Have you ever wanted to run your own minecraft server to play with friends but got confused on what to do? Now you can! I will show you a step-by-step tutorial on how to run, host, and distribute your server to other players! This is absolutely free and run from YOUR Windows operated computer!

How To Make a Minecraft Server on Linux
How To Make a Minecraft Server on Mac
 

How To Make a Minecraft Server on Windows

Step One – Download the “minecraft_server.exe” from www.minecraft.net, here is the download link for fast downloading! http://www.minecraft.net/download/Minecraft_Server.exe?v=1315880172972

Step Two – This step is important, as this is what allows your friends to join the server! This is what we call port forwarding. Which opens a port to allow incoming IP address. This can be done through your wireless router, and for further instructions read the different parts of this step.

Step Two(Part Two) – Follow this link: http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm and find your router brand and model

then click on it. You will be brought to an advertisement(Skip it at the top right!) and you will be brought to a games list. Scroll down to “M” or search for minecraft. The exact name Minecraft Server. Click on it and follow the instructions EXACTLY. Once you are done restart your router and you are done with port forwarding!

Step Three – Now that you have port forwarded, now it is time to start your server! Run the minecraft_server.exe and it will bring up this:
Now your server is up and running!

Step Four – The final step to this is to get your friends to join! You will need to give them the server IP address. You can obtain this by going to www.whatismyipaddress.com  Where it says “Your IP is…” that is the minecraft server IP. Let’s say my IP was 12.345.67.890. That is the main IP, but you will need to include the port. Therefore the IP would be 12.345.67.890:25565
and your friends can now connect!

This is a step-by-step guide on setting up your OWN minecraft server. As long as that minecraft_Server.exe is running, so will your server! Here are some tips on running your server that can be useful for everything!

Tip one: Once you start the server, you will want to be an OP. An OP can give themselves items, ban players, kick players, and do anything of that sort! To do this you want to type “op <your minecraft username>” in the minecraft_server.exe client. This will make you an OP immediately. (Want to take away somebody’s OP? Type deop <name> to do it!)

Tip two: Make sure you have atleast 1gb free of space for the world to be created! This is also good so you and your friends can play lag-free and without crashing!