The short version
- 01Work out where it stops: install, open, or pressing Play.
- 02Run the Gaming Services Repair Tool, which Mojang suggests before anything else.
- 03Repair the launcher through Windows rather than resetting it, to keep your data.
- 04Reset the Microsoft Store cache, since the launcher depends on the Store.
- 05Create a new Java installation to test whether your old profile is the problem.
- 06Back up your worlds before any uninstall — there is no way to recover them after.
Start here
Three different failures share the words “won’t launch”
Before changing anything, find out where it stops. The launcher failing to install is one problem, the launcher failing to open is a second, and the launcher opening fine but doing nothing when you press Play is a third. They have almost no fixes in common, and the reinstall people reach for first only helps one of them. Mojang documents each separately, which is the clearest sign they are separate faults.
Applies to: The Minecraft Launcher on Windows 10 and Windows 11, covering both Minecraft: Java Edition and Bedrock launched through it. The Java-specific sections apply only to Java Edition.
Where does it stop?
The Minecraft Launcher sits on top of two Microsoft components — the Microsoft Store and Xbox gaming services — and most of what looks like a broken game is really one of those underneath it. That is why reinstalling Minecraft so often changes nothing: the thing that failed was never Minecraft. Working out which layer stopped takes one look at the screen and saves you from uninstalling a game you did not need to uninstall.
Nothing happens when you click the icon
Does any window appear at all?
Repair the app“This app can’t open”
Is the Microsoft Store working?
Reset the StoreLauncher opens, Play does nothing
Does a fresh installation work?
Test a new installIt will not install in the first place
Do you get error 0x80131500?
Check TLSNo Play button at all
Is the account signed in?
Check the install1. Find where it stops before you touch anything
Minecraft is unusual among games in that its launcher is a Microsoft Store app, and the updates it downloads come through Xbox gaming services. Two Microsoft subsystems therefore sit between you and the game, and either one failing looks identical from the desktop: you click the icon and no game appears.
There are four distinct stopping points, and they are easy to tell apart if you look rather than assume. The installer fails and names an error code. The launcher is installed but no window ever appears, or Windows says the app cannot open. The launcher window appears, you sign in, and pressing Play does nothing or crashes it. Or the launcher appears but has no Play button to press.
Each of these has its own Mojang article and its own fix, and the overlap between them is small. The reinstall that dominates forum advice addresses only the second, and it costs you your worlds if you skip the backup step. Spending thirty seconds identifying the failure is worth more than any single fix below.
If you are about to uninstall anything, back up your worlds first. Mojang points at its own Backup & Restore instructions for this, and an uninstall does not ask you twice.
2. The launcher will not open, or crashes on start
This is the case Mojang documents most directly, covering a launcher that crashes, freezes, or shows the error “This App Can’t Open”. Its advice is to attempt each suggestion one at a time rather than all at once, which is worth following — doing three things then finding it fixed tells you nothing about what was wrong.
The first suggestion is the one most people have never heard of. Because Minecraft uses Xbox services to deliver game updates, Mojang recommends the Gaming Services Repair Tool, which fixes problems with those updates and with the launcher freezing or stopping. That is a Microsoft component failing, not Minecraft, and no amount of reinstalling Minecraft repairs it.
The second is Windows’ own repair for Store apps. Mojang defers to Microsoft’s “Repair apps and programs in Windows” instructions here, and the distinction Windows draws matters: Repair leaves your data alone and rebuilds the app, while Reset clears the app’s data. Repair is the one to try first, for the obvious reason.
Only after both of those does reinstalling make sense, and Mojang puts backing up your worlds as step one of that procedure rather than a footnote.
Freezes or crashes
Start with the Gaming Services Repair Tool — the update path is the usual culprit.
“This app can’t open”
A Store app problem. Repair the launcher, then reset the Store cache.
3. The Microsoft Store is the dependency nobody thinks about
Mojang states the relationship plainly: the Minecraft Launcher relies on the Microsoft Store app, so resetting the cache may also fix the issue. That single sentence explains a large share of otherwise baffling launcher failures, and it is the reason a machine where the Store itself is broken will never launch Minecraft no matter what you do to Minecraft.
The test is quick. Open the Microsoft Store on its own and see whether it works — whether it opens, loads its front page, and can reach your library. If the Store is broken, fix the Store and Minecraft will usually follow. Mojang points at Microsoft’s “Microsoft Store doesn’t open” article for the cache reset rather than documenting it themselves, which tells you where they think the fault lies.
This also explains why the problem sometimes arrives without you having touched Minecraft at all. A Windows update, a corporate policy change, or a Store cache that has gone stale can break the launcher on a machine where the game worked perfectly the day before and nothing about the game has changed.
4. It opens, you press Play, and nothing happens
This is a different fault with a different fix, and it is specific to Java Edition. Mojang’s framing is that if the launcher crashes when you select Play for Minecraft: Java Edition, the problem could be with the existing installation — not with the launcher and not with the game files generally, but with the particular installation profile you are launching.
