How to Make Minecraft Show in Steam

by Wolf, in Games: Guides & Tips, Minecraft, Steam (5 Comments)

UPDATE: This method works both before and after the 1.6 Horse Update.

For at least a year, we’ve been trying to figure out how to get Minecraft to show up in Steam’s friend list. The problem was that adding the exe normally as a non-Steam game resulted in a green “now playing” for a few seconds before returning the user’s status back to the blue “Online”. We have finally discovered a method, using both the Minecraft exe and jar file, and have documented it below.

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IMPORTANT

• This issue affects users with Java 64-bit installed on their PC.
• Do not use this walkthrough if you are running only Java 32-bit – it will actually give you this issue. Add the exe normally as a non-Steam game, i.e. stop at step 2 below.
• This is not for getting the in-game overlay to work properly. Steam overlay just does not like Minecraft; it will usually not function at all and may even lock up or crash your game.

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1. Downloading the Minecraft exe and jar files

• Go to the Minecraft download page here.
• Download Minecraft.exe in the “Minecraft for Windows” section.
• Click the small link “Show all platforms” under the “Minecraft for Windows” section.
• Download Minecraft.jar in the “Minecraft for Linux / Other” section.
• Move the two files into the folder you want to run Minecraft from.

2. Adding Minecraft to your Steam games library

• Open your Steam library.
• Click “ADD A GAME…” in the bottom left of the window.
• Click “Add a Non-Steam Game…”
• Click “BROWSE…” and locate the folder with the two files.
• Click on Minecraft.exe and press Open. Minecraft should now be checked in the Add a Game window.
• Click “ADD SELECTED PROGRAMS”. Minecraft should now be in your Games list.

3. Using the jar file to launch Minecraft and fixing the icon

• Scroll down the Games list and locate Minecraft.
• Right-click Minecraft and click Properties.
• Click “CHOOSE ICON…” at the top.
• Click Minecraft.exe and press OPEN. The icon should now have a shortcut arrow.
• Under Target, change “…\Minecraft.exe” to “…\Minecraft.jar” and click CLOSE.

You can now play Minecraft through Steam and show your friends what awesome game you are enjoying.

Troubleshooting

• If you get stuck at the white Mojang screen, navigate to “C:\Users\[account name]\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\bin” and delete the jinput.jar file. (AppData is a hidden folder.)
• Double-check the Java version you have installed on your PC. Stop at step 2 if you only have Java 32-bit. Follow the entire walkthrough if you have Java 32 AND 64-bit OR if you have only Java 64-bit installed.
• Download and install Java 64-bit manually (it’s called Windows Offline (64-bit)), as we have had issues in the past using versions downloaded with Firefox and Chrome.
• Make sure that you have downloaded the files for the correct platforms.
• Make sure the two files are in the same folder.
• Make sure when adding a non-Steam game, to choose the exe and not the jar file.
• Make sure to choose the icon first before changing the target.

Testing

• Internet Explorer 9, 32 and 64-bit, to download Java.
• Java, Version 6 Update 30, 32 and 64-bit.
• Java 32-bit only, Java 32 and 64-bit concurrently, and Java 64-bit only, with the exe and exe+jar files.
• Windows 7 OS, 64-bit.

Last updated on July 13, 2013.