How to Setup a Minecraft: Java Edition Server

We will be providing step by step instructions on how to make a Minecraft Server in 2021- including how to host your server for free.

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In this free tutorial, we will be providing step by step instructions on how to make a Minecraft Server in 2021- including how to host your server for free. In addition to guidance on how to set up free Minecraft server hosting, we provide step by step instructions on how you can set up multiplayer games that you can play with your friends and family.

 Step 1: Get Minecraft Java Edition

 These instructions require that you own the Minecraft Java Edition. If you own the pocket, console, or Windows 10 edition of Minecraft, you will not be able to host your own custom server. Minecraft Java Edition can be purchased and downloaded here.

 If you already own Minecraft Java Edition, then you can proceed to Step 2.

 Step 2: Get the Latest Version of Java

The first step in setting up a Minecraft server is making sure you have the latest version of Java installed. Minecraft requires Java to run the game and having the latest version will help us run our server without issues. You can install the latest version of Java here. Once there, click the red Java Download button as you can see below:

Then, read and accept the terms by clicking the red “Agree and Start Free Download” button.

The Java setup run file should now be in the download folder of your computer. If you need help with finding the download folder, type in “downloads” into your computer search bar and open the Downloads folder.

Once in the downloads folder find the JavaSetup executable file and run this application. A popup window may appear asking if the application can make changes to your computer. Click to allow access, you may be asked to provide a password for these permissions.

Once the application loads click to install Java.

You may be asked to uninstall a previous Java version, do so as keeping an older version does not help with our server setup.

Once any previous versions are removed continue through the window prompts until Java is downloaded and up to date.

The first step in setting up a Minecraft server should now be complete. The following step we must take is downloading and setting up the actual Minecraft server folder.

 Step 3: Download the Minecraft Server

The first step in downloading a Minecraft server is to download the Server.jar file from the Minecraft website.

 Optional: If you want an older version, you can find a list of Minecraft versions below. Be sure to click the Server jar on the version you want to make sure you have the Server.jar required for the next step.

The following link has the latest version to download from the official Minecraft website.

Once on the page, click the Download Minecraft server jar link as shown.

Note: You may have a different version number than shown in the picture. This is okay as the latest version of Minecraft is constantly being updated. Your computer may notify you that the file could be harmful to your computer. This is because any .jar file is treated as harmful when downloading in most browsers and computers. Just click Keep as this is an official Minecraft server .jar file we can trust.

 Before we run this .jar file we want to create a folder for it that will hold all of the files. A common practice is to create the server folder on your desktop. To do this, go to your desktop and right click on an open space. Go to New > Folder and click to create a new empty folder.

Once it is clicked it will let you change the name of the folder, so name it something so you know it is your Minecraft Server.

Now return to your Downloads folder the same way we did earlier and right click on the Server.jar to copy it as we will paste it into the new folder we made in the next step.

Once you have the Server.jar copied, return to your desktop and open the server folder we made earlier. Then right click in the empty folder and paste in the copied .jar file.

Now let’s connect to the server. The very first step is to run our batch file to launch the server.

With the server launched, open your Minecraft launch page and make sure you load the version of Minecraft that matches the jar you downloaded. As of the writing of this article, Minecraft version 1.15 was the latest version and the server that was downloaded. However, if this becomes outdated I can make a new server or simply load up the 1.15 version of Minecraft. It will be a good idea to make a launch version of Minecraft that we can always connect to our server with. To do this you can go to the Installations tab and click the +New button.

Once here, you should name the installation with the server and version number of Minecraft and select the version as the release number your server download is. This is shown below for version 1.15 so make sure you change this to your Minecraft server version. Make sure to click create to finish this installation.

On the new page after add server was clicked, make sure to add a server name and in the server address, this needs to be your public IP address so other players can connect to you. The address shown in the picture is just an example. Make sure to enter your unique public IP address. This can be found at the following link below. You may need to also enter a colon and the port 25565 after the address. So an example is 123.456.789.0:25565. Once this is done you should see your server made and trying to connect. If you have a failed connection, check the ip address you entered as well as the port forwarding settings. If you see a green connection bar with open spots to connect to your server, you can launch in and enjoy playing in your very own custom server!