Welcome to the second in our series of Linux gaming posts in the run up to the holidays. This week, we’ve put together a tutorial that teaches you how to create a basic Minecraft Server on a Raspberry Pi with Ubuntu Desktop, so you can play locally with your friends.
Hosting a Minecraft server unlocks a tonne of additional control over how you play Minecraft with your friends. You can change the game rules and difficulty, the behaviour of enemies and determine how players interact.
Setting up a server is also a great way to learn more about Linux. Linux is all about tinkering and trying new things. While it can seem intimidating at first, the instructions you’ll follow for this project will help you approach more complex Linux projects in the future!
In this tutorial, we’ll be using a Raspberry Pi 4 4GB with a 32GB SD card, but you can also follow along on pretty much any laptop or PC that has Ubuntu Desktop installed. You could even use a Virtual Machine.
Of course, you’ll also need another PC or laptop with Minecraft Java Edition installed so you can connect to your server once you’ve created it!
How to Turn Your Raspberry Pi into a Minecraft Server
Step 3: Configure Your Minecraft Raspberry Pi Server
Once you know the Minecraft server is setup correctly its time to configure it. Two configuration files are included with Nukkit: nukkit.yml and server.properties.
To edit these, simply open them in your preferred text editor. On Raspberry Pi OS, nano is preinstalled, so use
Various changes are recommended. Whatever you change here, keep in mind that even the Raspberry Pi 4 is a modest device that cannot handle too much processing.
A list of server properties can be found in the Minecraft wiki, but several should be edited right away. Start off with:
Older Raspberry Pi models will struggle with more than 10. You might be okay with 5-6 players. Several other options are available to configure that you might be interested in, such as:
This is for player vs. player action. Theres also a difficulty setting:
Here, the easiest setting is 0.
When youre done, press Ctrl + X to save and exit, then run:
This will restart your Minecraft server, but not the Raspberry Pi.
Step 4: Connect to the Raspberry Pi Minecraft Server
Your Minecraft server should now be online on your local network. Check this using a ping command from another device, using the IP address you noted down earlier. If the ping returns a response from your Raspberry Pi, then youre fine to continue.
All you need to do is launch Minecraft on your computer or tablet, then:
If your Raspberry Pi Minecraft server is running and online, it should be listed as an option to connect to. Simply select the server to start playing.
Looking to play Minecraft directly on your Raspberry Pi instead? Check out my guide on that!
Ill be using a Raspberry Pi 3 B+. You may be able to use a Raspberry Pi 1 or 2 for this project, but the performance will be much better with a Pi 3 or 4.
There are several ways to go about running a Minecraft server on the Raspberry Pi. In this guide, Ill cover how to install Nukkit—a cross-platform Minecraft server thats super easy to set up on the Raspberry Pi. This server should work with PCs, consoles, and tablets running Minecraft 1.14.
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FAQ
How do you make a Minecraft server with Raspberry Pi?
- Step 1: Install Raspberry Pi OS and Configure Your Pi. …
- Step 2: Install the Minecraft Server on Raspberry Pi. …
- Step 3: Configure Your Minecraft Raspberry Pi Server. …
- Step 4: Connect to the Raspberry Pi Minecraft Server.
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