How to setup a Minecraft server on Windows 10 (2023)

Step 1: Downloading the software.

First off you are going to have to download the server software provided by Mojang.

You can find it at this link: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download/server

When you are done downloading, you will need to make a folder somewhere on your computer called mc server. Then drag the file you just downloaded into it.

Yours should look something like this so far.

Step 2: Setting it up.

In this folder you are going to make a new text document. Call it “start”. Now in this text document you are going to copy and paste this command:

“java -Xmx2048M -Xms2048M -jar server.jar nogui”

Yours should look like this.

Now go to the top and press “File” and navigate to the “Save As” button. You are going to change the name from “start” to “start.bat”. Now change the “Save as type” to “All Files”.

It should look like this.

Now you can exit out of the text document and delete it from your mc server folder.

Your folder should look like this.

Step 3: Starting the server.

Go ahead and double click your “start”. A command prompt should pop up and disappear. This means your “start.bat” is working but your server is not working just yet. If you look back in to the mc server folder you will see 3 new files.

You are going to need to accept the eula document. Go ahead and open up the text file called “eula” and change “eula=false” to “eula=true”. Save and close. Now head back over to your “start.bat” and open it up again.

A command prompt should pop up and look similar to this.

If this popped up, congrats you just officially made a Minecraft server but we are not done yet.

Step 4: Customizing your server / Understanding your server.

1. How to start and stop your server. When ever you want to start your new server all you need to do is double click the “start.bat” file you made. Once you are done playing, all you need to do is type “stop” in the command prompt that opened.

In order to use your server you need to have that command prompt opened. You can minimize it but you cannot close it.

2. Changing how your server acts. In order to change setting you are going to need to open the “server.properties” file. In order to open this file you are going to want to right click on it and select “Open With”. Click more apps and select notepad. Now that you have this opened we can talk about what each option does.

Thanks to https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/ for this list.

Step 5: Playing on your server.

Now that you have adjusted everything you probably want to play some Minecraft with your friends. To play you have 3 options.

1. Locally(Same PC) — This is if you just want to play alone.
2. Internally(Lan) — This is for you and your friends to play together on the same WIFI.
3. Externally(Outside Lan) — This is for your friends to connect from anywhere in the world.

Option 1. Locally: We will start with option 1. In order to connect you are going to open Minecraft and press Multiplayer. Now go to “Add Server”. For the server name you make it whatever you want. In the server address area you can either type “0” or “LocalHost”. This will connect you to your server and you are free to play.

Option 2. Internally(Lan): So you have some friends over you want to play with. In order for your friends to connect they are going to need your ipv4 address. I personally recommend going to https://www.whatismyip.com/what-is-my-public-ip-address/ and getting it. You can also get it by opening up cmd and typing in “ipconfig”. This will also give you it as well as all of your other ip configurations. Once you have this just give it to your friends and have them enter it into the server address field and they should be able to connect.

Option 3. Externally(Outside Lan): This is the best option for someone that wants to play with friends that live far away or even out of the country. For this you are going to need your ipv4 as well but there are some extra steps. You will need to port forward your router to allow others to connect via your port. The default Minecraft port is 25565. There are many videos on Youtube to help you port forward. Every provider is different. So look up how to port forward for “your provider”. Once this is done then just send your ipv4 to your friends and they should be able to connect.

The End.

Let me know if you would like to see more tutorials; anything computer or business related and I would love to help you out. I would love to hear your comments and tell me what you need help with next.