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Running a server without port-forwarding or client-side software for free?
So I'm in a bit of a dilemma...
A few months ago I had to move twice. Once with my mother and a second time with my father. I also ran a Minecraft server for my friends from my dad's. Unfortunately with the two moves I've been kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to server hosting. I'd either have to host it from a place where I don't have any control over port forwarding or I'd have to host it from a hotspot which barely gives me enough data for my needs over the weekends per month.
I decided to go for the place where I have no control over the network. I asked the landlord if he could set the IP for port forwarding and he did but i think I made a pretty big mistake when I did. I asked to set the IP to 192.168.0.62 without realising that everything on the network is 192.168.1.X. The network thing does not have UPnP I believe and when I try changing the wireless card's IP from the automatically set IP to even something on the same subnet it won't even get any websites loading.
So here are my options...
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Bother the landlord to change the port forwarded IP to the wireless card's IP and bother him probably a few times when it doesn't work. Being a very shy person this isn't something I want to do.
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Try to figure out how to do it on Windows's end and see if i get anything. (probably not)
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Host the server through a service like Hamachi or remote.it. Again, something I'd rather not do as me and my servermates have unanimously agreed that having clientside software would be a huge hassle.
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Try to find an alternative method.
Notes: I am an 18 year old with a monthly income of $0 so using some online host isn't an option.
While we could use something like aternos to host the server for free, my friends have agreed that most free server hosts are absolute trash when it comes to hosting.
The network admin will not give me the passwords. With how much the network managing controls give you I don't necesssarily blame him.
Anyway. I was really hoping that I could run a server for free without portforwarding or making the players install any software to connect to it. I'm okay with installing software on the serverside though.
EDIT: I found a decent tunneling software with playit.gg. shoutouts to whoever reccomended it
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Everyone here is suggesting Hamachi, but as that's something every player must also download I myself really dislike it. There is another solution for things like this where you only need to host a small extra program next to the server that opens a port through some other service and you'll get an IP address from there. Your players can just type that in like they would any other server IP and they can start playing! It's completely free, too!
Give me a moment while I try to find the name again...
GOT IT! It's called 'ngrok'
Here's a small tutorial I found: https://ethr.medium.com/how-to-run-a-free-minecraft-server-without-port-forwarding-safe-secure-c2e2e7614c77
EDIT: Please also check out the playit.gg u/SpikemenDan suggested below!
playit.gg has a static IP which is also something you can consider
I will look into this
thanks for the help! i love this software now! i used ngrok before but the static ip is not that good, i tried to host my minecraft server using ngrok but i couldn't connect, so, Thank for the help!
Np peep!
Yes. I would recommend ngrok it is perfect for what op needs
I found out about ngrok not long after I posted it. My only issue with it I think is the very dynamic IP address but Im still seriously considering it
If you don't restart it, shouldn't it just stay like it is?
Unfortunately I don't want to keep the server running literally 24/7. I'd like to keep my usual schedule of 4 restarts/day
Fair enough, though I do think 4 restarts a day is a bit much. I keep it at just 1 a day deep in the night and that's sufficed for me this far.
after many years of failed attempt at making server this works. Thank you so much TechnicJelle
You're welcome! :D I wish I'd known about it sooner as well!
I found ngrok really annoying because it changed the port every time you started it. Ig if the op is in this situation and doesn't wanns use hamachi, this id their only choice
ngrok won't work because AFAIK because it doesn't proxy UDP traffic. If i'm wrong and that's not the case or the minecraft server only uses TCP it should work fine.
edit: yeah i was wrong, minecraft only communicates over TCP.
java is TCP
"java" is a programming language that has support for both protocols (UDP and TCP)
i mean java edition.
the java edition of minecraft uses TCP for its client/server communication.
oh my bad, sorry for the pedantic comment lol
Ngrok is amazing for this, sadly its free tier is based in the US which makes it a bit slow if you're anywhere else.
