Accounts, versions and notices¶
Accounts¶
Your accounts appear in two places: the Accounts card on the main screen and the account menu behind the button at the top right. Both show each player's name and face, taken from the player's skin.
| Action | What happens |
|---|---|
| Add account on the card, or Add Microsoft account in the menu | Starts the sign-in in your browser. While it is waiting, the entry becomes Cancel sign-in. |
| Click another account | Makes it the one the next launch plays as. While a game runs, the running game keeps its account and the card says "Switching applies to the next launch." |
| Ctrl+Shift+A (Cmd+Shift+A on a Mac) | Switches to the next account in the list. Not while you are typing or a dialog is open. |
| Test sign-in (temporary) | Development builds only, and only while Settings ▸ Service ▸ Enable test sign-in (temporary) is on, or the older enable-test-signin file is in the data folder. See Temporary test sign-in. Accounts added this way show the word "test". |
| Bin icon, then Remove | Asks whether to remove the account and says that the saved sign-in is deleted from this computer. Keep cancels. An account that is playing right now cannot be removed. |
Under each name the card shows the state of that sign-in:
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Current | The next launch plays as this account. |
| Playing now | The running game uses this account. |
| Checking sign-in… | Xol is asking Microsoft whether the saved sign-in still works. |
| Sign-in expired | Microsoft no longer accepts the saved sign-in. Sign in again fixes it, and nothing else is lost. |
| Couldn't reach Microsoft | Xol could not ask Microsoft just now. The saved sign-in may still work, and installed versions still start. Try again asks again. |
| Test sign-in is off | The account was added with the temporary test sign-in, which is switched off. |
When a session has expired, Xol refreshes it without opening the browser. If the refreshed session belongs to a different player than the saved one, it is refused and you are asked to sign in again. Faces are cached, so they show at once when Xol starts and while you are offline. Where they come from is on What gets downloaded.
If the computer has no secure credential store, the menu says: "This system has no secure credential storage, so Xol cannot save a sign-in here."
Esc closes the menu. The sign-in flow and its errors are on Sign-in and accounts.
Versions dialog¶
All versions opens the list of official Minecraft releases from Mojang's version manifest, newest first, with release dates and a filter box ("Filter versions, e.g. 1.8").
- A version that has a Xol profile shows Choose. Choosing it selects that version on the main screen.
- Every other version reads "Not in Xol yet". Today only 1.8.9 and 1.7.10 can be chosen.
- Offline, the dialog shows the list saved the last time Xol was online, with the notice "Offline. This is the list saved the last time Xol was online."
- If no list is available at all: "The version list is not available", with Try again. Versions with a Xol profile still work from the main screen.
Announcements strip¶
The strip at the top of the main screen carries the update banner and messages from the Xol service.
| Kind | Label | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Announcement | None | General news |
| Maintenance | "Maintenance" | Shown first |
| Known issue | "Known issue" | Shown after maintenance |
| Notice | None | Comes with the remote configuration |
- Items marked critical come first, then maintenance, known issues, notices and announcements.
- The strip shows two rows, or one row next to an update banner. Show n more opens the rest; Show fewer closes it again.
- Each item can be dismissed for the session. A changed announcement shows again, because an item is identified by its content.
- All service text is shown as plain text. A Read more link appears only if its address is on the launcher's fixed list of hosts.
The update banner is described on Updates.
Discord¶
Settings ▸ Discord has two switches, both on by default.
| Switch | What it does |
|---|---|
| Show what I’m playing on Discord | Your Discord profile shows that you are playing Xol: what you are doing, which version you are on, and how long you have been playing. Xol only talks to the Discord app on this computer, and nothing is shown when Discord is not running. |
| Show the server name | The activity names the server you are playing on. A LAN world, a private server and any address that is not a public name are never shown. They read "a private server". With the switch off, the activity says only that you are playing multiplayer. |
Offline behavior¶
The launcher tells two situations apart and shows a line at the top for either:
| Line | Meaning |
|---|---|
| "Offline · installed versions still work" | The computer has no network connection |
| "Can't reach the Xol service · installed versions still work" | The network is up but the Xol service did not answer |
Nothing in the path from Play to the game waits for the Xol service.
| Without the Xol service | Without any network | |
|---|---|---|
| Launching an installed instance | Works | Works, as long as the saved Minecraft session is still valid. It expires within a day and cannot be renewed offline. |
| Installing a new version or repairing | Works (Mojang, Forge and Modrinth are separate services) | Fails with a message that the download servers could not be reached, and that versions already installed still launch offline |
| Signing in | Works | Not possible |
| Updates, announcements, remote profile data | Skipped until the service is back. The cached manifest and configuration stay in use. | Skipped |
Settings ▸ Service ▸ Connection shows "Online", "Unreachable" or "Not checked yet", the time of the last check, and Check now.
There is no offline or cracked mode. The launcher does not start the game without a signed-in account that owns Minecraft: Java Edition.