Getting started with your Minecraft server

Minecraft is the best-selling game of all time, and its server community is the largest in gaming. This guide covers spinning up Java Edition on your hosted Minecraft server: choosing a server type, first boot, the EULA, connecting, core settings, memory allocation, and making yourself an operator.

For Bedrock Edition (Windows 10/11, console, mobile), see Bedrock. To let Bedrock players join a Java server, see Geyser Cross-Play. If you already have a Java server running elsewhere, moving it here intact is a different job from setting one up — see How to Move an Existing Minecraft Server to GameServerKings.

Java vs Bedrock at a Glance

Most communities run Java servers because the modding ecosystem is incomparably larger. Add Geyser to let Bedrock players join your Java server.

First Boot

1. Open your Minecraft Java server in the panel.

2. In the Startup tab, choose your jar type. Common options:

   • vanilla: Pure Minecraft, no plugins or mods
   • paper: PaperMC, the most popular plugin server (faster than Spigot)
   • purpur: Purpur, a Paper fork with more config options
   • forge: For Forge mods
   • fabric: For Fabric mods
   • neoforge: NeoForge for newer Forge-style mods

3. Set the Minecraft version. Java Edition renumbered its releases in 2026 — the current version is 26.2, not a 1.x number. See Which Version Number to Pick below if the numbering looks unfamiliar.

4. Click Start.

First boot downloads the chosen jar, generates the world, and prompts for EULA acceptance. The console will show:

You need to agree to the EULA in order to run the server. Go to eula.txt for more info.

Edit eula.txt in the File Manager, change eula=false to eula=true, and restart.

If you are unsure which jar to pick, Minecraft Server Software Compared sets out what each one gives you and what it costs in performance and compatibility. Which server type you pick determines your next step: Plugins for Paper/Spigot/Purpur, or How to install mods for Minecraft Java Edition for Forge/Fabric/NeoForge.

Which Version Number to Pick

Minecraft changed how it numbers releases in 2026, which is why the version you pick in the Startup tab no longer looks like the 1.x numbers most guides still quote.

Java Edition releases are now written as YY.D.H: the two-digit year, the drop number within that year, then a hotfix counter. The first release of a drop carries no hotfix number, so the second drop of 2026 is plain 26.2 and its first hotfix would be 26.2.1. The last version to use the old 1. prefix was 1.21.11.

As of August 2026 the current Java release is 26.2. Snapshots changed with it: what would once have been 25w44a is now written 26.3 Snapshot 9. Bedrock Edition also moved to the year prefix but counts differently: its minor number climbs in tens and only every second step is a drop, so Java's 26.1, 26.2 and 26.3 line up with Bedrock's 26.10, 26.30 and 26.50. The current Bedrock release is 26.44.

26.1 and newer require Java 25

Minecraft 1.20 through 1.21.11 ran on Java 21. Every release from 26.1 onwards needs Java 25 — that applies to the vanilla jar and to Paper alike, so it carries over to Paper forks such as Purpur. Moving an existing server from a 1.21.x jar up to a 26.x one therefore also means moving it onto a Java 25 runtime; it will not start otherwise. Paper stopped supporting 1.21.11 on 15 June 2026, so the 26.x line is where fixes now land.

Older versions still run perfectly well, and plugin or mod availability is usually the real deciding factor rather than the number itself. Check what your plugins and mods support before moving a live world onto a newer jar, and take a backup first. The upgrade itself — picking a target version, snapshots versus releases, and the one-way world conversion that happens on first boot — is covered in Updating Your Minecraft Server.

How to Connect

1. In Minecraft, go to Multiplayer > Add Server.

2. For the server address, enter the IP and port from the Address at the top left of your panel, for example 203.0.113.10:25566.

3. Join.

Include the port from your panel page

One thing to know: on our plans the assigned port is often not the Java default of 25565, so always include the port from your panel page in the address. An address without a port only works when the server happens to be on 25565.

