How to join your Minecraft server

1. Open your dashboard and click your server.
2. The Overview tab shows the address at the top. There is a button to copy it.
3. On a crossplay or Bedrock server, the panel also shows the Bedrock port. Copy that too.

You chose the first part of the address when you ordered. You can add another address later under Settings, for example a shorter one, and both keep working.

Use the address, not a number. The address keeps working if your server is ever moved to another machine; a number might not.

1. Start Minecraft Java Edition with the same version as the server. The version is in Settings under Minecraft version.
2. Click Multiplayer, then Add Server.
3. Type any name for it, and paste the address into Server Address.
4. Click Done. The server appears in the list with its message and player count.
5. Double click it to join.

If the server runs a modpack, players first need the same modpack in their launcher. Join a modded server shows how.

To try a server once, there is no need to add it to the list. In the Multiplayer screen of Java, click Direct Connection, paste the address and click Join Server. Minecraft does not remember it, so the next time you paste it again.

The Minecraft Launcher starts the newest release unless you tell it otherwise. When the server runs another version, make an installation for it once:

1. In the Minecraft Launcher, open Installations and click New installation.
2. Give it a name, pick the version of the server in the version list and click Create.
3. From then on, choose that installation next to the Play button on the main screen.

Bedrock has no choice of version: it updates itself. That is why a Bedrock or crossplay server always follows the newest Bedrock release.

1. Open Minecraft and tap Play.
2. Go to the Servers tab and tap Add Server.
3. Fill in a name, the address, and the port from your panel.
4. Tap Save, then pick the server to join.

Bedrock on Xbox, PlayStation and Switch cannot add servers this way. Java and Bedrock crossplay mentions the workarounds console players use.

• Mac and Linux only have Java Edition. Players there join as Java players, with the address alone.
• A Chromebook runs the Bedrock version from the Google Play Store, so it joins like a phone: address plus Bedrock port, and only on a Bedrock or crossplay server.
• Windows can run both editions. The one a player starts decides how they join.

Not sure which edition a friend has? Java or Bedrock server shows how to tell from the main menu.

Send the address in your group chat, and for Bedrock players the port as well. Two things to do before you send it:

• If the whitelist is on, add your friends' exact usernames in the Players tab first, or they will be turned away with a message that they are not whitelisted.
• Tell them the Minecraft version. A player on a newer or older version gets an outdated client or outdated server message instead of the world.

Before you even click join, the multiplayer list on Java shows whether it will work:

Some servers send their own resource pack, and Minecraft asks whether to download it. Accept it to see the server the way the owner meant; if the pack is required, saying no disconnects you.

On Java you can change your answer later: select the server in the list, click Edit and set Server Resource Packs to Prompt, Enabled or Disabled. Owners who want to send a pack can follow add a resource pack to your server.

When the list shows a red cross or cannot connect, check the panel first: is the server running? The Console tab shows it. A stopped server starts with the start button.

Running, but still no luck? Can't connect to your Minecraft server goes through the other causes one at a time.

Every action travels to the server and back. The servers stand in Poland, so for players across most of Europe that trip is short and the game reacts quickly. From North America or Asia every click travels much further: blocks break a moment later and fights feel slower, although everything still works.

Ping depends on distance and on the network of each player, not on the size of the plan, so more memory does not lower it. If everyone lags at once while the ping is fine, the server itself is busy; reduce lag on your server helps there.