Find your Minecraft client logs to troubleshoot crashes, rendering issues, lag, and disconnects. The client and server keep separate logs - this article covers finding the client-side files.

What You’re Looking For

Client logs live in two places:

logs/latest.log - Created every time you launch the game. Contains general output including errors, warnings, and mod loading info.
crash-reports/ - Generated when the game crashes. Each file is timestamped and includes a stack trace with the cause.

For most troubleshooting, latest.log is the one you want. Upload it to mcLogs to get a shareable link you can send to support or post in Discord.

Vanilla Launcher (Windows)

Default Location

Open Windows File Explorer
Type %appdata%/.minecraft in the address bar and press Enter
Open the logs folder for latest.log, or crash-reports for crash files

Custom Installation Location

If you set a custom game directory when creating the installation:

Open the Minecraft Launcher and select Minecraft: Java Edition
Click the Installations tab
Hover over the installation you use and click the folder icon on the right
This opens the game directory - find logs or crash-reports from here

Vanilla Launcher (macOS)

Open Finder
Click Go > Go to Folder in the menu bar
Type ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft and press Enter
Open the logs or crash-reports folder

Third-Party Launchers

Most third-party launchers store logs in a separate directory per instance.

CurseForge / Overwolf: Right-click your modpack instance and select Open Folder. The logs and crash-reports folders are inside.

Prism Launcher / MultiMC: Right-click the instance and select Minecraft Folder (or .minecraft). Logs are in the same logs/ and crash-reports/ directories.

ATLauncher: Click the instance, then Open Folder. Same directory structure.

In all cases, the log files are in the same relative location (logs/latest.log and crash-reports/) - the only difference is where each launcher puts its instance folder.

What to Look For in Logs

If you’re reading the log yourself before sending it to support:

Crash cause - In crash reports, look for the line starting with Description: near the top. It usually tells you what went wrong (e.g., “Ticking entity”, “Rendering screen”).
Mod errors - Search for ERROR or FATAL in latest.log. Mod loading failures appear early in the log with the mod name.
Out of memory - Look for java.lang.OutOfMemoryError. This means your client needs more RAM allocated in the launcher settings.
Connection issues - Search for Connection refused or Timed out if you can’t connect to a server.