How to Set Up and Join a Minecraft Education Dedicated Server

Minecraft Education supports self-hosted dedicated servers that keep persistent worlds available without requiring a game client to host the world. Players need a Minecraft Education license and client to connect. The official Minecraft site also links to Minecraft Education product information and its demo.

1. Enable dedicated servers

A Global Administrator must configure the tenant's initial dedicated-server settings in the Dedicated Server Admin Portal. Turn on Allow Servers. If faculty members will manage servers, also turn on Allow Teachers to Manage Servers.

Teachers need Teacher View enabled and an eligible Faculty license. The documented eligible licenses are Microsoft 365 A1, A3, or A5 for Faculty and Minecraft Education for Faculty. Student-use licenses cannot create or manage servers, and commercial users must use a Global Administrator account.

2. Check the host

The documented minimum host requirements are:

• Windows 10 version 1703 or later, Windows 11, Windows Server 2016 or later, or Ubuntu 18.04 or later.
• A 64-bit Intel or AMD processor with at least two cores.
• At least 1 GB of RAM.

These minimums are intended for a small server with a few players. Supported hosting options include local hardware, virtual machines, and cloud virtual servers that meet the requirements.

3. Configure networking

Register the local IPv4 address for local-network use or the site's public IPv4 address when clients will connect externally. IPv6 is not supported for this setup. The host should have a static IP address.

Allow the selected port through the host firewall. External connections additionally require the appropriate router or network-firewall rule. Coordinate these changes with the organization's network administrator.

4. Register and download the server

In the Admin Portal, select Add a Server, enter the IP address and port, configure the available chat and world-generation options, and download either the configured Windows or Linux package. Continue to the server-information screen, enter a name and optional shared passcode, leave the server enabled, and choose whether to broadcast it.

A broadcast server appears in the server list for users in the tenant. When broadcasting is disabled, users must add the server manually with its Server ID.

5. Start the server

Extract the downloaded package and run:

• bedrock_server.exe on Windows.
• bedrock_server_edu on Ubuntu. Ubuntu may require the executable permission to be set first.

If authentication is requested, follow the terminal instructions and use a Global Administrator account or an eligible faculty account with server-management permission. After successful authentication, the process displays the Server ID, tenant ID, IP address, and port. Later starts may refresh authentication using edu_server_session.json.

6. Join the server

Use a licensed Minecraft Education client. If broadcasting is enabled, select the named server from the client's Servers view. Otherwise, choose Add Server and enter the 12-character alphanumeric Server ID; the ID is case-insensitive. Enter the server passcode if one was configured.

Cross-tenant dedicated-server play is currently unavailable, so players must use accounts from the server's tenant.

7. Configure access controls

A server passcode is shared by players rather than assigned separately to each user, and administrators can view it. It can be set during server creation or while editing the server in the Admin Portal.

For individual access control, set allow-list=true in server.properties and add permitted users to allowlist.json. A running server must be restarted after file-based allowlist changes. Operators can alternatively use /allowlist on, /allowlist add <DisplayName>, and /allowlist remove <DisplayName> in the server terminal; these commands cannot be run from in-game chat.

The default allowlist.json contains no entries. Enabling the allowlist before adding a permitted user prevents everyone from joining.