[MCL-14369] "Sorry, unable to start Minecraft. Please check your configurations" and some/all versions missing in the launcher

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Certain users are unable to play the game at all, with the error message "Sorry, unable to start Minecraft. Please check your configurations" showing up. Other users are reporting that certain versions are missing that should clearly be available. These are connected because asking the latter user to completely reinstall the game results in the error message of the former.

Three logs are attached, all provided by users who experienced this issue and came to the technical support channel.

Here are a few lines that stick out:

[Error: 2020-09-13 17:32:40.9767980: GameVersionManager.cpp(71)] Can't read directory ...\.minecraft\versions: The system cannot find the path specified.

[Error: 2020-09-13 18:35:46.7534825: LauncherController.cpp(549)] Failed to download configuration: Invalid version type

[Error: 2020-09-13 18:34:50.7568779: NetQueue.cpp(471)] NetQueue: No ip address available. Error code 28, Host: launchermeta.mojang.com