Many Minecraft players face the issue of Minecraft LAN not working while looking to play with their friends locally. And as frustrating and mood ruining it may be, luckily, it is fixable. Here’s how:
1. Disable Anti-virus Temporarily
2. Make Sure to Enable Network Discovery
3. Check that Every Computer is Connected to the Same Network
4. Check if Everyone is Running the Same Version of Minecraft
5. Make Sure Everyone has a Single IP address
6. Try the Direct Connect
7. Try to Play Without Mods
8. Reinstall Minecraft
What is the Minecraft LAN not working problem?
LAN (local area network) is used to connect multiple computers in a local area such as school, university, residence, and so on. The connection is made either by ethernet cables or wi-fi connections.
For the ones playing Minecraft on Windows, it is quite common for them to get an error such as unable to use LAN, or not even get an option for LAN altogether.
However, this does not mean that your device is not connected to the internet, it simply means that Minecraft is unable to use LAN for connection to other devices.
It’s very frustrating and mood ruining. But all you need to do is go to the control panel, access the Windows Defender firewall, and allow it to grant internet access to Minecraft by checking the boxes under private and public for ‘Java.exe’ or ‘Java(TM)…’ This fixes the LAN not working issue 90% of the time. However, if the issue is still not fixed, try one of the methods under the Fixes section.
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Details for Enabling Java in Firewall
Windows Firewall will not allow Minecraft to use the internet if the user doesn’t grant permission. However, the logical thing to expect would be a pop up asking to allow access for Minecraft. But this is not the case. Minecraft, actually, is a Java file, and for it to access the internet you need to permit Java.
If you don’t get this popup, here’s what you need to do
Step 1: open control panel. You can search in the windows search bar
Step 2: click on system and security
Step 3: click on Windows Defender firewall
Step 4: click on Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall
Step 5: check the private and public columns for JAVA and click ok
Check for LAN connection now. If it still doesn’t work then disable firewall and try again.
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Other Fixes
1. Disable Anti-virus Temporarily
Your device’s anti-virus might be interfering and hindering the LAN connection. Though it may be risky, disabling it temporarily might help solve the problem.
You can disable by searching for your antivirus in the search bar and then disable it for an hour or two, as long as you guys are playing.
2. Make Sure to Enable Network Discovery
For LAN to be working for Minecraft multiplayer, you would need to enable network discovery on your pc. Here’s how you do it,
Step 1: search advanced sharing settings in the Windows’ search box
Step 2: click on Manage advanced sharing settings
Step 3: click on the Turn on network discovery
Step 4: click Save changes
3. Check that Every Computer is Connected to the Same Network
If all the devices that want to interconnect are not connected by the same network, then this would pose a problem for the LAN connection.
This is mostly a problem in areas where a connection is to be made through wi-fi as one device might be connected to the wi-fi in residence while the other might be connected to a nearby free wi-fi or a neighbor’s wi-fi which you may have once used.
Hence, ensure that all the devices have the same internet connection.
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4. Check if Everyone is Running the Same Version of Minecraft
If the client player and the host player are using different releases of the game, then you will be bounced back, first getting connected and then disconnecting, getting this sort of a message:
For this, the host would need to adjust the version number of the client player’s Minecraft to match. To do so, run the Minecraft launcher on the client’s machine and click the “Edit Profile” button. In the “Use version” dropdown menu, select the appropriate Minecraft version.
5. Make Sure Everyone has a Single IP address
If one device is connected to a wireless connection and the other to a wired connection, then both the devices would have different IP addresses. So, make sure that all the devices are either connected to the wireless or the wired connection.
One other thing that causes trouble is AP isolation. It is a setting on a wireless router. When this setting is enabled, it prevents a device that is connected to the network by a wireless connection from accessing resources that are connected to the same network by a wired connection.
Therefore, we would need to disable AP isolation. Here’s how you do it:
Step 1: open command prompt. You can search cmd in the search bar
Step 2: type ipconfig and press enter. Then you’ll see a list. the IPv4 Address is your IP address and that’s what you need
Step 3: Log in to your router’s configuration page after entering IP address in the URL bar.
Step 4: Look for an Enable Wireless Access Point or AP Isolation setting of some description. The Wireless Setting tab within a router’s browser setup page will typically include an AP isolation setting.
Step 5: Deselect the AP isolation setting for your router.
Step 6: Restart your router after disabling AP isolation.
Step 7: If you’re not the host player, tell the host to check his own AP isolation setting as outlined above.
6. Try the Direct Connect
You can also go for a direct connect. For this you would need the IP address of your host computer which you can obtain by following the previous steps.
After you get the IP address, you would need the game port, which you would get as soon as you launch Minecraft on the host computer at the bottom of the screen.
Click the direct connect, enter the IP address and game port while making a LAN connection and you would be good to go.
7. Try to Play Without Mods
Mods can be very attractive as they can make a player look different in the game. However, mods can also hinder the multiplayer experience and cause the Minecraft LAN not working problem. So try to play without mods and that should fix the issue.
8. Reinstall Minecraft
If all else fails, you still have hope in reinstalling Minecraft and reconnecting for multiplayer. Hopefully, it will fix the LAN not working and you would be able to carry on to your Minecraft adventure.
The problems listed here are the most common ones that the players face. Especially the Windows’ firewall one. Usually, players keep getting Java pop-ups which they keep cancelling as they think it has nothing to do with Minecraft.
If it’s not the Firewall then it surely will be one of the problems to which the solution is mentioned above.
I hope you found it helpful. Make sure to comment below for more suggestions.
