{"id":98292,"date":"2018-04-02T22:26:46","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T22:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=98292"},"modified":"2025-07-01T23:34:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T06:34:30","slug":"how-to-start-your-very-own-minecraft-server","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/how-to-start-your-very-own-minecraft-server\/","title":{"rendered":"How to start your very own Minecraft server"},"content":{"rendered":"

Running your own little Minecraft<\/em> server can be a very rewarding experience. Over time, you may build up your very own community of loyal players, which has the potential to grow in popularity if you play your cards right\u00a0and run your server well.<\/p>\n

Although it sounds complicated, running your own server isn’t as hard as you’d imagine. You do not need much prior technical knowledge to get going. Just keep in mind, you should know the Minecraft<\/em> game itself very well if you are going to attempt this!<\/p>\n

Running your own server gives you complete creative control, and there are hundreds of modifications out there which extend the multiplayer experience beyond simple, vanilla Minecraft<\/em> survival; this is what has made Minecraft<\/em> multiplayer servers so popular among gamers.<\/p>\n

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How to start your very own Minecraft server<\/h2>\n

1. Decide on a server theme and then choose a hosting provider<\/h3>\n

The first step is to decide on a server theme, and there are plenty to choose from: factions<\/a>,\u00a0prison<\/a>,\u00a0classic survival, and towny<\/a>, among others. Each gameplay theme brings completely a completely different dynamic to the game, but you probably already have one in mind.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019ve settled on a theme, you need to choose a hosting provider. You can set up a server on your computer<\/a>, but this is not feasible if you want to have a public server online 24\/7. In addition, hosting a server on your computer requires a fair amount of technical knowledge, and it is much easier to go with a hosting provider, where setting up a server is as easy as clicking a few buttons. There are plenty of Minecraft<\/em> hosting providers out there, but let’s use Nitrous Networks<\/a> \u2013 a UK-based company \u2013 as an example.<\/p>\n

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You are free to use any provider, but Nitrous Networks has good ratings and their prices are reasonable.<\/p>\n

2. Setting up your server<\/h3>\n

When you have paid for your server and it has all processed, navigate to your server\u2019s control panel. It will look like this (most hosting providers follow a general layout):<\/p>\n

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Press Start<\/strong>, and your server console (where all the timestamped messages are) will fire up, preparing your spawn area. This will take around 10 to 20 seconds \u2013 you can see it is ready when no new messages appear.<\/p>\n

To join your server, navigate to your Minecraft<\/em> game client and direct connect to your server\u2019s IP address.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s it \u2013 it really is that simple! Although, your new server will be very plain\u2026 it is what is referred to as \u2018vanilla Minecraft<\/em>\u2019, that meaning it is the basic Minecraft<\/em> game. Although it is possible to run a \u2018vanilla\u2019 server, they are not as popular as servers like factions, a player-vs-player\u00a0game mode.<\/p>\n

3. Installing Bukkit or Spigot<\/h3>\n

We recommend installing a Minecraft<\/em> developer API mod such as Bukkit<\/a>\u00a0or Spigot<\/a> \u2013 the two most popular Minecraft<\/em> server modifications which provide
\nadditional functionality and control to Minecraft servers \u2013 allowing you to \u2018plug in\u2019 additional Minecraft<\/em> server modifications (called \u2018plugins\u2019, such as Factions<\/a> or Towny<\/a>) into your server.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be intimidated by the jargon, installing these are very simple. In your server\u2019s control panel, navigate to \u2018Modpacks\u2019 and choose either Bukkit or Spigot, then press Install<\/strong>. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

At this stage, it does not make much difference which you choose, but Spigot has additional functionality and is further optimized to support larger servers that pull in hundreds of players.<\/p>\n

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You do not need to worry too much about what Bukkit or Spigot are; they
\ndo very little on their own and are developer tools which expose an API
\nwhich can be used by developers to add functionality to Minecraft
\nservers. This additional functionality is implemented through plugins
\n(and there are thousands), which can be downloaded freely and added
\nto your server.<\/p>\n

