My two kids would love nothing more than to connect to each other in Minecraft. They've been playing together on the mobile version, but we cannot seem to get the desktop version to allow them to connect.
Both laptops are newer (one is Win 7, one is Win 8). Both are on the same network. I've actually turned the firewalls on both computers completely off to see if that was the issue; it wasn't.
I tried direct connecting, that also did not work.
The Win 8 laptop can see the game on the Win 7 laptop, but when it tries to join, we get the "timed out" error message. The Win 7 laptop can't find the game on the Win 8 laptop at all.
It seemed easier for testing purposes to just turn the firewall off completely - I figured if that turned out to do the trick, I would turn it back on and add the appropriate permissions.
They are on the same workgroup, they can see each other and share files with each other. We can't physically connect with the router without a lot of trouble - as in, everyone moving to my home office and disconnecting my office equipment which is physically connected to the router. Which isn't *really* an option. I've been considering installing a secondary router/network extender and could potentially physically link the laptops to that if you think it would solve the problem.
Thanks for the suggestions. Anything else to try? I'm highly disappointed that Mojang doesn't seem to offer any actual support for their product.
You can directly connect the two computers using a crossover ethernet cable, a normal one won't work for direct connections. A google search will show you how to make one.
Ah.... I didn't know you could do such a thing. I will give that a try. (Though I'll probably just walk down to my friendly local Radio Shak and buy the appropriate cable, lol.) Thanks!!
This does not seem to have worked, either. Now neither computer can see a game on the other computer at all, so I've actually taken a step backwards. If I disconnect both computers from our network and just use the crossover cable, the computers see each other fine and can access each other's files. I've still got the firewalls completely turned off. But no joy. All I want is for my two kids to be able to connect to each other in this game without having to join a public server with strangers. It doesn't seem like this should be so hard.
Like what OversizedGuitar said, make sure both your children have separate accounts otherwise the Minecraft coding conflicts and becomes confused because the accounts are online at the same time.
Also, make sure when your child is on they open there world to 'LAN'
this will allow the other child to connect and play with each-other!
Best of luck!
Hey guys. Professional IT network guy here. I tried setting up Local LAN play yesterday on our home net with the same issue. One hardwired and one wireless. Also dropped both firewalls, but no server was visible. I setup static IPs, no joy. Tried direct connect, no joy. Finally I tacked on the port to the IP and I connected.
So my work around is to have the host "Open to LAN", note the port #, have client got to Multiplayer, Direct Connect and type in IPaddress:port (192.168.0.123:98765). Obviously your address and port will be different.
Not sure why the discovery process isn't working short of pulling out the protocol analyzer. But this gets us by for now.
So my work around is to have the host "Open to LAN", note the port #, have client got to Multiplayer, Direct Connect and type in IPaddress:port (192.168.0.123:98765). Obviously your address and port will be different
Thanks for this, it worked. I had been reading for the last 2 days on how to do this. Many others post how to do it and all were wrong. You would think information like this would be readily available but it's just not there.
*argh* Just having a chance to get back to this. Yes, we have two separate accounts. Trying the method suggested by AlBravo did work, though - YAY!!! As long as the Win 8 laptop makes a game and the Win 7 laptop joins it. wahoo.
Both laptops are newer (one is Win 7, one is Win 8). Both are on the same network. I've actually turned the firewalls on both computers completely off to see if that was the issue; it wasn't.
I tried direct connecting, that also did not work.
The Win 8 laptop can see the game on the Win 7 laptop, but when it tries to join, we get the "timed out" error message. The Win 7 laptop can't find the game on the Win 8 laptop at all.
Help?
are they on the same workgroup? do you have windows networking happening between them successfully?
can you physically link them to the router with patch cables? sometimes the wireless networking causes these issues with minecraft.
They are on the same workgroup, they can see each other and share files with each other. We can't physically connect with the router without a lot of trouble - as in, everyone moving to my home office and disconnecting my office equipment which is physically connected to the router. Which isn't *really* an option. I've been considering installing a secondary router/network extender and could potentially physically link the laptops to that if you think it would solve the problem.
Thanks for the suggestions. Anything else to try? I'm highly disappointed that Mojang doesn't seem to offer any actual support for their product.
Also, make sure when your child is on they open there world to 'LAN'
this will allow the other child to connect and play with each-other!
Best of luck!
there wouldn't be an address, it would just come up as a local server in the Multiplayer list
It would be dependant on whether you are running it as a LAN world or as a separate server, iirc.
So my work around is to have the host "Open to LAN", note the port #, have client got to Multiplayer, Direct Connect and type in IPaddress:port (192.168.0.123:98765). Obviously your address and port will be different.
Not sure why the discovery process isn't working short of pulling out the protocol analyzer. But this gets us by for now.
Thanks for this, it worked. I had been reading for the last 2 days on how to do this. Many others post how to do it and all were wrong. You would think information like this would be readily available but it's just not there.