The diagnostic is genuinely elegant, and it is the reason this deserves its own section: make a second installation and see whether that one works. In the launcher, choose Minecraft: Java Edition, open the Installations tab, select New installation, name it something you will recognise as a test, and pick the same game version as the world that is crashing. Install it and launch that.
The result splits the problem cleanly. If the new installation launches, your game files and your account are fine and the fault is in the old profile — which in practice means downloaded mods, or the advanced settings attached to it. If the new installation fails in exactly the same way, the profile was never the problem and you are back to the launcher-level fixes above.
When a fresh installation does work, Mojang suggests copying the default settings across rather than rebuilding from scratch, naming the resolution and the JVM arguments specifically. JVM arguments are where hand-edited memory allocations live, and a value that no longer matches the machine is a common way to make a working game stop launching.
New install works
Mods or the old profile’s advanced settings. Copy the defaults across, starting with the JVM arguments.
New install fails too
Not the profile. Go back to repairing the launcher and the Store.
Uncheck “Launch after Install” when creating the test installation if you would rather start it yourself and watch what happens.
5. When the installer itself fails
If you never get as far as a launcher, the error code on screen is the thing to read. Mojang documents 0x80131500 during installation, and its two fixes are unrelated to Minecraft in any way — further evidence that the game is rarely the thing at fault here.
The first is Windows’ own Store app troubleshooter, reached through Settings, then Update & Security, then Troubleshoot, then Additional troubleshooters, then Windows Store Apps. Run it, reboot, and retry before doing anything more invasive.
The second is a genuine surprise and worth knowing about beyond Minecraft. Mojang’s instructions have you open Internet Options in Control Panel, go to the Advanced tab, scroll to the SSL/TLS entries at the bottom, deselect SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0 and 1.1, select TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3 if it is offered, apply, and reboot. An installer that cannot negotiate a modern TLS version fails at the download stage and reports something that looks like a corrupt package.
That fix points at a machine whose security settings have drifted — often an older install, or one that has been through corporate management at some point. If it turns out to be the cause, expect other downloads to have been quietly failing too.
6. Reinstalling properly, and what to report if none of it works
If you reach a reinstall, do it in Mojang’s order. Back up your worlds using one of the options in Backup & Restore. Uninstall the launcher through Windows’ own “Uninstall or remove apps and programs” procedure rather than by deleting folders. Then re-download the launcher from the official download page. Deleting the application directory by hand leaves registry and Store state behind, which is how people end up reinstalling three times to no effect.
Worlds are the part worth being careful about. An uninstall can take saved worlds with it, and there is no undo. Back them up even when you are confident the uninstall will leave them alone — the cost of being wrong is asymmetric.
If none of it works, the useful thing to record is where it stopped rather than what you tried. Note whether the launcher window ever appeared, whether the Microsoft Store opens on its own, whether a brand-new Java installation behaves differently from your existing one, and any error code exactly as written. Those four answers separate an install failure from a Store failure from a gaming-services failure from a corrupt profile, and they are the first things support will ask for.
Frequently asked questions
Why does reinstalling Minecraft not fix the launcher?
Because the thing that failed usually is not Minecraft. The launcher relies on the Microsoft Store app, and game updates come through Xbox gaming services. If either of those is broken, reinstalling the game leaves the actual fault untouched. Repair the Store and run the Gaming Services Repair Tool first.
What does “This app can’t open” mean for Minecraft?
It is a Windows Store app error rather than a Minecraft one. Mojang groups it with launcher crashes and freezes, and points at repairing the launcher through Windows and resetting the Microsoft Store cache. Check whether the Store itself opens — if it does not, that is the real problem.
The launcher opens but Play does nothing. What now?
Create a new Java installation and test that. In the launcher choose Minecraft: Java Edition, open Installations, select New installation, and pick the same game version as the world that crashes. If the new one launches, the fault is in your old profile — mods, or its advanced settings.
Will I lose my worlds if I reinstall the launcher?
You can. Mojang makes backing up your worlds step one of its reinstall procedure, before the uninstall, using the options in Backup & Restore. Do it even if you expect the worlds to survive; there is no way to recover them afterwards if they do not.
How do I fix error 0x80131500 installing Minecraft?
Run the Windows Store Apps troubleshooter from Settings, then Update & Security, then Troubleshoot, then Additional troubleshooters. If that fails, open Internet Options in Control Panel, go to the Advanced tab, deselect SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0 and 1.1, enable TLS 1.2 and 1.3, then reboot.
What is the Gaming Services Repair Tool?
A Microsoft tool for the Xbox services component that delivers Minecraft’s game updates. Mojang recommends it first for a launcher that crashes, freezes or stops, because that component is separate from Minecraft and cannot be repaired by reinstalling the game.
Sources and review notes
Checked on . Compiled by Glitchary from Mojang’s Minecraft Help articles on launcher crashes and freezes, creating a new Java installation, and installation error 0x80131500. The Gaming Services Repair Tool recommendation, the Microsoft Store dependency, the new-installation test and the TLS steps are Mojang’s. The four-way split between install, launch, Play and profile failures is editorial, as is the advice on which to check first. Steps differ between Java and Bedrock and between Windows versions — check Mojang’s current article for yours. Glitchary is independent of Mojang and Microsoft.