Installing Craftlio

This guide takes you from nothing to a Minecraft server your friends can join, step by step. Most people are done in about ten minutes. You don't need to know any commands: everything happens in a setup window that asks before it changes anything, and then in your browser.

Contents

1. What you need
2. Download Craftlio
3. Run the setup
4. Create your owner account
5. Create your first server
6. Let friends join from the internet
7. Use Craftlio away from home (optional)
8. Put Craftlio on your phone
9. Run more than one server at a time
10. Keeping Craftlio up to date
11. Uninstalling
12. If something goes wrong

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1. What you need

You don't need to install Java or Node.js yourself: the setup installs Node.js for you, and Craftlio downloads the right Java for each Minecraft version.

2. Download Craftlio

The quick way: open PowerShell (press the Windows key, type powershell, press Enter) and paste:

irm https://craftlio.xyz/install.ps1 | iex

It downloads the newest Craftlio into C:\Craftlio (or a folder you type), and starts the setup from step 3, so you can skip the rest of this section. Running it again later updates Craftlio and keeps your servers and settings.

Or by hand:

1. Download Craftlio.zip from craftlio.xyz (always the newest version).
2. Unblock the zip before you unzip it. Right-click Craftlio.zip → Properties → tick Unblock at the bottom → OK. (Windows marks downloaded files; unblocking stops it asking about every script inside.)
3. Right-click the zip → Extract All… and choose a permanent home, for example C:\Craftlio.
   • Avoid Downloads, the Desktop and OneDrive folders: they get cleaned up or synced, and your servers' data lives here.

3. Run the setup

Open the folder you extracted and double-click setup.cmd. A window opens and walks through six steps. Press Enter to accept the suggestion in [brackets], or type your own answer.

If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway. Craftlio's scripts aren't signed with a paid certificate, so Windows doesn't recognise them yet.

Running the setup again later is safe: it shows what's already done and only changes what you choose.

4. Create your owner account

Your browser opens http://localhost:1999.

1. Choose a username and a password (at least 10 characters), then Create owner account.
   • For safety, the owner account can only be created from this machine or another device on your home network.
2. You're in. Later you can add accounts for friends who help run things, with their own permissions, in Accounts.
3. Worth doing soon: on your Account page, turn on Two-factor sign-in or add a Passkey (fingerprint, face or PIN).

From now on, open Craftlio at http://localhost:1999 on this machine, or http://<this machine's address>:1999 from another device at home (the address is shown in System).

5. Create your first server

1. Click Add server (on the Servers page) or New server on the dashboard.
2. Type: pick the software.
   • Paper for a vanilla-style server with plugins (the usual choice), Vanilla for plain Minecraft, Fabric, Quilt, Forge or NeoForge for mods, Velocity for a proxy that links several servers, or a modpack from Modrinth, CurseForge or FTB. You can also upload a .mrpack or CurseForge zip you made.
3. Version: pick the Minecraft version your players use.
4. Details: a name, how much memory to give it (6 GB is suggested; less is fine for a small vanilla or Paper server), the game port (25565 for the first server), game mode, difficulty, max players and whitelist.
5. EULA: read and accept Minecraft's End User License Agreement. Every Minecraft server needs this.
6. Create. Craftlio downloads everything, including the right Java, and shows a live install log.
7. Press Start. When it says Online, join from Minecraft:
   • on this machine: Multiplayer › Add Server, address localhost
   • from another computer at home: the Home network address shown on the server's Overview, e.g. 192.168.1.20:25565

If the whitelist is on, add your friends' names on the server's Players page (or send them an invite link).

Already have a server? On the New server page, press Bring in a server I have and type its folder (the one with server.properties in it). Craftlio works out what it is (Paper, Purpur, Spigot, Fabric, Quilt, Forge, NeoForge, Mohist, Vanilla or Velocity), its version, port and memory. Use it where it is, or let Craftlio copy it into its own servers folder and leave the original untouched.

6. Let friends join from the internet

Your router decides what the internet can reach. First, open System and look at Can friends reach this home? under Network:

• Yes: carry on below.
• Probably not (CGNAT) or a second router in front of yours: port forwarding can't work from here. Ask your internet provider for a public IPv4 address, or use a game tunnel instead: press Set up a game tunnel and follow the four steps (playit.gg is free for Minecraft). Then give friends the tunnel's address.

