Your first Minecraft server with friends

A shared Minecraft world works best when everybody knows how to join and who is looking after the server. MineBanish takes care of hosting, but a few decisions are still yours: the world you want, the player list, and when to start and stop. This guide follows the actual setup flow rather than asking you to install server software or open router ports.

Before you create anything

Check that everybody has Minecraft Java Edition on a computer. The Android MineBanish app manages the server; it does not turn the Android or console edition of Minecraft into a Java client. Bedrock clients cannot join the current service. Your friends need Minecraft, but they do not need their own MineBanish accounts.

Agree on a style of play. Survival is a useful first choice for gathering and building together. Creative suits a building project. Hardcore has different consequences for dying, so make that decision as a group. Available journeys and versions are shown in the builder; do not promise friends a mode or version before checking it there.

Claim an address you can share

Create your MineBanish account, then open the server builder. Each account manages one server. Choose an available name, such as team-cave; the resulting address is team-cave.minebanish.com. Copy the complete address rather than sending only the short name. You can rename it later while the server is stopped, but friends will need the new address.

Use your Minecraft player name in the owner field, not your MineBanish display name or email. Add the exact names of the people you want to invite. There is room for the owner plus up to ten friends. If somebody is missing from the list, knowing the address alone will not let them in.

Make a small plan for the first session

Start with settings the group understands: a game mode, a difficulty and whether PvP is allowed. The seed influences a newly generated world; changing a seed is not a way to replace an already generated landscape without a reset. A MOTD is the short description people see in their multiplayer list.

A note like this helps everybody agree on the plan. It is a planning example, not a configuration file to upload. Apply the choices through MineBanish’s settings.

address: team-cave.minebanish.com
edition: Java
gamemode: survival
difficulty: normal
pvp: false
players:
  - Alex
  - Sam

Give operator access only to somebody who needs administrative commands. Everybody else can play without OP. If you are unsure what a setting does, keep a simple starting setup and change it after the first session, while the server is stopped.

Check runtime and start the server

The dashboard shows your remaining play time. Runtime is consumed whenever the server runs, even before friends connect. Where rewarded placements are available, completing an optional rewarded ad adds time; current defaults are 15 minutes per reward, capped at a six-hour balance. Browser availability and any enabled test mode are shown in the dashboard. Website display ads do not award time.

Press Start and wait until the dashboard confirms the server is running. Starting depends on shared hosting capacity. If capacity is full, wait and retry rather than recreating your world: recreation cannot manufacture a free running slot. The Beta service may also take time to prepare a new world.

Join, then invite the group

In Java Edition, open Multiplayer → Add Server. Use a friendly display name and paste the full address into Server Address. Connect with the Minecraft version indicated by your server. Do not assume that any older or newer client will be accepted.

Join yourself first. Then ask one friend to connect and confirm their whitelist entry before inviting the whole group. This makes a misspelled player name or a version mismatch much easier to isolate. If joining fails, follow the connection checklist before changing worlds.

Finish with a stop and a backup

Stop the server when the session is over. When time reaches zero, the server stops; it does not immediately reset your world. Stopped worlds may nevertheless expire after seven days since last use, so download the world before a long break. Switching journeys or resetting the world is destructive and deserves a backup first.

MineBanish is in Beta and does not promise support for every Minecraft feature or a cloud backup. A good first session ends with everybody knowing the address, one trusted operator, and a world download you can find again. See the backup guide for that last step.