Tutorial:Custom Minecraft directory

To play Minecraft from a custom directory, you can use these simple steps.

If you have anything important in your Minecraft directory, it is strongly recommended you make a backup before moving it!

Windows 10 and later

Method A

Note: This doesn't work when using a launcher installed via the Microsoft App Store

• Go to the directory where you installed Minecraft.
• Shift right click in a blank space and press "Open Command Window Here."
• Get the Directory Path of where you want to store the game.
• In the Command Prompt window, type in: echo java -jar Minecraft.exe --workDir=" . Do not press enter yet.
• In the file browser, find the directory you want Minecraft to be installed in to.
• Click and drag the directory to the open command prompt window. It should fill in the path automatically.
• Finish typing " > run.bat and press enter.
• In the directory, run the "run.bat" file.

Method B

Use this method if you've installed Minecraft via the Microsoft App Store.

• Create a directory in the location you want Minecraft moved to. We will call this the 'destination directory', but you can name it whatever you want.
• Open the original .minecraft directory (By default, you can find this by going to %appdata%, then opening roaming\.Minecraft)
• Copy all contents of the original .minecraft directory and paste them into the destination directory
• Delete the original .minecraft directory
• In the search bar, find Command Prompt, right click and open as administrator
• Paste cd %appdata% and click enter. The command prompt should acknowledge the appdata\roaming directory
• Paste mklink /D ".minecraft" "<destination directory>" Replace <destination directory> with the address of the destination directory. For example, if you're moving Minecraft to "E:\MyMinecraft", the command would be mklink /D ".minecraft" "E:\MyMinecraft"
• Press enter. Command prompt should say "symbolic linked created for .minecraft"
• If command prompt says "cannot create file when that file already exists", it is because you didn't delete the original .minecraft directory. Delete it and run the command again

Shortcut Method

• Right click the Minecraft shortcut on your desktop and select "Properties".
• If you do not have a shortcut, navigate to the directory where you installed Minecraft, right click MinecraftLauncher.exe, and click "Create Shortcut".
• There should be a line labeled Target. After the file path, add a space and type: --workDir DIR_PATH
• Replace "DIR_PATH" with the path of the directory you want the game to use.
• Minecraft will now use that directory as long as you launch it from that shortcut.