Minecraft Wiki
Advertisement

Fix tutorial

The link to "Windows tutorial with focus on how to forward a port" under "Other Tutorials" is broken. Anyone has a new one?


I'm not sure when that was posted. There are tons of guides on how to do this on all kinds of gaming forums, but here's something for you.
What is Port Forwarding?
It's used when you have a router or wireless router between you and the internet. The router will get a public IP Address from your internet provider, and it also will provide private IP Addresses for any computers which you hook up to it (including wireless).
When people try to reach you, they only know the public IP address. Port forwarding is a setting in your router that tells it which local IP Address to send it to.
If possible, a static local IP setup is best, but that's a whole other can of worms I'm not going into right now.
A quick and dirty outline to setting it up
  • Obtain your computer's local IP address.
1. Depending on your OS-
Windows XP- Go to 'Start' then 'Run' and type the letters cmd and press Enter.
Windows Vista/7- Go to the Windows button, and type command into the search bar. You should see an item at the top of the list called Command Prompt, choose that. (You do not need to Run As Administrator)
2. Click in the black window. Type the command ipconfig and hit Enter.
3. Look through the list until you see the IP Address, or IPv4 Address. Since you are behind a router, it will almost always start with 192.168.x.x with other numbers instead of the x. For some of you it might start with a 10. instead.
  • Find the local IP address of your router.
The easiest way to do this is to type your router's brand, model number, and the phrase default IP address into a search engine like Google. You can also consult the router's support web site.
It will almost always start with 192.168 and the next two numbers depends on your router brand and model.
  • Log into your router's configuration page. To do this you will simply type the router's IP address into a web browser. If you're never set a password and don't know what the default is, check the same places you just went for the default IP address.
  • Forward the Port
First, if you're just using the default then the port you want to forward is 25565. If you want to use a different port number you can, but this will have to match whatever port number is in your server's config file.
If you are running multiple servers, you'll need a different rule for each one.
You should only need to forward TCP ports, but if your only option is to also allow UDP that's ok.
Filling out the information is simple. Any Names are just for keeping track of things, and if your router lets you pick a pre-defined Application just leave that space alone. Put in the port number, and then the local IP of the computer your server is running on.
Save your changes!!!
Test it out. If you use a non-standard port, you'll need to add the port number in your Client or it won't connect.
Here's some resources for finding information
Portforward.com has a bunch of walkthroughs for how to configure specific routers. Note that you will need to know your router brand and model.
If you don't like that site or prefer getting information direct, go to your manufacturer's support page for instructions. The most common are Belkin, D-link, Linksys, or Netgear (in alphabetical order).
Nagroth 13:49, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

Mac issue

I run a mac and when I execute start.command I always get the following: File:Screen shot 2010-12-28 at 6.01.43 PM.jpg

admin/op.txt

2. Add your username to the admin.txt and op.txt. Admin.txt allows you to execute server commands, and op privileges allows you to destroy/place blocks.

Isn't it ops.txt? is admin.txt still used? TiriPon 20:51, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

Old server version linked

It may be worth mentioning in the download section that the link at the top of http://www.minecraft.net/servers.jsp results in one downloading an extremely out of date server. Mirth23 23:47, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Permissions?

I run a 15 inch macbook pro (1 or 2 models ago) with mac OS X 10.6.7 (the most current). Im trying to start my minecraft server via "start.command". Yet, "I don't have permission." I tried unlocking the file info window and changing my permission to read and access. Even when I do and the changes are saved, I still don't have permission. Help please?

Nevermind. I just changed the permissions for "net.minecraft.server.MinecraftServer" and everything is fixed.

Hamachi

How do I sign up for admin rights using Hamachi? Joev14 19:57, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

Split this article?

This article is very confusing to read. I believe splitting this article into "Windows Help" "Linux Help" and "Mac Help" would greatly improve the article. File:Grid Gold (Ingot).pngHailfireFile:Grid Iron (Ingot).png 15:28, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

I agree. Mepholic 20:05, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

Hamatchi Admin?

Make it more clear how to become an admin on hamatchi, I can't figure it out for the life of me.

Hamachi Admin not needed

As far as I can tell, to set up a Hamachi server you do not actually need to have "Admin Rights" as the article states. You just need to click Network and then Create a New Network. Whoever joins your server just clicks "join an existing network" and then enters the network name you specified. There are tons of videos about it on Youtube. I am running a server and I never signed up for "Admin Rights". Please change this, if it has not been changed already.

p.s. If you are trying to set up a server, Hamachi is a lot easier than port forwarding. Bobthejeffmonkey 23:48, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

Swappiness on Linux Servers?

Has anybody experimented with swappiness on Linux based Minecraft servers? There has been a lot of debate over whether servers vs. desktops should swap more or less. The general consensus is that servers should swap memory more, while desktops should swap memory less.

Some good reading on this right here.