4. Making yourself an \u2018op\u2019<\/h3>\n

An \u2018op\u2019, short for operator, is an administrator on a Minecraft<\/em> server. These people have access to additional commands and abilities (for example, such as being able to kick or ban players using \/kick<\/strong> or \/ban<\/strong>, spawn items using \/give<\/strong>,\u00a0or fly using \/fly<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

As a server owner, you will want to make yourself an operator because this is the top-level administrative level you can have on a server. It is recommended that you give operator privileges only to yourself and trusted <\/strong>people\u00a0because some of the commands can wreak havoc on your server and cause irreparable damage.<\/p>\n

To make yourself an op for the first time, navigate to your server control panel and type \u2018op [name]\u2019<\/strong> in the input box, replacing [name] with your Minecraft<\/em> name.<\/p>\n

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In future, you can type \u2018\/op [name]\u2019<\/strong> within your actual server to make additional people operators. But, for first-time use, it must be done on the console.<\/p>\n

5. Installing plugins<\/h3>\n

Plugins bring your server alive, and there are thousands of them. To get an idea of what plugins are and what they are capable of, we recommend installing some and playing around with them.<\/p>\n

With the majority of reputable Minecraft<\/em> server providers, installing plugins can be done through the control panel. Navigate to \u2018Plugins\u2019 and begin reading about some of the different ones available. We are going to install a plugin which displays a message to players who join your server. In the \u2018Plugins\u2019<\/strong> search bar, type \u2018welcome message\u2019<\/strong> and install the very first one.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Press View<\/strong> then Install<\/strong> and wait a few minutes. Then, restart your server by navigating to \u2018Manage\u2019<\/strong> and pressing Restart<\/strong>. Your plugin will now be installed. Before the plugin will work, you will need to configure it. This is very easy, and most plugins have a user-friendly file called \u2018config.yml\u2019 which allows you to modify its settings.<\/p>\n

To access a plugin\u2019s configuration, navigate to the \u2018plugins\u2019<\/strong> folder under the \u2018File Manager\u2019<\/strong> tab, open the plugin\u2019s unique folder (which is usually the name of the plugin) and then click \u2018Edit\u2019<\/strong> next to \u2018config.yml\u2019 and follow the instructions provided by the plugin\u2019s developer. It is very easy, and requires no special knowledge.<\/p>\n

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How to change your name in Minecraft<\/p>\r\n Discover the easy steps<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n

6. What next?<\/h3>\n

There are many possibilities with running a Minecraft<\/em> server, and the best course of action is to just go with the flow, play around with some plugins and figure everything out as you go \u2013 you can only learn to run a server by running one, even if it\u2019s just you who plays it to figure things out!<\/p>\n

Some of Minecraft\u2019s<\/em> bigger servers and server networks pull in thousands of unique players per month, and if you create a community which appeals to the general Minecraft<\/em> community, you could find yourself building a name for yourself very quickly.<\/p>\n

Related articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n

8 cool things you didn’t know you could do in Minecraft<\/a><\/p>\n

8 amazing Minecraft creations that will blow your mind<\/a><\/p>\n

The 2018 beginner’s guide to Minecraft<\/a><\/p>\n

5 great kid-friendly Minecraft YouTube channels<\/a><\/p>\n

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Running your own little Minecraft server can be a very rewarding experience. Over time, you may build up your very own community of loyal players, which has the potential to grow in popularity if you play your cards right\u00a0and run your server well. Although it sounds complicated, running your own server isn’t as hard as … Continue reading “How to start your very own Minecraft server”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9115,"featured_media":89959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":1},"categories":[2441],"tags":[2328],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-98292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionminecraft"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328121,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98292\/revisions\/328121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98292"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=98292"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=98292"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=98292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}