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  1. Minecraft Launcher
  2. MCL-5385

'Game directory is invalid or inaccessible' when a junction is used or an appdata environment path is used

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    • Icon: Bug Bug
    • Resolution: Duplicate
    • None
    • 2.0.729 (Windows)
    • None
    • None
    • Windows 7 x64
      Windows 8.1 x64
      Windows 10 x64
    • Unconfirmed

      'Game directory is invalid or inaccessible' when a junction is used or an appdata environment path is used

      When using an %AppData%\.minecraft junction via mklink to store the files elsewhere the new launcher throws an error and fails to launch the game or download files correctly.

      Re-created the issue on a VM this way:
      Moved the .minecraft from appdata into a folder on the desktop where I had added minecraft for this test
      ran cmd and then
      mklink /j C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\.minecra
      ft C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\AppData\.minecraft

      Started the launcher and when attempting to download new files or launch an instance of the game itself it shows this error instead:

      The game directory is invalid or inaccessible.
      Error details: The system cannot find the file specified
      Filename on disk: .minecraft
      Path: C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft
      Exists: directory

      In past versions of the launcher I've used symbolic links with no issues to keep that directory on a hdd rather than the os ssd.

      Alternatively using a bat file to change the appdata path used to work and instead it now shows the same behavior/error as the junction

      Eg..
      set APPDATA=%CD%\data
      "%CD%\bin\Minecraft.exe"

      Oddly I'm not seeing any issues or failed operations via procmon, it finds the paths just fine!

            Unassigned Unassigned
            Bean2015 Baesman
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              Created:
              Updated:
              Resolved: