Your friends cannot connect: a checklist that finds it
When a friend cannot join, the cause is on one of three sides: your server, that player's own setup, or the game's login and matchmaking services. This checklist tests each side in order so you stop guessing.
6 min read · Updated Oct 21, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team
Most people start in the wrong place: they change server settings because a player said "it will not let me in", when the server was never the problem. Work down the list instead. Every step has a test, and each result rules something out.
Step 1: is the server actually online?
Sign in at customer.guavahost.com, open My servers and click Manage on your server. The status next to the server's name has to read Online. If it reads Offline or Starting, nobody can join yet, and nothing a player does on their end will change that.
Open the Console tab and watch for the line saying the server has finished loading. On most Minecraft servers that is a Done line with a startup time. On other games it is a line saying the server is listening, or that it registered with the game's master server.
- Status Online and a finished startup line: the server is up. Move to step 2.
- Status Starting for several minutes, or a console that is not moving: the server is not actually getting up. Server stuck starting or offline walks through that, including how to find the reason in the console.
Step 2: can you join it yourself?
Try joining with your own client, from your own home connection, using the exact address from the panel.
This single test splits the problem in half:
- You get in and your friend does not. The server is fine and reachable from the internet. The cause is on the player's side or in a gate you set yourself. Go to step 4.
- You cannot get in either. The problem is on the server side or in the address. Go to step 3.
If you are trying from the same house as a server you host at home, this test lies to you, because you may be connecting over your local network instead of the internet. On a GuavaHost server that cannot happen, because the server is never on your network.
Step 3: is the address right?
Look at the top of the server page, next to Address. You will see the IP and the port separated by a colon, for example 123.45.67.89:25565. Use the copy button rather than typing it out.
Compare it, character by character, with what the player has saved:
- The IP. One wrong digit makes the server look like it does not exist.
- The port. Each server gets its own port, often not the game's default, so a client that fills in the default will fail.
- The colon. One colon, no spaces around it.
- Nothing extra. A trailing space, a curly quote from a chat app, or
http://in front will all break it.
Address, IP and port covers the exact format each kind of client wants, and where every one of your ports lives in the panel.
If your server has changed location since you last shared the address, the IP and port changed with it, so recopy and re share.
Step 4: do the versions match?
A version mismatch is the single most common reason one player gets in and another does not, because that other player's game updated itself.
In the panel, the running version is in Startup settings on the Settings tab, or on the Version page under Minecraft tools for Minecraft Java. Have the player check the version their client is on and set it to the same one.
The error text usually gives this away: anything along the lines of an outdated client or outdated server is a version problem and nothing else. For Minecraft Java, Fix the outdated server and outdated client messages has the detail. On a modded server, a player whose mod list does not line up with the server's is refused in much the same way, with the mismatched mods named in the message.
Step 5: did you lock them out yourself?
Easy to forget on a server you set up weeks ago. Check, in this order:
- Whitelist or allow list. If it is on, a player who is not on it is refused even with a perfect address. Allow lists and whitelists shows how to add them without locking yourself out.
- A server password. Games like Valheim, Palworld and Project Zomboid have one in their settings. If you changed it, old players have the old one saved.
- A ban, including an accidental IP ban that caught a whole household.
- A player cap. A full server refuses the next player.
Step 6: the player's own network
If the server is online, the address is right, the versions match and no gate is on, the cause sits between that player and the internet: their own firewall or antivirus, a VPN they forgot was running, or a network that blocks game traffic, such as a school, office or hotel.
The quickest test: have them try from a different network, for example their phone's mobile data. If it works there and not at home, it is their home network. When a firewall or network blocks your game port goes through each of those and how to test them properly.
Step 7: the game's own services
Some games check with their publisher's servers before letting a player in, so an outage there looks exactly like your server being broken. Signs that this is what you are hitting:
- Several players fail at the same moment, including ones who were in an hour ago.
- The error mentions a session, a login, authentication or a Steam ticket rather than a connection.
- The player's own game will not reach the main menu properly.
On Minecraft Java that is the Mojang session server, and the message mentions an invalid session or a failed login. On Rust it shows up as a Steam auth timeout. Palworld routes joins through its own lobby system, which fails the same way. There is nothing to fix on your side for any of these. Have the player fully restart the game and their launcher, and if several players fail at once, wait it out.
Read the error, it narrows everything
Before you change anything, ask the player for the exact words on their screen, ideally a screenshot. Error text splits neatly into four families:
| What they see | Which side |
|---|---|
| A timeout, a refused connection, or no response | Network or address |
| Outdated, incompatible, or a mod list mismatch | Version |
| Session, authentication, login, or ticket | The game's services |
| Not whitelisted, wrong password, banned, full | A gate you control |
Common questions
It works for everyone except one friend, so is my server broken?
No. If other people are in, your server is online, reachable and running a version that works. Spend your time on that one player's setup: their version, their saved address, and their own network.
Should I restart the server when someone cannot join?
Only after you have checked the status and the console. A restart fixes a server that is wedged, but it does nothing for a wrong address, a version mismatch or a player's firewall, and it kicks everyone who is already playing.
My friend says the server is offline but the panel says online. Who is right?
Both. The panel is reporting the process on the machine, and the client is reporting that it got no answer at the address it tried. That combination almost always means the address or the version is wrong, so recopy the address from the panel and compare versions.
How long should I wait before asking for help?
Once you have been through steps 1 to 5 and nothing stands out, bring us the exact error text and the last twenty or so lines of your server console. Our team is online 24 hours a day and those two things are what we look at first anyway.
Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.
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