How to get rid of Minecraft LAN Not Working problem?

Minecraft is one of those games users tend to enjoy playing with their friends. Unfortunately, connection issues sometimes get in the way of the fun.

Some players connect to the internet successfully, but they soon realize that they cannot join others to play the game. We have to assume you found your way to our page due to this problem. Well, it is time we moved on to show you how to fix LAN issues in Minecraft. Undoubtedly, one of the solutions here will help you resolve the problem.

How to fix LAN not working in Minecraft on Windows 10, Windows 8.1 or Windows 8?

Please go through the solutions in the order we have listed them below. We carefully arranged them in a way that ensures you begin your troubleshooting tasks to fix the most likely source of the LAN issues.

1. Check your firewall:

The vast majority of LAN issues affecting the Minecraft game have something to do with firewalls blocking essential system resources. To this end, you might ask, “How do I allow Minecraft through my firewall?”

Well, it is a bit more complicated than it should be. Even if you installed Minecraft perfectly on your system, its app is unlikely to be the program that comes up to request access through the Windows firewall.

First, you must understand that Minecraft is a more or less a Java file executed by the Java program. Due to this, when Minecraft tries connecting through the network, the firewall prompt that comes up to get permission indicates that the requesting app is Java (not Minecraft).

Perhaps, you saw the prompt some time ago, but you clicked on the Cancel button because you could not figure out why Java needed your network access. Well, even if you did not, there is a good chance that your firewall setup is currently set not to allow Minecraft to use your network.

Now, you must ensure that the profile currently logged into your PC is an administrative account. Otherwise (if a regular or standard user account is active), you must know the password for the administrative account. You are about to perform an operation where top-level privileges (only possessed by administrative accounts) are required to alter some parameters.

Follow these instructions to rectify things:

• First, you must launch the Control Panel app. Right-click on the Windows Start icon that is always visible on your desktop screen to view the apps or options that make up the Power User menu, then click on Control Panel.
• From the menu list on the Control Panel program screen, you have to click on Windows Firewall or Windows Defender Firewall. Now, check out the links on the left pane, then click on Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall.
• At this point, you should see a list of services, executables, and so on. Locate Javaw.exe and take note of its selection status. Click on the Change settings button.

You have to tick the checkboxes for the Javaw.exe (executable file) under Private and Public. If multiple Javaw.exe entries are present, you must tick the boxes under Public and Private for all of them.

(If the Javaw.exe entry was allowed under both Private and Public Networks already, then this fix was not meant for you. Move to the next one)

• Exit the Control Panel program window. Close the Minecraft app (if it is running currently). Reopen Minecraft, then try to join other players through your LAN.

2. Disable your antivirus:

Firewalls are hardly the only utilities or setups capable of screening and blocking programs from using your computer’s internet access. Most antivirus solutions are capable of doing the same thing or even more.

To be fair, security programs, given the nature of the jobs they are designed for, are typically equipped with a wide range of capabilities or functionalities, which they sometimes employ to restrict the activities of other programs.

For the most part, developers of such programs expect them to use their powers to block spyware from transferring your data or other forms of malware from destroying your computer. Minecraft, as you know, is neither malicious nor dangerous.

Well, your antivirus is far from infallible. Perhaps, it incorrectly perceived Minecraft’s attempt to use your LAN or network resources as abnormal and moved to block it. In that case, Minecraft connection issues are down to interference to its operations from an incredibly powerful program running on your system.

To make things right, all you have to do is tell your antivirus that Minecraft is entirely harmless. If your antivirus employs a whitelist setup, you have to add Minecraft to the list of trusted programs. If you are not ready to make the necessary changes now, you can disable your antivirus temporarily to stop it from interfering with Minecraft’s connection attempts.

See the steps below:

• First, you have to open your antivirus app (or the security application in use on your computer). On its main program screen, you have to check for its Settings or Configuration menu button. Click on it.
• Check for the switch that allows you to disable or turn off your antivirus. Turn off the Real-time protection feature (if it is available). Do the same thing for other essential functionalities to ensure your antivirus stops working.
• Save the changes you made in your antivirus settings or configuration menu, then close its app. Relaunch the Minecraft game and see if the connection issues persist.