The automatic way: on the server's Overview, turn on Open the port on my router. While the server runs, Craftlio asks your router to forward its port (plus Bedrock and voice chat when installed) and closes it again when the server stops. This needs UPnP, which most routers have; if yours says no, turn UPnP on in its settings, or:

By hand:

1. Forward the game port on your router. Open your router's settings page (often 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1; the address and password are usually on a sticker on the router), find Port forwarding (sometimes under NAT, Virtual server or Gaming), and add:
   • TCP 25565 (or the port of your server, shown on its Overview) → this machine's home address (the Home network address on the Overview, without the :port)
   • Bedrock crossplay also needs UDP 19132; Simple Voice Chat needs UDP 24454.
2. Check it works: on the server's Overview, press Test from internet. It asks an outside service to connect to you.
3. Give friends the address shown as Internet on the Overview.
4. (Optional) Join by name: with a domain on Cloudflare, set System › Join address and Craftlio keeps a name like play.example.com pointed at your home, even when your internet provider changes your address.

Never forward port 1999 (Craftlio itself). To use Craftlio away from home, use the next section instead.

7. Use Craftlio away from home (optional)

The safe way is a free Cloudflare Tunnel. It gives Craftlio an https:// address without opening any ports, and phone notifications and passkeys need https.

1. Have a domain on Cloudflare (a free Cloudflare account is enough).
2. In the Cloudflare dashboard: Zero Trust › Networks › Tunnels › Create a tunnel → Cloudflared, name it (e.g. craftlio), and run the install command it shows on this machine (in an administrator window).
3. Add a public hostname, for example mc.example.com, pointing to http://localhost:1999.
4. Open https://mc.example.com from anywhere and sign in.

8. Put Craftlio on your phone

Open Craftlio's address in your phone's browser, then:

• Android (Chrome): menu ⋮ → Add to Home screen / Install app
• iPhone (Safari): Share → Add to Home Screen

It opens like an app, with a bottom bar. To get alerts (a crash, a friend joining) on the phone, turn them on under Notifications on your Account page; this needs the https address from section 7.

9. Run more than one server at a time

By default Craftlio runs one Minecraft server at a time, so one world gets all the memory. To run more:

1. Open System and find Servers at once in the Storage card.
2. Choose how many and press Save. Free runs up to 2 at once; Craftlio Plus runs up to 6.

Each running server uses the memory you gave it, so make sure they fit together (for example three 4 GB servers on a machine with 16 GB). Under the setting, Craftlio shows whether your biggest servers fit, and before each start it checks there's enough free memory (you can still press Start anyway). Give each server its own port (25565, 25566, …): the wizard suggests a free one, and you can change it on the server's Setup page. A Velocity proxy doesn't count towards the limit.

Craftlio Plus ($10 a year, craftlio.xyz) raises the limit from 2 to 6 servers at once, on up to 2 machines. To turn it on:

1. Get Plus on craftlio.xyz/account (you sign in with an emailed link; no password).
2. In Craftlio, open System › Craftlio Plus and press Link my craftlio.xyz account. Craftlio shows a short code and opens craftlio.xyz, where you approve it. Craftlio picks it up by itself.

Craftlio then checks your licence once a day. Without internet, Plus keeps working for 30 days after the last check. Losing Plus never stops a running server: it only stops more than 2 from starting. Cancel any time from your account page (Manage billing); Plus keeps working until the end of the year you paid for.

Keep the machine awake: a sleeping machine takes every server offline, so by default Craftlio stops Windows from going to sleep while a server runs (System › Keep this machine awake: while a server runs, only while players are on, or never). The screen can still turn off; closing a laptop's lid still does what Windows is set to do.

Family controls: on a server's Players page you can set when it can be played (school days and weekends), a daily time limit per player, and a chat word filter. Players get a warning before their time is up, then a friendly message saying when they can come back. Operators aren't limited.

10. Keeping Craftlio up to date

System › Craftlio version shows when a new version is out. Press Update: Craftlio downloads it, keeps your data and servers exactly as they are, saves the previous version in data\app-backups, and restarts itself. Running Minecraft servers keep running through the update.

Your settings, accounts and server list live in the data folder next to Craftlio. Craftlio also copies them every day into your backups folder (_minedash), so they're safe even if this machine's drive fails.

11. Uninstalling

1. Stop your Minecraft servers in Craftlio.
2. In the Craftlio folder, right-click uninstall-autostart.ps1 → Run with PowerShell (stops Craftlio and removes the start-with-Windows task).
3. If you installed the network meter: right-click uninstall-net-helper.ps1 → Run with PowerShell.
4. (Optional) remove the firewall rules: open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security → Inbound Rules and delete the rules that start with Craftlio.
5. Delete the Craftlio folder.

Your servers and backups are in their own folders (C:\MinecraftServers and C:\MinecraftBackups by default) and are not deleted. Remove them yourself if you don't need them.

12. If something goes wrong