How To Make A Minecraft Server On Raspberry Pi

Huge Minecraft worlds inside a tiny Raspberry Pi

Minecraft running on a PC, with the server running on a Raspberry Pi 5

Minecraft may not have the most impressive visuals or even a semblance of a story, but there are plenty of reasons why it’s one of the best-selling games of all time. For starters, its unique mechanic of letting players build anything imaginable makes it great for any demographic. Pair its sandbox nature with a thriving community, and it’s clear why the game is still popular even after a decade.

If you love playing Minecraft with friends, you can even host a multiplayer session by creating a Minecraft server. Fortunately, you don’t need a cutting-edge PC just to create the server; even a tiny SBC like the Raspberry Pi can be used to host a Minecraft server. In this article, we’ll go over some methods to set up a Raspberry Pi-powered Minecraft server.

Raspberry Pi 5 review: The holy grail of DIY projects got even better (and rarer)

The Raspberry Pi 5 is one of the most powerful consumer-grade SBCs out there. Sadly, its limited stock means you’ll have a hard time finding one.

Here is everything you need

In addition to the Raspberry Pi itself, you’ll need a microSD card to store the operating system and game files. Since the Minecraft server doesn’t require much storage, you can get away with an 8GB SD card to save money.

For a local multiplayer server, you’ll also need a LAN cable to plug into the Raspberry Pi’s Ethernet adapter. In terms of software, you must have an operating system pre-installed on your Raspberry Pi. We already have a guide on how to set up Ubuntu on the Raspberry Pibut the overall procedure is the same if you’re trying to install Raspberry Pi OS on a palm-sized computer.

Raspberry Pi 5
Samsung EVO Select microSD
Startech.com Cat 6 POE Ethernet Cable

Finally, JDK is a necessary package for this project. If you’re on Ubuntu, you also need Git on your Raspberry Pi before you can create the Minecraft server. Here’s how:

Open the terminal app
Install JDK with the help of this command:
```
sudo apt install default-jdk
```
Ubuntu users can install Git by pasting this command in the terminal:
```
sudo apt install git
```

How to make a Minecraft Java server with Pinecraft

Pinecraft is a third-party application that simplifies the setup and installation process. If you’re new to the Raspberry Pi landscape, or just want a simple installer that gets the job done, it’s a good idea to start things out with Pinecraft. Here’s how:

Open the terminal once again
Clone the Pinecraft repository to your microSD card using the Git command:
```
git clone https://github.com/Cat5TV/pinecraft
```
Run the cd command to switch to the folder where you just cloned Pinecraft
```
cd pinecraft
```
Execute the install bash script by pasting this command in the terminal:
```
sudo ./install
```
Once the Pinecraft Installer boots up, choose OK twice

Pick the user that will run the Minecraft server and press OK
Choose the game seed for your Minecraft world and tap OK
Select the server type

Click OK once you’re done
Pick between Survival and Creative game modes and hit OK
Accept Mojang’s End User License Agreement by tapping Yes
Choose whether you want to launch the Pinecraft server at startup
Tap OK one more time, and wait for Pinecraft to download the necessary files
Launch the server by executing the following command in the terminal:
```
~/minecraft/server
```

Although Pinecraft provides a hassle-free experience, it doesn’t support the latest version of Minecraft Java. If playing on newer Minecraft releases is important to you, you’ll need to look into alternative software packages. Luckily, Mojang provides an official server app that you can use to host your multiplayer session.

Open the terminal and use the mkdir command to create a new folder for the server:
```
mkdir minecraft_server
```
Switch to this folder with the cd command:
```
cd minecraft_server
```

Execute this command to download the Minecraft server app:

wget https://piston-data.mojang.com/v1/objects/8dd1a28015f51b1803213892b50b7b4fc76e594d/server.jar

The terminal command used to retrieve the Minecraft Server software

Run the server by pasting this command into the terminal:
```
java -Xmx4096M -Xms4096M -jar server.jar
```
You can change the values of -Xmx and -Xms to change the amount of memory allocated to the server. Also, if you don’t want the GUI version, you can add the nogui string at the end.
Next, open the EULA file using the Nano text editor
```
sudo nano eula.txt
```
Change the value of the eula string from False to True

Press Ctrl+X to save the document, and tap Y when prompted for confirmation
Run the server a second time with the help of the command used in step 4

If you followed these steps correctly, the server should be up and running in a few seconds.

How to find the IP address of your Raspberry Pi

Before you can connect to the Raspberry Pi server from another system, you’ll need to find the IP address of your Raspberry Pi.

Click on the Wi-Fi/Ethernet option on the taskbar
Hover your cursor over Advanced Options and select Connection Information
Note the IP address under the IPv4 header

How to connect to the Raspberry Pi server?

Now that you’re done setting up the Minecraft server on the Raspberry Pi, you can connect to it by launching Minecraft Java on another PC.

Open the Minecraft Launcher and click on the Play button under the Minecraft Java section
Once Minecraft boots up, select Multiplayer
Click on the Add Server button
Enter the Server Name and type the IP address of the Raspberry Pi under Server Address before clicking on Done
Select the server you just added and press Join Server

If you’re using a server using Pinecraft, you’ll need to install version 1.20.2 since the app doesn’t support the latest release of Minecraft Java

Open the Minecraft Launcher and navigate to the Installations tab of Minecraft Java before clicking on New Installation
Give it a nameset release 1.20.2 as the versionand click on the Create button
Press Play and wait for Minecraft Launcher to finish downloading the older release
If you want to switch to another version, head back to the Play tab and click on the drop-down arrow next to the Play button

Running a Minecraft server on a palm-sized Raspberry Pi

A screenshot of the Raspberry Pi OS running Minecraft Java server

And that’s it for this guide. If you want to experiment a bit, you can start by using other game seeds and server types within Pinecraft. Conversely, if you are using the official method, you can modify the game settings in the properties files by running the nano server.properties command in terminal.

Now that you know how to create a Minecraft server on the Raspberry Pi, you might want to try running it on a Steam Deck. Alternatively, you can browse through our favorite GPUs if you want to play Minecraft with more demanding graphical mods.