3. Ensure that all the computers involved are on the same network:

Minecraft being blocked by Firewall has been observed to be the underlying problem in the vast majority of connection issue reports. However, if you went through the previous operation to fix the firewall issue (or if it did not apply to you in the first place), there is a good chance the computers involved are connected to different networks (or one of them at least).

Your PC might have connected to a WI-FI network it is familiar with depending on where you are. Perhaps, another player’s computer is the device not on the right network. In any case, you will do well to double-check across the PCs involved. Ensure that all of them are on the same local network (the name must be the same on all the devices).

If a computer connected to the internet via Ethernet is involved, you have to ensure that the cable in use is connected to the same router to which the other devices are connected.

4. Update your network drivers:

At this point, if you are still struggling to get your computer to connect to the appropriate LAN network, we have to assume that your drivers are faulty (or in a poor working state). Drivers manage the interactions between the hardware components of your PC and the software in use on it.

If you have not updated your drivers in a while, now is an ideal time to do it.

An update of the affected drivers is likely to force changes in their software that will eliminate the issue you are facing currently. Go through the steps below to identify the drivers you need to upgrade:

• You have to open the Device Manager app. Right-click on the Windows Start button as you did earlier to see the applications that make up the Power User menu, then select Device Manager.
• On the Device Manager program screen, you will see the list of categories housing different devices. Double-click on the Network Adapters category to force its expansion. Now, the drivers that control or manage your network connections should be visible. Take note of them.

We recommend you update drivers for all the devices listed under Network Adapters.

• You can do this by right-clicking on a device to see some options, selecting Update driver software, then following the instructions or steps Windows brings up.

If things do not work out that way, you have to consider an alternative means of getting the needed driver software. In this regards, Auslogics Driver Updater will prove to be a useful utility. This program can scan your system to identify the old or outdated drivers, and once it is done with the identification process, it will move on to get perfect replacements for the drivers.

At the end of it all, you will just have to click on the Update driver button so that the downloading and installation operations (for the latest manufacturer-recommended versions of the needed drivers) can commence.

5. Fix problem involving AP (Access Point) isolation:

If the connection issues persist even after you verified that everyone is connected to the same network, there is a reasonable probability that the AP isolation feature active on your router is to blame. This assumption does not apply if your device is not trying to connect via WI-FI.

To check the state of things, you are going to use the ping test to see if every player’s computer can get in touch with the PC hosting the game (you have to do it on every device). The instructions below will guide you to do just that:

• First, you need to open the Command Prompt app. All you have to do is right-click on the Windows Start button on your PC’s screen as you did a couple of times earlier, then select Command Prompt.
• Once the required program window is up, you have to type in the following code: ipconfig
• Hit the Enter key. After the code gets executed, Windows will display some details about the IP address currently in use and the state of your PC’s network card.

You must take note of the IPv4 address for every computer on which you ran the code—you can copy them down somewhere. Most home users will see addresses in these forms: 192.168.1.* or 10.0.0.*

Those figures represent the default address blocks on most routers; they are typically reserved for internal use.

Now, at this point, we have to assume you have obtained the IP addresses for all the computers involved, which means you can move on to verify that they can reach other over the network. The ping command will come in quite handy here. Continue with the steps below:

• On the same Command Prompt program window, you have to type a code in this format: ping [IP address used by the PC that is hosting the game]

For example, let us assume that two PCs are involved: one with 20.0.0.66 as its IP address and the other with 20.0.0.47 as its address. In that case, the user must log onto the first computer and execute the following code on the Command Prompt window: ping 20.0.0.47

The user must move on to repeat the same operation on the other computer by logging on there and running the following code: ping 20.0.0.66

If you do everything correctly, the ping command will force Windows to give you an output that describes how fast one of the devices was able to connect to the other computer. Further information on the number of individual packets that returned successfully will be provided too. If you employ a home network, the success rate should be 100% (or extremely close to this figure).

On the other hand, if both computers fail the ping test (even though they managed to connect to the internet successfully), you have to look at one last thing—User Isolation. This issue is a result of the security feature employed by some routers.