I thought you could choose the location yourself?
not on the free tier I believe. But they might've changed that
In the tutorial I linked it says you can, though I admit I've not used it for some time, so I'm not sure either
You can choose locations on the free tier. Just need to add --region eu etc. to the command. Full list of locations in the ngrok documentation.
Sorry for posting 2 replies, but if you are networking savvy / willing to learn you could activate your google cloud free credit and run a small instance. Open an ssh tunnel from your server computer to google cloud, and have people connect to the google ip.
https://cloud.google.com/free/
https://www.ssh.com/ssh/tunneling/example
Hmm.. I'll consider it
if i learn how to use it lol
I'd suggest looking up ngrok, I have little experience with it but have used it before and remember it working. Another suggestion is utorrent. uTorrent has a port forwarding tool built into it that used to work, I haven't used it in a while so im not sure if it still does but it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.
Hmm... uTorrent would be interesting. Ill look into it
utorrent uses UPnP, its also malware
Utorrent has adware bundled in its installation process (which you can decline). Theres no malware in it unless you accept one of those ad offers and it has malware.
Edit: however I do recommend qBittorrent over uTorrent as there are no ads embedded in the installation or the software itself, and has active development.
no it literally drops malware even after the adware install.
If your router has UPNP enabled, you can open a port without having access to the router console.
Unfortunately UPnP is not enabled.
You could use UPnP to port forward. Portmapper is a good tool for this. Is just a java program, and can be run one-command, so just put it in front of ur mc jar in the .bat, and you’re good to go. DM me if you want any help setting it up, free of charge of course!
Unfortunately the router thing doesn't have UPnP enabled.
how do you set it up, im gonna use playit,.gg for now
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Yeah, Im looking into it. Itll at least be a nice holdover until I can get port forwarding working
ngrok and playit.gg are 2 great softwares for opening a server port through any NAT or firewall.
Alternatively, I do have a spare server lying around, so I can host your server on it for the time being. Dm me if you're interested
Its a nice offer bit I gotta decline man. Ive seen people suggest playit.gg too so Ill look into it tomorrow. Thanks anyway
There's one host I know called Falixnodes. Performance isn't optimal, but it's free and it's good
How's your experience with Falixnodes? I wanna hear about it before I try it out
Their free services are excellent
Server performance may look bad at first but becomes better over time
Awesome community support
Thanks! I'll try it out
quackhost.uk (competitor) has a system where u can upgrade CPU and stuff for free, and they are doing cristmas drops rn
How's your experience with Quackhost?
Minehut's free plan is pretty amazing for a small server of up to 4 people. Connection is fine for me (Netherlands) and I haven't experienced any issues with RAM/CPU usage.
Me and my friends pretty much unanimously agree that hosting the server on a free hosting site like that is not an option. Aternos has just left a bad taste in everybody's mouth
Understood. I ended up going for Pebblehost's $4.50/2GB plan for us, as the only really downside for us was Minehut using paper, which conflicted with some of our redstone farms. Don't think I can be of any real help when it comes to port forwarding, tried it myself but couldn't seem to figure it out. Good luck.
Ah, as long as you have admin control over the router port-forwarding should be fairly simple. I get it though, when I first started running the server port forwarding seemed like a very daunting task.
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This isn't the place to advertise your server.
Zerotier is a free hamachi alternative that is (imo) much less bloated/easier to use, and the free plan lets you get up to 50 people in your network.
Does it require client-side software that the players have to download?
Yes, everyone must have zerotier
Ah, thanks anyway
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I tried setting a static IP in Windows but it just refused to connect to any websites or external IP's. When I troubleshoot it Windows just says.
"DHCP is not enabled."
Yes Windows, I know. I disabled it.
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That's what I'd normally do if i had access to the router
portmap.io is good to
U can also use the essential mod on your server and your client to make your server public, but this mod will only work with it on client side and the server