Minecraft keeps crashing or freezing on Windows 11/10 PC

There have been reports by some PC gamers, of the issue whereby they can successfully launch the Minecraft game on their Windows 11 or Windows 10 computer, but as soon as they try to join a Minecraft World or server, the game crashes. This post provides the most suitable solutions affected users can try to resolve the issue.

Why does my Minecraft keep crashing on Windows 10?

PC gamers that are experiencing the issue where Minecraft keeps crashing in Windows 11/10. Amongst other reasons, it is due to driver incompatibility issues, game bugs, and even hardware problems. To fix the issue, you can update your graphics card drivers, make sure Minecraft is up-to-date, and also make sure that Java is installed on your gaming rig.

Other potential culprits to this issue include-

Mods.
Security software conflict.
Running in-game heavy operations
Insufficient RAM
Pressing F3 + C can manually trigger the crash for debugging.

Why does Java crash when I play Minecraft?

If Java crashes when you play Minecraft on your Windows PC, it simply indicates that an error has occurred due to incompatibility between the video card driver currently installed on your system and the Lightweight Java Game Library (LWJGL).

Minecraft keeps crashing or freezing on Windows PC

If Minecraft frequently crashes or freezes on your Windows 11/10 PC, here are the working steps you can take to fix the issue:

Install Minecraft latest patches
Clear Minecraft AppData
Update/Install latest version of Java
Update graphics card drivers
Change Minecraft In-Game settings
Stop overclocking (if applicable)
Troubleshoot in Clean Boot state
Reset Minecraft
Uninstall and reinstall Minecraft

Let’s take a look at the description of the process involved concerning each of the listed solutions.

Before you try the solutions below, restart your gaming rig and see if that helps. Also, check for updates and install any available bits on your Windows computer and see if Minecraft still crashes. If you have any mods installed, especially from third-party vendors, uninstall the mod. It’s recommended to install mods only from reliable sources and the ones with positive reviews.

1] Install Minecraft latest patches

This solution requires you to install the latest Minecraft patches to fix any major bugs and improve the game. You can install the latest patch of the game from Minecraft’s official website at minecraft.net. If you have a 32-bit launcher, you can even try searching for the latest patches from within the launcher.

2] Clear Minecraft AppData

To clear/delete Minecraft AppData folder contents on your Windows PC, do the following:

Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog.
In the Run dialog box, type the environment variable below and hit Enter.

%appdata%

At the location, find (you may need to show hidden files/folders) the Minecraft folder.
Right-click the folder and select Delete. Confirm any additional prompts.
Exit File Explorer.

Now, launch the Minecraft game and see if the game crashes.

Read: How to make Minecraft run faster on a bad computer?

3] Update/Install the latest version of Java

This solution requires you to update the Java Runtime Environment on your gaming rig. In the event that you do not have Java installed, you can download the latest version and install it on your system.

4] Update graphics card drivers

This is another viable solution to the issue at hand. You can either update your drivers manually via the Device Manager, or you can get the driver updates on the Optional Updates section under Windows Update. You may also download the latest version of the driver from the video adapter hardware manufacturer’s website.

5] Change Minecraft In-Game settings

This solution requires you to disable VBOs (Vertex Buffer Objects) an OpenGL feature that allows Minecraft players to upload vertex data to the video device if you don’t want to do instant rendering.

To disable the VBO in Minecraft In-Game settings, do the following:

Open Minecraft.
Navigate to Settings > Video Settings.
Make sure that the option USE VBOs is to OFF.
Save changes and exit.

Now, restart the game and see if the issue is resolved. You can also try turning on V-Sync from within the settings.

If disabling the VBO as described above didn’t help, we can manually change the VBO option by editing the configuration file. Here’s how:

Navigate to Minecraft AppData folder.
At the location, search for the txt file options.txt.
Once you find the file, open the file in a text editor.
Now, change the line below;

useVbo: true

useVbo: false

Save the changes and exit the txt file.
Restart computer.

On boot issue should be resolved.

However, if your game keeps crashing in the middle when playing, to resolve the issue, you can change the JVM arguments passed, which enables PC users having less capable graphics cards get the most out of Minecraft.

Do the following:

Open Minecraft.
Click on Edit profile present at the bottom left side of the screen.
In the Profile Editor, make sure that JVM Arguments is checked.
Now, at the beginning of the argument, change the first parameter from

-Xmx1G

-Xmx2G

Save changes and exit.

Now, launch Minecraft and if the issue is still unresolved, try the next solution.

6] Stop overclocking (if applicable)

This solution requires you to stop overclocking your CPU. So, if you have overclocked your PC, you can simply reverse the change depending on the overclocking software in use. Generally, launch the software and look for the option to stop the overclocking. Once done, restart your computer and see if the issue is resolved. Otherwise, proceed with the next solution.

7] Troubleshoot in Clean Boot state

Some background applications may be causing the game to crash. In this case, you can perform a Clean Boot of your Windows 10/11 device and then observe if the game crashes in that system state. If the issue persists, try the next solution.

8] Reset Minecraft

This solution requires you to reset Minecraft on your computer and see if that helps; otherwise, try the next solution.

9] Uninstall and reinstall Minecraft

This solution requires you to uninstall the Minecraft game, and then download and reinstall the latest version of the game on your Windows 10/11 PC.

Hope one of these solutions work for you!