The functionality isolates users from one another, which means the routers allow the users to connect to the internet but prevent them from getting in touch with one another. The feature is also known as User Isolation, Client Isolation, and so on. These terms all refer to the same thing.

A reasonable number of routers or WI-FI devices are known to apply the AP isolation feature to guest networks only (with user networks being excluded). Perhaps, one of the players trying to play Minecraft is logged into your router’s guest network. In that case, the required fix is easy. All you have to do is get that user’s PC off the guest network and reconnect it to the appropriate gateway.

Unfortunately, specific instructions on fixing AP isolation issues are beyond the scope of this guide. What we can advise though, in general, is that you consult the documentation or manual for your router. There, you should find detailed steps on disabling or enabling the feature.

6. Try to connect manually:

At this point, it is reasonable to infer that you are now likely to have success with manual operations since the previous fixes have failed you. Perhaps, the Minecraft app on your PC, due to no fault of yours (or for a strange reason), is failing to poll the network correctly and struggling to update the available LAN game list.

The existence of these problems does not imply that your PC is incapable of playing the game on the LAN. All you have to do is assist the program by typing in the address of the host player. Go through the steps below:

• First, you need to gather the necessary details. Earlier, you took note of the IP address of your device (for example, 192.168.1.* or 10.0.0.*), and this is just one part of the required information.

The other part is the port. Minecraft randomly assigns a game port when the application is launched on the host player computer. The game port is usually displayed at the bottom of the screen.

• At this stage, we have to assume you are armed with the necessary details. You must return to the other computers trying to connect to play the game. There, you have to launch the Minecraft app.
• On the game’s program window, you have to click on the Direct Connect button. Now, you should see text fields, where you get to type in the IP address (of the device you are on) and the port (obtained from the host computer).
• Hit the Enter button to connect and see how things go.

7. Ensure that every PC is running the same version of the Minecraft app:

If you are still struggling with LAN connection issues (or if you got kicked out after you managed to connect to the network), there is a good chance that the inconsistencies or differences within Minecraft’s program code are to blame for everything.

If the computers involved are running different versions of Minecraft, problems are bound to occur. For example, if the host computer is running Minecraft 1.7.10, devices running Minecraft 1.8.8 might struggle to link up with the network. The  Failed to connect to the server error message is likely to come up in such scenarios.

The obvious fix to the problem requires all users to run a single (or specific) version of Minecraft. Well, a change of the Minecraft version running on the host PC is off the cards (assuming the host player’s world is already developed and furnished with creations or features). In that case, all other devices must adjust their Minecraft versions to that of the host PC.

First, you have to take note of what Minecraft version the host PC is running, then you can move to select that same version on other computers (if necessary). Go through these steps to change the Minecraft version running on a device:

• Double-click on the Minecraft launcher on the PC whose game version you intend to adjust. Once the required program window comes up, you have to click on the Edit Profile button (which is usually close to the bottom of the window).
• Click on the drop-down menu for Use version to see the available options. Select the correct version (the one that is running on the host PC).
• Click on the Save Profile button, and you are done making the right changes.

Other things you can try to resolve Minecraft LAN connection issues on Windows

If you are yet to get the Minecraft app on every PC to connect to the host computer, this list of additional operations to try might prove useful in some way.

8. Ensure that everyone is using the same IP address:

For instance, one of the affected computers is connected to a Wi-Fi and Ethernet network at the same time. In that case or otherwise, that device might be using more than one IP address (or an address that differs from the one other machines are on), and the LAN connection issues are simply a consequence of this discrepancy.

9. Run Minecraft without mods:

Players use mods to change things within the game. Unfortunately, they might be to blame for the connection headache since every player trying to connect to your game must have the same mods as you (and must have the same versions of the mods installed). Perhaps, one of the conditions does not hold true currently. Find out the truth by running Minecraft without mods.

10. Reinstall Minecraft:

This fix might be the last thing on the list, but it is hardly your last resort. Well, reinstallation of the Minecraft app might bring about some changes that will eventually resolve the LAN connection issues on Windows. Since it is difficult to figure out which exact system is running the problematic Minecraft app, you have to perform this operation on all the computers involved.

Uninstall and reinstall all the Minecraft apps. You do not have much to lose from doing this.

TIP:

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