If the client refuses the connection anyway, read the message it printed rather than guessing — Minecraft Players Can't Connect: Every Error Message Explained maps each exact sentence, from Incompatible client! to Failed to verify username!, to the one thing that causes it.

server.properties

The main config file. Highlights:

server-port=25565
max-players=20
gamemode=survival
difficulty=normal
hardcore=false
spawn-protection=16
white-list=false
enforce-whitelist=false
op-permission-level=4
allow-flight=false
view-distance=10
simulation-distance=10
generate-structures=true
level-name=world
level-seed=
level-type=minecraft\:normal
motd=A Minecraft Server
online-mode=true
max-world-size=29999984
network-compression-threshold=256
enable-rcon=false
rcon.port=25575
rcon.password=
enable-query=false
query.port=25565

Do not change server-port by hand

One caution before the table: server-port is managed by the panel. Your server is bound to the port allocated in the Network tab, and the panel keeps this value in sync on boot. Do not change it by hand; if you need a different or additional port, that happens through the panel allocation, not this file.

After editing, restart. The table above is the short list; every key the file accepts, with its default and what it actually changes, is in Minecraft server.properties: The Complete Reference. If the world you are about to serve is one you played in singleplayer, several of these keys now decide things the save used to decide for itself — Converting a Singleplayer World to a Minecraft Server covers which ones and what changes.

Settings That Are Now Game Rules

Five keys that older guides still list in server.properties no longer exist. 1.21.9 removed four of them and replaced them with game rules; 1.21.2 removed spawn-animals outright. On any current version, putting these lines in server.properties does nothing whatsoever — the server reads the file, ignores the keys, and behaves as though you had never touched them.

All four game rules default to true, and for one of them that is a change of behaviour: the old enable-command-block property defaulted to false, so command blocks were off until you switched them on, whereas command_blocks_work is on until you switch it off. If you were relying on the old default, set it explicitly.

Run the rules from the panel's Console once the world has generated, or in-game as an op:

> gamerule pvp false

Game rules are stored inside the world save rather than in a config file, so they persist across restarts and take effect immediately — no reboot needed, unlike server.properties.

Those are the 1.21.11-and-later names

Java Edition 1.21.11 moved every game rule into a registry and renamed them from camelCase to snake_case. If you are still on 1.21.9 or 1.21.10, the same four rules are spelled pvp, commandBlocksEnabled, allowEnteringNetherUsingPortals and spawnMonsters instead. The full list is in Minecraft Server Commands.

Memory Allocation

Minecraft Java is heavily heap-size dependent, but on a GameServerKings server there is nothing for you to set. Your server launches with -XX:MaxRAMPercentage=95.0, which tells the JVM to size its heap at up to 95% of the RAM your plan gives the server. There is no MEMORY field and no Xmx field in the Startup tab — the values you can edit there are the framework, Minecraft version, build number, server jar file, extra flags and EULA acceptance, and none of them controls memory.

That makes the plan the lever. Modded packs and large plugin servers need substantially more heap than plain vanilla, so size the plan accordingly. If the server dies with an out-of-memory error, the fix is a larger plan rather than a larger number in a field.

Extra Flags is not a place for JVM flags

Extra Flags is appended to the end of the launch command, after the server jar, so everything you put there is passed to the Minecraft server itself and never to the Java VM. An -Xmx4G typed into it does not reach the JVM at all. Use it for server arguments such as --safeMode.

For heap sizing in detail — how MaxRAMPercentage decides the number, Aikar's flags, and why more heap is not automatically better — see Minecraft Server RAM and JVM Flags.

Becoming an Op (Admin)

From the panel's Console:

> op YourMinecraftUsername

You will get:

[Server thread/INFO]: Made YourMinecraftUsername a server operator

Op level 4 (the default) gives full admin access in-game. The other four levels, and how to give a moderator less than the full set, are in Minecraft Op Permission Levels: 0 to 4 Explained. Commands you can now use:

/gamemode creative
/tp <player>
/give <player> <item> <count>
/kick <player>
/ban <player>
/whitelist add <player>
/stop                  Shutdown the server
/save-all              Force save
/weather clear
/time set day

server.properties Worth Knowing

Beyond the port, these are the lines owners tune most:

Restart after editing; /reload does not apply most of these.

What to Read Next

• Plugins for Paper/Spigot/Purpur servers (EssentialsX, LuckPerms, WorldEdit, and more)
• How to install mods for Minecraft Java Edition for Forge/Fabric servers and modpacks
• Geyser Cross-Play to let Bedrock players join
• Performance and Backups for tuning and protecting your world
• Minecraft Server Commands for op, gamerules and the full command reference
• Deciding what kind of server to run? An SMP for friends, SkyBlock, Prison, Factions or BedWars — each one sets out the plugins that gametype needs, what it costs to run, and what it is like to keep going

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