Create your first Minecraft server

Your computer is connected, so let’s get Minecraft running on it. This is the lightest game we host by a wide margin: the smallest download, the quickest boot, and the least memory. If your rig can run ARK, it won’t even notice Minecraft.

One important word about editions before we start:

• Bedrock Edition is the Minecraft that runs on phones, tablets, consoles, and Windows (the Microsoft Store version). That’s the edition we host.
• Java Edition is the classic PC version. It’s a separate game with separate servers, and Java players can’t join a Bedrock server. Java support is on our list.

And the usual note on words you’ll see in the dashboard:

• A server is the game installed on your computer (your Minecraft install).
• A world is a save running inside that server, with its own name, seed, and settings. One server can run more than one world.

Step 1: Create the server

1. In your dashboard, open the computer you connected and click Add server.
2. Choose Minecraft: Bedrock Edition.
3. Click Create server, and the install starts.

This is the smallest download of any game we host, so it’s usually done in a couple of minutes. You don’t even need to wait: the setup wizard is available right away, and if you finish it before the install does, your world simply starts the moment the files are ready.

Step 2: Let the wizard set up your world

Click Set up my first world. (Configure manually is there if you’d rather go straight to the settings yourself.)

The wizard asks seven short questions, one per screen, and every question comes with a sensible answer already selected. You could press Next straight through and end up with a world your friends can join. The questions worth pausing on:

• Who should be able to join? Minecraft doesn’t use a server password. Instead you choose between “anyone with the address” and “only people I add”. The second option is the safest: nobody gets in until you add their Xbox gamertag in the Players panel, and you can add a gamertag before that person has ever connected. You can change your mind later.
• How should the world play? One choice covers game mode and difficulty together: relaxed, standard, or tough survival, or creative building.
• Allow commands like /gamemode and /give? Minecraft permanently turns off achievements for a world that allows commands, so the default keeps achievements. Good to decide deliberately.
• Backups and restarts. The wizard sets up automatic backups (every 6 hours unless you say otherwise) and a scheduled restart (daily at 4:00 AM unless you change it). Players in the game get a warning 10, 5, and 1 minute before a scheduled restart.

Then name your world, and optionally give it a seed. A seed is a code that tells Minecraft exactly which world to generate, so the same seed always makes the same world. Leave it blank for a random one. This is the one setting you can’t change later: once a world exists, its seed is baked in.

The review screen shows everything the wizard is about to set. All of it except the seed can be changed later in settings.

Step 3: Start it up

Hit start. Minecraft boots in seconds, and the dashboard shows when it’s live.

One thing we handle differently for this game: your server always follows the newest Minecraft release automatically. Your friends’ games update themselves whether they like it or not, and an out-of-date server would turn them away, so keeping the server current isn’t optional here. Nothing for you to do.

Step 4: Get your friends in

Once your world is online, its card in the dashboard shows the address to share. Your friends add it inside Minecraft:

1. Open Play, then the Servers tab.
2. Scroll down and choose Add Server.
3. Enter the address from your dashboard (the name can be anything).

They only do this once. Your world stays in their server list like a bookmark, and there’s a home-network address on the card for anyone playing from inside your house.

Two honest notes about joining:

• Use Add Server, not the Friends tab. Your world may show up under Friends for people nearby, but joining from there goes through Microsoft’s online service rather than straight to your server, and it often fails even when everything is working. Add Server connects directly and is reliable.
• Consoles are the exception. Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch don’t have an Add Server option, so console friends can’t join by address yet. We’re working on a way in for them.

If you picked “only people I add”, remember to add your friends’ gamertags in the Players panel before they try to join, or the server will politely turn them away.

Step 5: Tweak the world to taste

Open Config on your world to change how it plays, all from the dashboard, no files to edit. Difficulty and game mode live here, along with the world rules people actually argue about: keep inventory on death, show coordinates, whether phantoms spawn, fire spread, TNT, day-night cycle, and more. This is also where you can turn player-versus-player off if your group prefers peace.

Add-ons: Minecraft’s mods

Bedrock calls its mods add-ons, and your server manages them from the Mods button on your world:

1. Find an add-on on CurseForge.
2. Paste its link (or project ID) into the box and click Add. Your rig downloads it directly.
3. Restart the world to load it.

If an add-on comes in multiple styles, a dropdown on its row lets you pick which one runs. When a newer version comes out, an Update available button appears. And a few things we’ll flag for you so you don’t have to learn them the hard way: skin packs belong in your own game rather than on the server, downloadable maps become new worlds instead of add-ons, and some add-ons need the world’s Beta APIs switch turned on, which is a permanent, per-world choice that we’ll always confirm with you first. If an add-on installs but can’t actually run, the dashboard tells you why instead of leaving you guessing.

You’re the host

The Players panel shows everyone who has ever joined: who’s online right now, how long they’ve played, and when they were last seen. From there you can broadcast a message to everyone in the game, kick someone who’s ruining the evening, or make a trusted friend an admin. One honest limitation: Bedrock has no ban command, so the “only people I add” list is your strong lock on the door.

Adding more worlds later

Click Create world any time. A second world gets its own name, seed, settings, and save, and you can copy settings from an existing world to start from something you like. There’s also a From CurseForge tab: paste a link to a downloadable adventure map and it becomes a new world of its own, ready to play.

Running into trouble? Give the world a minute after starting, then check its status in your dashboard. If a friend can’t connect, make sure they used Add Server with the full address including the numbers after the colon, and, if you locked the server down, that their gamertag is on your list, spelled exactly right.