How to Port Forward a Minecraft Server on Linux, Windows, and macOS

Creating your own Minecraft world on a local server can be exciting. However, it will only be visible to you, and playing alone can become tedious after a while.

With the help of port forwarding, you can provide a modded Minecraft server for anyone to connect and play.

This tutorial will show you how to port forward a server on Windows, macOS, and Linux and discuss the required configuration for this process.

What Is Port Forwarding?

If a user has a game server running locally on their machine and wants to play together with friends, connecting via an internal IP address, like 192.168.0.1, won’t work as it is a local IP address.

Port forwarding allows remote computers to connect your router and local network by using specific TCP and UDP ports. Usually, the port forwarding feature is available on most routers and can be accessed by logging in via the default router gateway.

How to Port Forward Minecraft?

To make a Minecraft server visible publicly, you will need to find the default server port, allow it through a firewall, and tinker with your router configuration.

Step 1 – Set the Port on Minecraft Configuration

To ensure your Minecraft server communicates correctly with your players, you need to set the appropriate port in the server configuration. Here are the default port numbers for Minecraft:

• 25565 – for Java Edition.
• 19132-19133 – TCP and UDP ports for Bedrock Edition.

For instance, if you set up a Minecraft server on Windows, follow these steps to configure the port:

1. Open the Minecraft server directory and locate the server.properties file.

2. Right-click on it and open it with a text editor of your choice, such as Notepad.
3. Within the text editor, find the line that says server-port.

4. Modify the server-port value to any number within the range from 1 to 65535. However, it’s advisable to stick to the default port unless you have a specific reason to change it.
5. Save the changes in the text editor and close the file.
6. Restart your Minecraft server to apply the changes.

Step 2 – Allow the Port on Your Firewall

To ensure that the server works correctly, you will need to allow the Minecraft port number via your system’s firewall.

In this section, we will go over the process for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Firewall Management on Windows

1. Open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security.

2. Click on Inbound Rules and select New Rule.

3. Choose Port and click Next.

4. Select TCP, and enter the Minecraft port number. In this case, it’s 25565. Once done, click Next.

5. Select Allow connection and keep clicking Next until you reach the final step. Before hitting Finish, don’t forget to give your rule a name.

6. After you have created the rule, make a new one using the same configuration, but this time for UDP.

Firewall Management on macOS

1. Go to System Settings and select Network.

2. Choose Firewall and click Options.

3. Click the Add button, find the installed Java application, and confirm the selection. Make sure that the Allow incoming connections option is selected. Hit OK.

Firewall Management on Linux

Unlike Windows or Mac, Linux is equipped with a more sophisticated firewall. We recommend checking out our tutorial on how to configure your Ubuntu firewall.

Step 3 – Forward the Port on the Router

With the firewall set up and incoming network requests taken care of, proceed to create a port forward rule on your router. Even though each router has a different interface, the steps should be nearly identical.

1. Find your default gateway IP address. It will be used to log in to the router.
2. Set up a static IP address.
3. Open the port forwarding settings.
4. Specify which TCP and UDP ports to forward.

Finding Your Router Address and Setting up a Static IP on Windows

Press Windows+R and enter CMD to open the command prompt. Run the following command:

ipconfig

The router’s IP address will be shown next to the Default Gateway line.

To set up a static IP address, press Windows+R again and enter ncpa.cpl.

Right-click your network connection, select Properties, locate Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IP), and hit Properties again:

Specify the preferred static IP address, subnet mask (255.255.255.0), and the router IP you acquired earlier.

Once done, click OK to save the changes.

Finding the Router Address and Setting up a Static IP on macOS

1. Go to System Settings and select Network.

2. Find the network you’re using and click Details.

3. Go to the TCP/IP tab. The Router line will contain your router’s IP address.

Alternatively, open Terminal and use the following command to check the router IP address:

netstat -nr|grep default

To set up a static local IP address, go back to the TCP/IP section, choose Using DHCP with manual address, and specify the IP you would like to use. We recommend adding a 0 as the router IP.

Click OK to save the changes.

Finding the Router Address and Setting up a Static IP on Linux

To check the router IP on Linux-based systems, open Terminal and enter the following command:

route -n | grep "^0.0.0.0" | cut -d ' ' -f 10

To set up a static IP, you will need to edit the primary network configuration file. For example, the Ubuntu 22.04 configuration can be accessed by pasting this command into the Terminal and pressing Enter:

sudo nano /etc/netplan/01-netcfg.yaml

Here’s an example configuration where gateway4 is your router IP, and addresses refers to your preferred static IPv4 address:

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# For more information, see netplan(5).
network:
version: 2
renderer: networkd
ethernets:
ens33:
dhcp4: no
dhcp6: no
addresses: [192.168.2.10/24]
gateway4: 192.168.2.1
nameservers:
addresses: [1.1.1.1,1.0.0.1]

Once done, save the changes made to the 01-netcfg.yaml file.

Logging in to the Router

Paste the router IP address to your web browser’s address bar and press Enter. A login pop-up will appear.

You will be asked for a username and password. If you are unsure where to find them, try checking the stickers on the bottom of your router.

Another option is to Google the router’s name and model number along with related keywords like default login credentials.

Once logged in, look for options related to virtual server or port forwarding. In our example, we’ll use a D-Link router.

Check the Enabled option, give the forwarding rule a name, specify the local static IP address you’ve set previously, and enter the Minecraft server port. In this case, it’s 25565.

Don’t forget to apply these configurations for both TCP and UDP ports.

Once done, save your changes.

Step 4 – Restart the Minecraft Server and Connect

For the port forwarding changes to apply, you will need to restart your Minecraft server. To do so, enter /stop in the server console and reinitialize the server.

Once the server has been restarted, open your preferred search engine and simply enter “what’s my ip”. You’ll be shown your public IP address that you’ll need to share with the people you wish to play with.

Now, your players are finally able to join your server! Keep in mind that if the default server port 25565 was changed, users would need to connect using the 185.185.185.185:port syntax.

Alternatively, enter the IP address instead.

Conclusion

Having a local Minecraft server with port forwarding allows you to play with other people, making your gameplay experience more exciting and unique.

In this tutorial, we have covered the process of port forwarding a Minecraft server on Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. We’ve also shown how to allow an application through a firewall and navigate the router interface.

Should you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section below.