How to Make a Minecraft Bedrock Server: Bedrock Dedicated Server Setup, Step by Step

Your kids play on a tablet, a friend's on Xbox, and somebody else is on a Windows laptop, and you'd all like one world that's yours without paying for a Realm. Here's how to make a Minecraft Bedrock server with Mojang's own free server software, start to finish.

The short version: download Bedrock Dedicated Server (BDS) from minecraft.net, unzip it into an empty folder, and run bedrock_server.exe on Windows (or bedrock_server on Linux). Tweak server.properties, then forward UDP port 19132 on your router so friends outside your house can get in. One catch up front: Xbox, PlayStation and Switch players can only connect over LAN or through a custom DNS, so the console crowd is the tricky part.

Your three real options

Realms is the easiest by a mile, and if nobody in the house wants to touch a router, I'd honestly just pay for it. My breakdown of what Minecraft actually costs has the Realms details. For hosts, my guide to free Minecraft server hosting compares the free options, sleep timers and all. Want to run it yourself? Read on.

What Bedrock Dedicated Server is (and where to download it)

BDS is Mojang's official server software for Bedrock Edition, and it's free. Get it from minecraft.net/en-us/download/server/bedrock and nowhere else. You'll see separate ZIPs for Windows and Ubuntu (Linux), each with a Release and a Preview build. Grab Release unless you know you need Preview. You have to agree to the Minecraft EULA and Privacy Policy before you can download it. As of October 2026 the current build is 1.26.52.3.

It's not a managed service. There's no dashboard, just a program and some text files you edit yourself.

What your PC needs

Mojang's listed requirements are modest:

• CPU: Intel Core i3 3210, AMD A8 7600 APU or equivalent, at minimum
• RAM: 4GB minimum
• Storage: 180MB to 1GB free
• Windows: Windows 10 (build 10.0.15063 or later) or Windows Server 2016 or later
• Linux: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or later is the only distro Mojang supports
• Network: a broadband connection (not needed if you only want it on your home network)

How to make a Bedrock server, step by step

1. Unzip it into an empty folder

Make a fresh folder, something like bedrock-server, and extract the ZIP into it. Keep it empty otherwise. The server writes its world files right there.

2. Run it once

On Windows, double-click bedrock_server.exe. On Linux, open a terminal inside the extracted folder and start the bedrock_server program from there. The ZIP also ships with a manual, bedrock_server_how_to.html, that walks you through configuring the server. On first run the server generates a world in the worlds/ folder.

3. The server.properties settings that matter

Stop the server and open server.properties in a text editor. These are the keys worth touching:

• server-name: what shows up on the LAN list. Default Dedicated Server. No colons allowed.
• gamemode: survival, creative or adventure. Default survival. It only applies to players the first time they join, unless you also set force-gamemode=true.
• difficulty: peaceful, easy, normal or hard. Default easy.
• max-players: default 10. Set it to your real group size.
• server-port and server-portv6: 19132 and 19133 by default. Leave them alone unless you've got a reason.
• online-mode: keep it true, so players have to sign in with Xbox Live. Anyone joining from outside your home network has to be signed in no matter what this says.
• allow-cheats: true turns commands on. Default false.
• level-name and level-seed: the world folder's name under worlds/, and a seed if you want a particular world (blank means random).
• allow-list: true by default, which means only players listed in allowlist.json can connect. Leave it on for a private server. Older guides call this white-list. Bedrock renamed it in 1.18.10.
• default-player-permission-level: visitor, member or operator for brand-new players. Default member. Don't make it operator unless you trust everyone completely.

If the server struggles, view-distance (default 32 chunks) and tick-distance (default 4, range 4–12) are the knobs to turn.

4. Bring in a world you already have

Got a world the kids have spent months on? Copy its save folder into worlds/ and set level-name to that folder's exact name. Next start, the server loads it instead of making a new one.

5. allowlist.json and permissions.json

These two files sit next to server.properties. allowlist.json is who's allowed in, and permissions.json is what each player can do. Fill in the allowlist before you hand out your address.

Letting friends join your Bedrock server

Same house, same network

Easy. Anyone on your Wi-Fi should see the server by its server-name on the LAN list, and this works on consoles too. While you're at it, give the host PC a fixed local IP in your router instead of letting it pick a new one, so nothing breaks later.

Friends somewhere else: port forwarding

For people outside your house, you need to forward the server's port. In your router's admin page, add a rule that sends UDP port 19132 to the host PC's local IP (and 19133 if you use IPv6). Note the UDP: Java uses TCP, so Java guides will steer you wrong here. Then give friends your public IP and the port. On Windows and mobile they add it as a server and join.

The console catch

Here's the bit that trips up every family. Mojang's download page says players on Windows, Xbox, PlayStation, phones and Switch can all join the same server with the same IP and port. In practice, Xbox, PlayStation and Switch players can only connect over LAN or through a custom DNS. They can't just type in your address the way someone on a phone can. If the console players live with you, LAN covers it. If they don't, that's the real limit of self-hosting on Bedrock. Know it before you promise a cousin they can join from their Switch.

Running a Bedrock server on Linux and keeping it updated

Officially, BDS on Linux means Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or later. The Minecraft Wiki's community notes say it'll run on other x86-64 distros with glibc 2.35 or newer and the right libraries, but that's community territory, not something Mojang backs. Ubuntu's the safe pick.

Every Bedrock game update gets its own BDS build, and the server doesn't update itself. When the game updates:

1. Stop the server.
2. Back up the worlds/ folder, plus server.properties, allowlist.json and permissions.json.
3. Download the new build and swap it in.
4. Check your config files still say what you set, then start it.

Your world lives in worlds/, separate from the program files. Back it up every single time anyway. A world you can't restore is a very long apology to a nine-year-old.

The honest limitations

• No plugins or mods the Java way. Vanilla BDS has no plugin or mod API. What you get is official add-ons: behaviour packs and resource packs, which go in the behavior_packs/ and resource_packs/ folders.
• Third-party loaders exist, but they're unofficial. Projects like LeviLamina and Endstone add plugin support. Mojang doesn't support them, and older ones such as LiteLoaderBDS and BDSX are already dead.
• No official console hosting. BDS runs on Windows or Linux. You can't host it on the Xbox itself.

If plugins are the whole point, you're really after a Java server. My guide on how to make a Minecraft server on Java walks through it, and the Minecraft server software comparison covers Bedrock, Java and the bridges between them.

Troubleshooting a Minecraft Bedrock server

Friends outside the house can't connect

Usually it's the port. Check the router rule is UDP, on 19132, and pointing at the host PC's current local IP. If that IP changed since you set the rule, the rule's pointing at nothing.

It worked last week, now nobody can join

Probably a version mismatch. The game updated and your server didn't. Download the build that matches the version your players are on and swap it in (back up first).

Someone gets kicked at the sign-in step

Remote players have to be signed in to Xbox Live, so make sure they're actually signed in on their device. If allow-list is on, check they're in allowlist.json too.

The Switch or PlayStation player can't find it

That's the console catch above, not a setting you missed. Over LAN they should see it. From anywhere else, it's custom DNS or nothing.