(LaunchRunner.java:116)
	at apple.launcher.LaunchRunner.callMain(LaunchRunner.java:51)
	at apple.launcher.JavaApplicationLauncher.launch(JavaApplicationLauncher.java:52)


Please fix the error and restart.

galaxy_2alex 2018-04-27T15:09:41Z

Is this still a concern in the current Minecraft Launcher version 2.0.1003 / 2.0.1004? If so, please update the affected versions in order to best aid Mojang ensuring bugs are still valid in the latest releases/pre-releases. If this has been done, we can reopen the issue.

migrated 2019-03-24T03:55:20Z

Still seeing this problem on 2.1.2480. The launcher works fine for the user account where the .dmg was installed, but fails to launch on all other accounts on OSX 10.14.3 (macOS Mojave)

migrated 2019-07-24T04:44:11Z

Still an issue. My launcher identifies itself as "Version 495 (1)" in the "About Minecraft Launcher" dialog.

I have reinstalled about six times in the last week.

migrated 2020-04-03T20:43:17Z

This is still an issue. Why? With every user switch I have to reinstall. With several users this has to be done several times a day. Please solve this problem!

migrated 2020-04-18T16:17:51Z

MCL-13556 is yet another dup of this bug.

I can confirm that the workaround posted at https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MCL-4011?focusedCommentId=275130&page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel#comment-275130 works, but apparently it must be repeated whenever the launcher is updated? (I guess that's a question, does anyone know?).

If this bug cannot/will not be addressed then I strongly suggest that at least an 'official' workaround be posted at https://help.minecraft.net/hc/en-us .

migrated 2020-04-18T18:10:50Z

Is the Minecraft file called “*Minecraft.minecraft*” that how it works to be HONEST.

migrated 2020-07-08T12:34:58Z

appears to be the same as MCL-11618

owlfalls35 2021-02-16T12:46:37Z

Try running

chmod a+rwx /Applications/Minecraft.app/Contents/MacOS/launcher

in your Terminal on the account that it works.

Arisa Bot 2021-02-22T00:53:14Z

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migrated 2021-06-12T04:13:21Z

This issue still persists, or has reappeared. It's definitely a permissions issue, all accounts running the launcher, other than the account that installed the Launcher receive the error screen attached. Changing the permissions with the Terminal command mentioned previously does resolve the issue. I'm running macOS 11.4 and Minecraft Launcher Version 973 (1).

[media]

migrated 2021-10-10T15:00:37Z

Had the same issue. I ran above script in Terminal and changed use to Read/Write permission. It worked BUT on the next update it reverted back to Read Only and had to re-do the steps.

So Bug is still there, this scrappy solve seems to work temporarily, until next update.

Donuts1000 2022-03-03T18:46:14Z

Team is looking into this, but with the way Apple structures privileges it's a little tricky. Still working on a more permanent built-in solution, but users should be able to resolve this directly by changing the permissions on the "Minecraft.app" folder to include the "staff" group. This can be done using the following terminal command from the user that installed the Application:

chown -R :staff /Applications/Minecraft.app