Note: This guide shows you how to set up and configure a Minecraft Server. This will require you to modify your home network configuration. If you don't know what you're doing, it is not recommended. Minecraft Realms is a place where you can purchase a small server for your friends. If you're still interested in setting your own private server, please be aware that we are unable to support private servers or home networks. Here is a guide to help you create a server so your friends can join and play together! As a prerequisite you should make sure you have Java installed and up to date on the computer that will host the server so it can run .jar files. 1. Go to this website and download the minecraft_server.1.XX.X.jar file (The X's will be the current version number) 2. After downloading it, create a folder in your desktop to store all server files. You can name it "MinecraftServer". 3. Drag and copy the.jar file into your Minecraft Server folder. 4. While you have the file browser open, open command prompt from the start menu. 5. You can check whether Java is installed by entering without quotes "java-version" in the command prompt. 6. To start the server, you will need to change the directory to the location where you have the Minecraft Server folder and the .jar file located in it. 7. Simply click on the directory in Windows browser here. (The theme and color of your file browser will appear different due to your personalization settings) Copy this address to your clipboard. 8. Minecraft servers Type without quotes "cd" hit space and then paste the address you just copied, then hit enter.- This should look like "cd C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\Minecraft Server" 9. After entering the directory, type the following manually into your command prompt without quotes.jar 10. After pressing enter, you will see the failed to loads properties and failed to open eula.txt errors. You don't have to worry, as we will only need to run the command again once these files are configured. 11. Open the "eula.txt" file you created with your text editor. You will need to change the eula=false value to eula=true, and then save. 12. You will also see a "server.properties" file if it does not appear like an editable text file, right-click it and click "Open with" click "More apps" if you are on Windows 10 and scroll down and select your text editor or notepad. If you do not want this step to be repeated every time you edit a.properties file it is advisable to keep the box stating "Always open this app to edit.properties" intact. 13. You will see many settings here, so we will only focus on the most important to get your server up and running. Take note of the query.port setting as this is the port you will need to forward on your local router to allow other inbound connections. 14. You can set the gamemode to survival or creative. Type after the "=". to specify what you would like. Spawn-protection is a restriction on the number of blocks that can be broken in the server's spawn. If you don't want them to be broken, you can set this to 0. 15. The allow_nether option indicates if you would like the nether to be on your server. The server's difficulty can be set by its difficulty. This can be either normal, peaceful, normal, or difficult. 16. The pvp setting specifies if you would like players the ability to hurt each other. 17. The max-players setting specifies the maximum number of people who can join your server. This can be adjusted depending on how much RAM your server has. 18. If you have a level-seed, you can insert a seed to create a world. Motd sets the message in the Minecraft server browser that other players will see once they have added your IP to their list. Now, you will just need to rerun command prompt launch and the server should now be running! Game servers Repeat steps 8-9 to launch your server again. Make sure you're in the Minecraft Server File Directory. For more details on all the settings for the server.properties file you can go here. Scroll down to the Java Edition. You will also need forward the port listed under server.properties query.port. It defaults to 25565, so you will need to set it up in your router settings. This process may vary depending on the router manufacturer. For assistance with forwarding ports, please visit your router's help page/manual. If you don't specify anything in your server-ip setting the server will default to point to your public Internet address. This is what other players need to connect to your server so they can play with you. You can search for your public IP address by simply typing "What is your public IP?" Make sure to look for IPv4 IP addresses. These IP addresses only contain numbers and have only three decimals. We strongly recommend that you do not publish your public IP and make any public announcements with it once you have it. Publicizing your public IP can pose a security risk to your home network. Only give out your IP to people you would like to play with and trust.