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The Daily Insight

How to set up a local minecraft server

Author

Madison Flores

Published Apr 29, 2026

With the IP address in hand, fire up Minecraft, click on Multiplayer from the main menu and add the new server or use the direct connect feature. If you need help with either of these options, see Connecting to Remote Servers section of the Exploring Minecraft Multiplayer Servers lesson from our previous guide.

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In this video I show you guys how you can set up a local Minecraft server to play with other people on your local network. I have one of the servers running…

Go to your game menu and press “Open to LAN”. Next, it will show your IP address. Write down the IP address, and go back to the title screen and click on multiplayer. Then, click on “Add server”, name the server and then type in the IP address.

Minecraft will automatically scan the local network for available games and list them. If this scanning system hiccups, you can manually enter the IP address and port number of the remote computer hosting Minecraft. Have your friend select the world and click “Join Server” to hop into your world and find you for a little exploration and fun.

When the local IP and port are found, type them into the “Server Address” field (under either Direct Connect or in the Add Server dialogue), formatted like IP:port (e.g. 192.168.1.1:5000) to join the LAN game. Note: Using one Minecraft account on two or more computers will not work to join the the same world.

Setting up a Minecraft server on your home Windows computer is fairly easy. With basic knowledge of computers and networking, you can be playing with friends over a local area network (LAN) or the Internet in minutes. Note: This guide is for the Java version of Minecraft, which is the original version for PC. Each player that wants to connect …

Related Questions

How do I connect to a Minecraft LAN Server?

When the local IP and port are found, type them into the “Server Address” field (under either Direct Connect or in the Add Server dialogue), formatted like IP:port (e.g. 192.168.1.1:5000) to join the LAN game. Note: Using one Minecraft account on two or more computers will not work to join the the same world.

How do I set up a multiplayer Minecraft server?

Launch Minecraft and select Multiplayer. Click Add Server. Enter server details and click Done. You can obtain the Minecraft server IP address by going to Google and searching “what’s my IP”. You may need to open up access to port 25565 on your router if your friends are unable to connect.

How do you join a Minecraft server from another computer?

If this scanning system hiccups, you can manually enter the IP address and port number of the remote computer hosting Minecraft. Have your friend select the world and click “Join Server” to hop into your world and find you for a little exploration and fun. There we are, as seen from another computer down the hall logged into our map.

How to setup a local Minecraft server without mods?

Let’s take a look at how to setup a basic local Minecraft server both with and without mods. There are two ways to approach installing the simple vanilla Mojang-supplied Minecraft server. One method is very Windows-centric as you simply download an .EXE file and run it, with a convenient little graphical user window.