I have a suspicion that lowering the swappiness on a Linux based Minecraft servers will lower the load time for chunks that people haven't seen or been in for a while. Mepholic 20:27, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

  • You may decrease the swapiness, but that won't do anything until your RAM is filled up to ~95%. Debian Squeeze sees the SWAP as a backup and won't really use it until it has no other chance. If you want chunks to be loaded as fast as possible and have considerable free RAM (at least the size of the whole minecraft server), you may use /dev/shm as server directory (ATTENTION: THIS IS THE RAM ITSELF - ANY REBOOT WILL DELETE ANYTHING IN HERE!). Wait, I'll just upload my initscript... -- M3tal_Warrior -- "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Benjamin Franklin) 19:51, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

Java Virtual Machine still not working

XP Machine has 2GB of Ram, which should be plenty. Online version of the game works fine. But every time I try to run minecraft.exe, it says "failed to start Java virtual machine". Any steps I'm missing? Chadlupkes 02:10, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

Ans: just open the .jar

Alternative Java packages

Arch Linux has alternative java packages in community besides openjdk:

   community/jre 7-3
       Oracle's Java Runtime Environment
   community/jdk 7-3
       Oracle's Java Development Kit

jre is all that's required for the Minecraft server to work. -Worldwise001 06:32, 9 August 2011 (UTC)

Setting up Ports

Here's some proposed information to add regarding setting up ports and connecting (which probably could use editing)

What reasons are there for changing to a different port number?
  1. The default is already in use.
  2. You want to run more than one server- each will need its own port.
  3. The default is blocked. Some networks might have the minecraft port blocked to prevent people from running servers, or to play at all. Usually you'll only see this in places like schools, businesses, or public WiFi hotspots.
  4. Preventing random scans from potential attackers. (see note on security below)
How to change the default port
If you want to use a different port than the default, change it in the server config file. It's usually not a good idea to use port numbers between 0 and 1023 since they are reserved. The highest numbered port which can be used is 65535.
For a list of commonly used ports check Wikipedia.
You will need to update your port forwarding rule to match your server port. If you run more than one server, each one will need to have a different port number (and its own forwarding rule).
If it keeps saying the port is already in use
You might have a firewall, antivirus, or other security program blocking it. You also might not be running it with the correct permissions, depending on what OS you're using.
How to connect to a server using a non-standard port
Users who wish to connect to a server which is running on a non-standard port must add a colon and port number after the IP address. (example 192.168.2.3:25590 if the server port is 25590 and the IP it's running on is 192.168.2.3)
This will also work with DNS, and dynamic DNS, so for example "minecraft.mydomain.com:25590" will work instead of the IP address, but note the port number must still be used.
You WILL have to add the port number even if you're connecting to a server on your own local network.
A note on security
Changing your port is not a very strong security feature on its own.
It's mostly only useful to avoid detection by someone who is just randomly scanning ports, but as minecraft gets more popular it's more likely that it will start being scanned for specifically.
If your server is getting attacked then it's probably a better idea to just change your IP address instead. (Most ISP's will assign a new IP address when your router's MAC address changes.)
Also, you'll have to tell everybody what port to use or they can't connect. So it's most useful if you run a purely private server.
Nagroth 11:39, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

I can't get my server to work

I am trying to set up a server, but when i try and test it, it keeps saying it can't connect to it. I am using the beta 1.8.1, if it helps anybody.

Actual server

I have access to an actual server, not just a PC or laptop, I tried to follow the instructions on installing it but are these directions not for an actual server? 99.177.172.185 11:01, 11 October 2011 (UTC)

Detailed guide video

I've made a detailed, in depth video on how to make a server on Windows. It covers everything, and is pretty helpful. The first time I set up my own server the instructions on this site only confused the crap out of me. Honestly, they're of absolutely NO help for most of the process, and I had to scour the internet for most the set up. My video completely eliminates that, and is pretty in depth on how to to everything, and what everything is. Would anybody be interested in in having it on the wiki? I originally made it for my friend, who couldn't understand this tutorial either. --Deanm 03:20, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

GOD DAMN YES --Delo997 18:28, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Downloading the.jar

How do you download it? When I download it, it comes on as a ZIP file, not a JAR. Any help on making it a JAR would be appreciated (I run Windows 64 Bit BTW).150.101.196.6 19:51, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

The minecraft_server.jar from http://www.minecraft.net/download linked as https://s3.amazonaws.com/MinecraftDownload/launcher/minecraft_server.jar? is a jar not a zip. If you are getting a ZIP file, something is wrong, maybe your Windows is labeling it as ZIP? Maybe you need to set Windows to display (andnot hide) file extensions. -Aurelius 14:21, 7 January 2012 (UTC)
On the IRC channel #minecrafthelp a user reported the Chrome browser was renaming some files to end in ".zip", so I wonder if Chrome is the source of your problem? A similar issue has been reported here: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Chrome/thread?tid=1c744e4ff30a95f7&hl=en
Accordingly, I have added this precautionary advice to the tutorial: "Ensure the filename is precisely "minecraft_server.jar" (without quotes), in case your browser has renamed it to something else." -Aurelius 12:53, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Problem with java x64

This caption was taken from official java site: " Users should download 64-bit Java software, if they are running 64-bit browsers. For downloading 64-bit Java click 64-bit manual download.

Note: Online Installation and Java Update features are not applicable to 64-bit architecture.

Follow these instructions for installing 64-bit Java on your system.

1.Choose the 64-bit Windows offline download. The File Download dialog box appears. 2.Choose the folder location. (Save the file to a known location on your computer, for example, to your desktop) and Click Save. 3.Close all applications including the browser. 4.Double-click on the saved file icon to start the installation process. "

Obviously I did EXACTLY what this instruction says, clicked the offline installation and all the other steps. However, even after 4 retries my java keeps saving in \program files(x86) and if I open control panel--add or remove programs it shows me: Java(32 bits).

Advertisement