Tutorial
How To Set Up a Minecraft Server on Linux
Not using Ubuntu 12.04?Choose a different version or distribution.
Status: Deprecated
This article is deprecated and no longer maintained.
Reason
Ubuntu 12.04 reached end of life (EOL) on April 28, 2017 and no longer receives security patches or updates.
See Instead
This article may still be useful as a reference, but may not follow best practices or work on this or other Ubuntu releases. We strongly recommend using a recent article written for the version of Ubuntu you are using.
If you are currently operating a server running Ubuntu 12.04, we highly recommend upgrading or migrating to a supported version of Ubuntu:
Setting up a Minecraft server on Linux (Ubuntu 12.04) is a fairly easy task on the command line.
When choosing your server, be sure that it has (at a minimum)1GB of RAM, preferably at least 2GB.
The first thing you need to do is to connect to your server through SSH. If you are on a mac, you can open up Terminal, or if you are on a PC, you can connect with PuTTY. Once the command line is opened, login by typing:
ssh username@ipaddress
Enter the password when prompted. Although you can set up the server on the root user, it is not as secure as setting it up under another username. You can check out this tutorial to see how to add users.
Step One—Install the Requirements
Before going further, we should run a quick update on apt-get, the program through which we will download all of the server requirements.
sudo apt-get update
After that, we need to be sure that Java is installed on our server. You can check by typing this command:
java -version
If you don’t have Java installed, you will get a message that says “java: command not found”. You can, then, download java through apt-get:
sudo apt-get install default-jdk
You also need to supply your server with Screen which will keep your server running if you drop the connection:
sudo apt-get install screen
There is a complete guide on how to install and use screen here.
Install the Minecraft Server
Start off by creating a new directory where you will store the Minecraft files:
mkdir minecraft
Once the directory is created, switch into it:
cd minecraft
Within that directory, download the Minecraft server software:
wget -O minecraft_server.jar https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/versions/1.7.4/minecraft_server.1.7.4.jar
Since we have installed screen, you can start it running (-S sets the sessions title):
screen -S "Minecraft server"
After the file downloads, you can run it with Java:
java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar minecraft_server.jar nogui
The launching text should look something like this:
2012-08-06 21:12:52 [INFO] Loading properties
2012-08-06 21:12:52 [WARNING] server.properties does not exist
2012-08-06 21:12:52 [INFO] Generating new properties file
2012-08-06 21:12:52 [INFO] Default game type: SURVIVAL
2012-08-06 21:12:52 [INFO] Generating keypair
2012-08-06 21:12:53 [INFO] Starting Minecraft server on *:25565
2012-08-06 21:12:53 [WARNING] Failed to load operators list: java.io.FileNotFoundException: ./ops.txt (No such file or directory)
2012-08-06 21:12:53 [WARNING] Failed to load white-list: java.io.FileNotFoundException: ./white-list.txt (No such file or directory)
2012-08-06 21:12:53 [INFO] Preparing level "world"
2012-08-06 21:12:53 [INFO] Preparing start region for level 0
2012-08-06 21:12:54 [INFO] Preparing spawn area: 4%
2012-08-06 21:12:55 [INFO] Preparing spawn area: 12%
2012-08-06 21:12:56 [INFO] Preparing spawn area: 20%
2012-08-06 21:12:57 [INFO] Preparing spawn area: 24%
2012-08-06 21:12:58 [INFO] Preparing spawn area: 32%
2012-08-06 21:12:59 [INFO] Preparing spawn area: 36%
2012-08-06 21:13:00 [INFO] Preparing spawn area: 44%
2012-08-06 21:13:01 [INFO] Preparing spawn area: 48%
2012-08-06 21:13:02 [INFO] Preparing spawn area: 52%
2012-08-06 21:13:03 [INFO] Preparing spawn area: 61%
2012-08-06 21:13:04 [INFO] Preparing spawn area: 69%
2012-08-06 21:13:05 [INFO] Preparing spawn area: 77%
2012-08-06 21:13:06 [INFO] Preparing spawn area: 85%
2012-08-06 21:13:07 [INFO] Preparing spawn area: 93%
2012-08-06 21:13:08 [INFO] Done (15.509s)! For help, type "help" or "?"
Your Minecraft server is now all set up. You can exit out of screen by pressing
ctl-a d
To reattach screen, type
screen -R
You can change the settings of your server by opening up the server properties file:
nano ~/minecraft/server.properties
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thx for the file minecraft_server.jar
Consider updating the tutorial to include the use of screen or tmux.
screen -t “Minecraft server”
java -jar minecraft_server.jar nogui
Issue ctl-a D to detatch the screen and leave it running to reattach use screen -R
This is absolutely super basic. There are good server startup/shutdown scripts here: http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Tutorials/Server_startup_script
Great suggestion about wrapping it in a screen, we’ll get the article updated for that.
Thanks this was the easiest walk thru and it worked for me on a headless Ubuntu 12.04.1 Server LTS, via SSH from a Linux Mint machine.
Awesome =]
How do you play on your own server? just type in your ip?
I mean, i get how it’s set up and all right now, but how do you play on the world with your friends? and is this worldwide or LAN? I am on ChrUbuntu 12.04.2 LTS. Please reply soon. Thanks! P.S my mc is on 1.4.7 if that makes any difference.
Once your server is created and is running, to play you just open up MineCraft on your home computer and select Multiplayer at the start screen and then connect to your server with your IP address or with domain name if you have pointed a domain to it.
I’ve done this all and everything works but the server keeps saying: “[WARNING] Can’t keep up! Did the system time change, or is the server overloaded?” Even though the server is empty?
@Mees Pepijn van Dijk Do you have enough RAM? Try adding swap.
