Minecraft has sold over 200 million copies worldwide. Kids and adults everywhere are mining, crafting, and Minecrafting together in multiplayer worlds. Players can build their social skills, improve their problem-solving abilities, and exercise their creativity when building together online.
On a public server, players can collaborate to build bigger and better things than they could have made alone, however, you can’t control exactly who connects to public servers and thus who your child is interacting with online. But good news! You can set up your own server and control who’s connecting to it.
PC Setup Instructions:
1. Verify you have the latest version of Java
Since Minecraft is a Java-based game, the first step is to make sure you have installed the latest version of Java. You can download Java from their official website
2. Download the Minecraft Server application
Next, you will need the server files. You can download these from the official Minecraft website
- Go to the Minecraft Server Downloads page and download the latest server executable.
- Once the download finishes, copy minecraft_server.jar into a new folder on your desktop and call this folder “Minecraft Server“
- Double-click Minecraft_server.jar to run it.
Once you run your server executable for the first time, you will see some new files appear in the folder along with it.
3. Create a Batch file to run your server
- Right-click inside the server folder, where you placed your server executable.
- Select “New” -> “Text Document”.
- Name the new document “Run”.
- Inside the notepad document paste the following line:
cmd /k java ‐Xms1G ‐Xmx1G ‐jar <YOUR_SERVER_EXECUTABLE_NAME_HERE>.jar Replace <YOUR_SERVER_EXECUTABLE_NAME_HERE> with the name of your server executable name, at the time of writing this guide that would be minecraft_server.1.19.3.jar
Now “Save As” the file as a batch file, which is a file Windows uses to run command line commands.
- Click “File” -> “Save As”
- In the field “Save as Type” select “All Files”
- Set the file name to “Run.bat”, be sure to remove the “.txt” at the end
4. Agree to the End User License Agreement (EULA)
You’ll see a license agreement provided that you must agree to before launching a Minecraft Server. You’ll need to edit the file eula.txt to indicate that you agree.
To do this:
5. Launch your server
Now you’re ready to launch your server!
Double-click “Run.bat”, which you created previously, and your server will launch.
A window will appear with some info about your server. As long as you leave this window open, your server is running and players will be able to connect to it.
6. Connect to your server
Now it’s time to test your newly created server!
- Run Minecraft
- On the main menu, click “Multiplayer”
- Click “Add Server”
- Name your server in the “Server Name” field
- Type “localhost” or “127.0.0.1” in the “Server Address” field.
- Click “Done”
- Select your server and click “Join Server”
You should now be able to play on your local server. Next, we’ll set up the internet connection so other players can connect to it.
7. Forward your ports
The next step requires adjusting the settings on your router so other users can access your server. The process is different for everyone because it’s based on the kind of router you have.
You can go to https://portforward.com/router.htm for a list of routers and guides on how to port-forward on them.
8. Find your external IP Address
Once you have forwarded your ports, you’ll need to find your external IP address, which will be used by other players to connect to your server.
- Open a browser and go to http://google.com
- Type “external IP” in the search bar and press “Enter”
- Google will tell you your external IP address
Here are examples of how your IP address should look like:
- Sample IPv4 address: 12.34.567.890
- Sample IPv6 address: 2020:0ab8:0a0b:12a0:0000:0000:0000:0000
Once you find your external IP address, save that number – you’ll need it for other people to connect to your server.
9. Connect to your server
Now that you’ve port-forwarded your connection, other players can connect to your server using your external IP address. Players can join by following these steps:
- In Minecraft, click “Multiplayer”
- Click “Add Server”
- Enter a server name
- Enter your servers address (External IP)
Your server’s address will be your external IP followed by the port number, which by default is 25565.
Now click done. Minecraft will try to connect to the server. Once connected, select the server and click “Join Server”.
10. Adjust the server.properties File
You can also adjust some settings of the game using the file called server.properties in your server folder. Just open the file with any text editor and you can change the properties of your Minecraft world by editing the file.
The most common properties you might want to change are:
- gamemode=0 – change this to gamemode=1 to put your server in creative mode, for example.
- max-players=20 – change this number to increase or decrease the maximum amount of players that can join your server at one time.
For a full list and explanations of all the properties, you can go to the Minecraft Wiki
That’s it! Have fun with your new Minecraft server!
