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I tried searching the website and couldnt find a question that answered this specific aspect of the game. Its very difficult for me to use the internet because of my location, and I have recently become interested in Minecraft.

Im aware that there is a pay version that can be played offline once youve logged in once but the idea of doing anything internet related that requires almost any kind of talking between my computer and the internet is laughable where I am right now.

Even just downloading it will probably take a day or more. Also with a connection like the one I have I sure as heck dont want to pay to play.

Is there a way I can download the game, for free, and play OFFLINE, for free?

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    If there was a downloadable version that required no internet connection after downloading it, would you pay for it? Why would the internet-connected version of minecraft cost money but the connection-free version be free?
    – Dave McClelland
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 16:51
  • I appreciate the attempts but I just got three extremely different answers, back to back. Thats not very helpfull. LoL
    – Ender
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 17:03
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    there is an outdated demo which allows you to play the full game, the only limitation is that worlds become un-modifiable after 90 min. (also, the correct answer is lunbooks' one, maybe my comment there helps you though)
    – Zommuter
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 17:32
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    negative, I dont want for free what everyone pays for. I want, for free, whats free. I was simply asking if a free and entirely offline version of the game excists. One that doesnt require a one-time login or anything like that. I dont see what the big deal is.
    – Ender
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 17:33
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    If you can get on this website, you should be able to log in once with no problem. It's the download that's the tricky part with your crappy connection.
    – John
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 19:02

6 Answers 6

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Since we clarified you're not looking for a pirated version :-) There are three choices:

  • Minecraft Classic, which is very old no longer available, lacks e.g. redstone and zombies, but is still great if you like simply to sandbox.
  • The Demo, which is not up-to-date but features redstone and is in survival mode (health bar, swords, spiders...). Any world you create there can however only be modified for 90 minutes
  • The full version (you have to buy it in this case), have it downloaded by someone else and have them snail-mail you the whole folder %appdata%\.minecraft\.

edit As John commented, the internet-heavy part is the download, so for the third solution you can ask said person use their login, send you their .minecraft (excluding the file lastlogin to keep it legal, and the saves folder isn't necessary either) and then connect to the internet once to login with your own account. If there has been an update meanwhile, you can choose "update later". After the first login, it will work without internet connection

To avoid snail mailing, your friend can also upload the folder to something like dropbox and you can use a download manager. It's only about 50 MB after all.

Or if you do not want to use the Internet to log in, you can use the following command (that goes in your run box) to start Minecraft without logging in (assuming you have the .minecraft files in %APPDATA%

java -Xms512m -Xmx1024m -cp "%APPDATA%\.minecraft\bin\*" -Djava.library.path="%APPDATA%\.minecraft\bin\natives" net.minecraft.client.Minecraft` yourusername
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  • I thought people who ordered after Alpha no longer receive all future updates for free
    – Nick T
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 18:08
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    how would i use your third choice, pay for it, and give a friend my login information to download it?
    – Ender
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 19:13
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    @NickT are you sure about this? I bought beta and still get updates, and what kind of strategy would it be to deny after-release customers their update? I think the only difference is that you no longer get the 25% discount
    – Zommuter
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 19:53
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    What I heard is that Mojang, on advice from their lawyers, rescinded their promise to provide all future updates for free after Alpha. That doesn't mean they can't still choose to provide free updates, or that they're particularly likely to charge for them - just that customers from after Alpha aren't entitled to them (e.g. to sue if they decide to charge for updates / a sequel / optional DLC).
    – Random832
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 20:29
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    Several tries and more than a few hours later its finished and runs fine! I actually had to scour the internet because this version doesnt give you the sound files in the resource folder, I had to find and download those seperatly, jeez that was a headache. Tobias, your awesome.
    – Ender
    Commented Jan 1, 2012 at 11:51
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No, there is not.

However, as you pointed out, the paid version can be played offline indefinitely after you've downloaded it. I'm not sure what difference a free version would make in that regard, as you'd still have to download it.

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    @Ender just a side note, to play the full version offline, you have to login once. You can do this on another computer with internet though, and then copy %appdata%\.minecraft to your other PC and there you can play offline without ever having your PC connected to the internet
    – Zommuter
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 17:26
  • Appreciate the idea, it would work in a normal situation, but im currently on a mountain in a third world country. i cant just go to a friends pc, his internet is gonna suck as much as mine is.
    – Ender
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 17:34
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    @Ender but you have to download it at least once. If you use a download manager you won't have to download the whole game at once but can continue after an interrupted connection. Another choice would be having .minecraft/ and the Minecraft.exe downloaded by someone else and put on a CD or USB flash drive and sent to you via snail mail.
    – Zommuter
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 17:42
  • @Zommuter - of course, downloading a Download manager is probably gonna have the same problem ;)
    – Robotnik ♦
    Commented Nov 19, 2014 at 6:02
  • @Robotnik True, but usually download managers specifically have a "download the download manager" tool which is really small in size. If one used linux, there'd most likely be wget in the basic installation at least. Windows though...
    – Zommuter
    Commented Nov 19, 2014 at 8:23
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Actually there is, and its called Minecraft Classic. You can find a download link to it currently on the main minecraft.net website on the right hand side. It is a very out dated version of the game however and is pretty much akin to the Creative mode that minecraft has now.

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  • it seemed to me that playing classic required the browser, am i mistaken?
    – Ender
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 17:57
  • It is a Java Application like any other.. In the browser is a way to load a jar file, but you can download it and play it as you like. There is no online required component to it that I am aware of.
    – James
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 18:03
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Yes there is, actually. http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/04/19/download-the-minecraft-demo it lets you play on the world for ninety minutes until it locks and doesn't let you play the world. You can have as many worlds as you want. It is outdated though.

There is another way, but... It's stealing and most likely illegal.

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  • Strictly speaking that is a free version of Minecraft, but, well, it's a demo. Also very much outdated.
    – a cat
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 18:10
  • @lunboks Thanks, I didn'tt know that. I edited my post
    – Jonny
    Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 22:00
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Sorry, there isn't. The game is amazing, and I suggest you pay for it. The old version is free, yes, but there is no way to download it (though you might be able to download the jar, but I don't know if it will run without an internet connection).

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Play the the online demo, then open minecraft, click login then play offline

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