Multiple Accounts - Minecraft

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Level 3

565 points

Multiple Accounts - Minecraft

I'm trying to setup Minecraft for my daughters on their own OS X accounts of our new computer. At this point I'm using normal un-restricted accounts while I troubleshoot. Whatever account I "install" minecraft on it will work. But if I switch users and launch it then I get the error "Minecraft updater - Unable to start Minecraft, if you are running from a dmg, please drag to Applications and try again."

I am not running the DMG. I've installed it via drag and drop to the apps folder and then deleted the dmg etc. So it works on the users account that I install it but that error pops up on any other accounts that I try to open minecraft with later.

If I re-install on a different account by overwriting the files etc then it does the same thing but for that account.

Thanks for any help or ideas. I can confirm that I've tried logging out of the minecraft account itself before opening under a different profile but that doesn't help. This *should* work.

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Sep 25, 2015 11:19 AM

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Answer 1

JimmyCMPIT

Level 7

29,217 points

Sep 25, 2015 11:42 AM in response to John-S

The root application should be installed in the Applications folder. If it's parked somewhere in a users folder that's likely the issue for trying to run under multiple accounts. If it is already in the applications folder it's possible the game is linked to the account you used when the purchase was made, but I don't know for sure. I do think you're going to get better traction on the Minecraft forum for this questions. - as far as OS X is concerned it's as you said "This *should* work." - but this assumes it should work the way you want and not the way the developers intended.

https://help.mojang.com/customer/en/portal/articles/731321-multiple-accounts-on- one-computer

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Answer 2

John-S Author

Level 3

565 points

Sep 25, 2015 5:54 PM in response to JimmyCMPIT

Ok, first off I installed it in the admin account originally and on my latest try. As far as "root". It's in the root applications folder but the "application support" folder for minecraft is in my admin user profile and not the root from what I can tell. When I get home maybe I'll try to move that folder and see if it helps. Though I'm not sure if that will confuse the app since it's likely looking in that specific location it was installed.

t's possible the game is linked to the account you used when the purchase was made

No, it's not. It was actually purchased on a different computer at my parents. It installed and worked on this computer ok but just for whatever account it's installed to directly. I can overwrite the install from another users profile on the system and then it works from that profile only.

I do think you're going to get better traction on the Minecraft forum for this questions.

That was my original thought as well so I posted there prior to posting here. Just no dice yet and there is no main support channels to reach them thru.

as far as OS X is concerned it's as you said "This *should* work." - but this assumes it should work the way you want and not the way the developers intended.

https://help.mojang.com/customer/en/portal/articles/731321-multiple-accounts-on- one-computer

The developers intend for this to work as far as I can tell. It just doesn't. I believe there must be a bug in their software or something. That link even proves this by mentioning how to set things up with multiple users and block each other from using each-others worlds etc.:)

Thanks for the help or any other ideas 🙂

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Answer 3

John-S Author

Level 3

565 points

Sep 25, 2015 6:20 PM in response to JimmyCMPIT

Just tested on my parents iMac which is a slightly older version of minecraft and much older iMac. But it works fine with multiple accounts...

Poking around though I see that it auto generates the user/library/application support/minecraft folder with all the files when a new account is added. It's not using a specific root folder.

I'm 70% sure it didn't auto generate those files for the new user accounts on our brand new system though. So that could be the problem. Maybe I can duplicate those files from the user account that works and paste them for one of the new users. Worth a shot...

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Answer 4

Sep 26, 2015 8:34 PM in response to John-S

John, as of today, I have the exact same issue as you experienced. Although I did have Minecraft working on multiple user accounts on a MacBook Pro running 10.10.5 *before* updating to the new Mac launcher for Minecraft. After I updated to the new Minecraft launcher this morning, I started having this issue. I agree with your hunch that this is likely a bug in the new Minecraft launcher for Mac. Possible solutions:

Use the old Minecraft launcher. Available from Mojang as Minecraft_legacy.dmg. Requires the old Java 6 runtime environment, so this may not be a desirable solution.
Follow the advice I found at http://www.cgwerks.com/make-minecraft-work-mac-osx-yosemite-latest-java-8/ and use the Linux launcher, Minecraft.jar, on my Mac. This one requires Java 8. I have the JDK installed, not sure if this would work with just the JRE. This is the solution I'm using currently. On the MacBook Pro, I have two regular accounts for my wife and me, and two managed accounts for the kids. I put Minecraft.jar in /Users/Shared where the managed accounts can open it, and told the kids to use that to start Minecraft.
? Maybe Mojang will fix this...? I found a Mojang-run Minecraft Launcher bug tracker with this same issue. The bug was submitted last week: https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MCL-4011. I was too lazy to register for the Atlasssian account to pile on to this same bug... I wonder if more of us piling on to this bug would make a difference?

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Answer 5

ted6502

Level 1

9 points

Oct 4, 2015 10:32 AM in response to John-S

I had the same problem. For me, the problem was addressed when I installed the alternative launcher:

On the minecraft download page, in the section for Minecraft for Mac OS X, there is an

alternative download: Minecraft_legacy.dmg.

I deleted the old Minecraft from Applications, then installed from Minecraft_legacy.dmg.

(If you are using parental controls for appliances on your daughter's account, check those after the install).

After that, minecraft is working under all of our accounts.

I don't know what the underlying problem is, but this got my son playing again.

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Answer 6

Oct 25, 2015 11:46 AM in response to John-S

The fix I found was to look at the permissions of the Application. /Applications/Minecraft.app I noticed that they were Owner: R+W,Admin: RO, Everyone: RO. I initially changed this at the app level by doing a "Get Info" and changing them to all being R+W. This did not fix it. I then navigated to the app file and right-clicked and selected "Show Package Contents". Then selected the "Contents" Folder and right-clicked and selecting "Get Info". At this info page I unlocked(bottom right corner) and changed both admin and everyone to R+W. then I selected the gear (bottom middle) and selected "Apply to enclosed Items...". At the prompt click "OK". then the app opens in the other accounts.

App Level --> change R+W for all

Contents Level --> Change R+W for all and then apply to enclosed items.

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Answer 7

mds421

Level 1

4 points

Oct 31, 2015 2:00 PM in response to djcmvpeyton

This worked perfectly. Thanks so much.

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Answer 8

Gle4uz

Level 1

4 points

Oct 31, 2015 11:05 PM in response to djcmvpeyton

Thanks . I was having the same problem and your fix worked perfectly !

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Answer 9

Dec 17, 2015 8:14 PM in response to John-S

ESTABA Intentando descargar el Minecraft premium al que hace? UNOS meses habia borrado y Ahora no me deja ... no se Por Que, en solitario Pero me Aparecen los enlaces Como Si estuvieran Escritos, Haber si me explico, no Llevan un ningún lado, como no fueran enlaces. Aqui les pongo lo que me dice

--->

Descarga Minecraft.dmg.https://launcher.mojang.com/download/Minecraft.dmg

Minecraft para Mac OS X (alternativa)

Si está utilizando una versión anterior de Mac OS X y está teniendo problemas con la nueva descarga, puedes probar el viejo descargando Minecraft_legacy.dmg.http://launcher.mojang.com/download/Minecraft_legacy.dmg

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Answer 10

Gastr1c

Level 1

8 points

Feb 8, 2016 10:29 AM in response to John-S

I encountered this recently. What I discovered is that the .app is correctly installed in /Applications However the launcher and related data is installed to /Users/<user account used during the install>/Library/Application Support/minecraft Every other user that attempted to launch the .app would fail with the error the OP reported. Simply changing the .app and it's Contents folder to R+W for everyone did not solve my particular issue.

However, uninstalling and reinstalling using the "legacy" installer did. Just make sure to backup your ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft folder first in case you have mods and other data installed there.

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Answer 11

Jun 23, 2016 10:54 AM in response to John-S

I did this and it worked:

Change the permission level for Minecarft app in your Applications folder to read+write for all users and everyone. Instructions:
- Right click on file in Finder, then "Get Info" or Command+i on the file
- Bottom right corner of the pop up window, click on the lock symbol and unlock to allow changes
- Select read+write for every and all users
Go to Finder
Right mouse click on the Minecraft app in your Application folder
Select "Show Package Content". All the content files and folders will be revealed
Change the permission level for the following files to Read and Write the same way you did above.
- Files to change Read Write on:
- Content>Info.plist
- Content>MacOS>Launcher
- Content>MacOS>Minecraft updater.app
- Content>Resources>favicons.icns

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