@Alex Garret I have 1GB RAM and i’m afraid thats not enough, and how do i add more swap?
@Mees Pepijn van Dijk: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-add-swap-on-ubuntu-12-04 The process should be the same for all Linux operating systems.
Help! I followed the instructions but i am trying to pull out to see my IP in the server config file with the ctl-a D command but it brings me to a black screen with no text. Plz help
When using “screen”, and using the detach function, it should be taking you back to a prompt, where you could type “ifconfig” to see the IP addresses.
Also, if you go into yiour digital ocean control panel, you should be able to see the IP address assigned to your server beside the name of the droplet.
it keeps telling me connection refused
what do i do
@lghettie please open up a support ticket
I’ve got it running, and it shows up in minecraft multipplayer. But it won’t let me connect! Any ideas?
@albert do you see any kind of error saying why you’re not able to connect?
is there enough proc power in 1gb dropplet to host a mc server? anyone have any expertience?
@Ryan: You can spin up a 1GB droplet and see if it works fine. You can always scale up if needed. I believe it should be enough for a minecraft server with minimal load.
which Java is installed with “apt-get install default-java”? OpenJDK or Oracle Java?
@labajos.salvatore: OpenJDK will be installed by default. You can follow this article to install Oracle Java 7:
http://www.webupd8.org/2012/01/install-oracle-java-jdk-7-in-ubuntu-via.html
How do I update Minecraft to the latest version
wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/MinecraftDownload/launcher/minecraft_server.jar
That command should download the latest stable version. If you want to use another version, replace minecraft_server.jar with the one you want to use.
Exit out of it?
@gtawwekid: I’m not sure what you mean - do you want to exit the minecraft server after starting it in a screen session?
When i do “nano /minecraft/server.properties” to get onto the server properties, it shows up blank with weird symbols at the bottom??! Wat doo i du
@mpeet: Try this command instead:
<pre>nano ~/minecraft/server.properties</pre>
I’ve also updated the article.
Please put a written/edited date on your blog posts, and thanks for having awesome hosting!
Great tutorial. It will help in my quest to set up a minecraftEdu server for my kid’s school. I’m great on Commodore 64’s and the Apple IIc but the 30 year break has taken it’s toll. I’m sure whoever writes a tutorial for the average computer-semi-literate teacher will open the floodgates for the minecraft-education platform in classrooms.
Anyone from Digital Ocean that can tell me if a remote server using Digital Ocean can meet the requirements to host 24 ish students?
@chineside: Thanks for the feedback :] According to <pre>http://canihostaminecraftserver.com/</pre>, a 512MB droplet can host ~7 users at once.
Try running the minecraft server on a 1GB or 2GB droplet and see how it goes.
For anyone wishing to start a new minecraft server in under 5 minutes, this is a great tutorial.
I gave up trying to find a link for a 1.6.2 version, and gave up trying move a download jar file and put it on my droplet , but had great fun trying.
Appreciate being able to try this at almost no cost or commitment, and will certainly try again.
@chineside: This article installs the latest stable version. As far as I know, Minecraft 1.6.2 is still beta
I can I don’t know the stuff is not working HELP ME
i’m bad i’ve been trying alot can you update it or just send me one for Noobs???PLZ
@blake.asher.sharp: Which part isn’t working? Do you get any errors?
Thanks for this. Did everything here, then I noticed it’s an old version of minecraft. Decided to get the new one.
I had to look on how to delete my old minecraft folder. Created a new one. Got the new jar file. Got error installing the new jar. Figured it out that I need to write the JAR filename, I was only writing …minecraft_server.jar nogui and not …minecraft_server.1.6.2.jar nogui Did that got an error message because not enough memory Figured it out that I have a process or something already in memory. Wrote “top”. I saw minecraft there. Figured out how to kill the process. Installed the new JAR file.
It was a good first day learning linux :D
Any tips on how to create an autostart script that starts minecraft after a power cycle? Would be great to have when using the API for power_on/power_off.
Sorry for the basic question but I know nothing about minecraft. I’m trying to install it to my son. So, I could install everything. The question is How can I play now ?
Thanks
Once the server is up and running, if I close my SSH session, then reopen it, how do I reconnect to controlling the server? Is there a screen command for that? I tried “screen -R” but it opened a new screen.
@benjamin.leedy: We have an article on using screen here: <a href=“https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-install-and-use-screen-on-an-ubuntu-cloud-server”>https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-install-and-use-screen-on-an-ubuntu-cloud-server</a>
@celso.info: Once you’ve set up the minecraft server, you can connect to it by creating a new minecraft multiplayer server on the minecraft client and setting its address to your droplet’s IP address.
I’ve got the 1GB server and have trouble running even 4 people at the same time. I’m getting a java out of memory (Kill process #### error) anybody else running into that problem with Java, I’d think 1GB would be okay for a small amount of people?
@Dan: Do you have any other processes/services running on your droplet?
Unfortunately no its a shake and bake Ubuntu install with Minecraft running. I have a LAMP server running but its not getting any access. I just setup the Swap file well give that a go and see if it makes any difference.
@Dan: 1GB is certainly not enough for apache, mysql, and minecraft. I recommend setting up minecraft on a separate droplet without any other services and without a swapfile as it degrades minecraft’s performance.
For those of you who use ansible, I’ve posted a IPython notebook to show I implemented the instructions in this post: http://nbviewer.ipython.org/7011434. Now I can programmatically spin up a droplet to run minecraft.
for anyone worrying about getting the 1.6.4 version then here is the link for it:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/versions/1.6.4/minecraft_server.1.6.4.jar
This post help me to config my Ubuntu server and now I have my personal Minecraft Server… and that’s cool… but the question of Million: How install mods on terminal for this minecraft server?