After nine years, Linux gamers can finally join Minecraft Bedrock servers without the headaches

Summary

BedrockOnLinux 2.0 enables public server and Realms play on Linux with Microsoft Account logins.

It leverages Windows GDK/Proton support so the native Bedrock Windows client runs smoothly on Linux.

Xbox Friends, invitations, cross-play servers, and Realms now work via WineGDK’s native Xbox identity.

For years, Linux gamers who wanted to play Minecraft Bedrock had to use a pretty restrictive port of the game. While it did allow for some online play, you couldn’t connect to cross-play servers with it. Fortunately, that has now changed, as a new version of BedrockOnLinux opens up the door for public server play.

BedrockOnLinux makes playing Minecraft on Linux a lot easier

You can play with your friends, too

The alarm was sounded over on the Linux Gaming subreddit about the release of BedrockOnLinux 2.0. Before today, if you wanted to play Minecraft Bedrock, your best bet was to use MCPelauncher, which used the Google Play version of the game. While it technically allowed Microsoft Account logins, the Xbox Live authentication for the Android port was notoriously buggy and fragile. It frequently broke after game updates, leaving players locked out of cross-play Realms and public servers for months at a time.

If you wanted a more stable experience, you had to run Windows in a VM, then boot Minecraft in that. While it was possible, it wasn’t easy, and it needed quite a powerful PC to get the game running comfortably.

Fortunately, Microsoft recently stopped using the UWP framework on Minecraft for Windows and moved to GDK. This meant it was much more compatible with tools such as Proton, which acts as a compatibility layer for Windows games on Linux. BedrockOnLinux 2.0 took advantage of this development and released the most feature-rich and easy-to-install versions of Minecraft Bedrock on Linux.

My personal favorite feature is the addition of Microsoft Account logins, which opens up whole worlds (literally) to Linux gamers. As the BedrockOnLinux 2.0 GitHub page explains it:

Native Xbox identity: XGame configuration, XUser, request signatures, gamertags, privileges and the XSAPI context are implemented by WineGDK.

Online play: the Friends list, invitations, joining friends, public servers and Realms use that native identity. Realms receives a dedicated XSTS token for the Bedrock Realms audience instead of a generic Xbox token.

People in the Reddit thread are already reporting excellent results with this new version of Minecraft Bedrock, so if that was the last thing keeping you from fully moving to Linux, give BedrockOnLinux 2.0 a try.