Invite your first players
Exactly what to send someone so they can join your server first try: the address, the port, the version and any password, plus how to keep track of who is allowed in.
6 min read · Updated Oct 21, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team
Almost every "my friend cannot join" message comes from an incomplete invite. The server is fine, the player is fine, but they were given an IP with no port, or they are on a different game version, or nobody mentioned the password. Send the whole thing the first time and most of that disappears.
The four things to send
- The full address. Sign in at customer.guavahost.com, open My servers, click Manage, and click the copy button next to the address at the top of the server page. It looks like
123.45.67.89:25565. Paste what you copied, do not retype it. - The version. The exact version, not "latest". A player on a different version gets a mismatch error and will blame your server for it.
- The password, if there is one. Many games have a server password, and some will not even show your server in a list until the right one is entered.
- Which edition or client. This is the one people forget. Minecraft Java and Bedrock are different games and cannot join the same plain server. Terraria and tModLoader are different. ARK: Survival Evolved and Ascended are different.
The part before the colon is the IP (the numeric address of the machine) and the part after it is the port (the specific door on that machine your server listens on). Some games want the whole string in one box, some split it into two fields, and a few fill in the port for you if it is the game's default. Finding your server IP and port has the detail, and server address, IP and port explains why the port is not optional.
A message you can copy
Something like this gets people in without a back and forth:
Server: 123.45.67.89:25565
Game: Minecraft Java 1.21.1 (Java Edition, not Bedrock)
Password: none
Restarts nightly at 4am, so don't be surprised if you get kicked for 30 seconds
Four lines, and it answers the questions before they are asked. If your game splits the address into two fields, write the IP and the port on separate lines so nobody pastes the colon into the wrong box.
For Bedrock players, give the IP and the port as two separate values, because that is how the Bedrock client asks for them. Console players cannot type an address into the normal server screen at all: playing Bedrock on a console.
If your group mixes Java and Bedrock players, one server can host both with Geyser, but the two editions connect on different ports and handing out the wrong one is the single most common crossplay mistake. See Geyser explained.
Pointing people at a name instead of numbers
An IP and port is not memorable. For a Minecraft Java server you can point your own domain at it with an SRV record, so players type play.yourserver.com and nothing else. See using a custom domain.
Deciding who is allowed in
Before you post the address anywhere public, decide what your door policy is. There are three sensible answers:
| Policy | Best for | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Open to anyone | A public server you want to grow | Nothing, but set up protection against griefing |
| Password | A private group, most games | Set the password, share it privately |
| Allowlist or whitelist | A private Minecraft server | Add names, then turn the list on |
On Minecraft, run whitelist add <name> for each player in the Console, then whitelist on. Never turn it on first: an empty list means nobody is allowed, including you. Bedrock uses the word allowlist for the same thing (allowlist add <name>). Allowlist and whitelist explained covers both, and whitelist without locking yourself out is worth two minutes before you try it.
Whichever you choose, keep the list somewhere other than your head. A pinned message with the current players, or a short note per player in the panel, saves you from wondering who "xX_steve_Xx" was in three months. If you need to remove someone, banning and kicking players covers doing it properly rather than just revoking the password.
Setting expectations before they join
Two things are worth saying up front, because they stop support messages landing on you.
Restarts. If you have a nightly restart scheduled, say so. A player who gets disconnected at 4am without warning assumes the server crashed. The friendlier version is to warn in chat first: the Scheduled tasks page has a starter that announces the restart a few minutes before it happens. See setting up an automatic daily restart.
Backups and rollbacks. Tell people a restore puts the whole world back to an earlier point, so a rollback after a disaster may cost everyone a few hours of building. Far better understood in advance than announced afterwards. See backups.
If something does go wrong, recovering a griefed server is the guide to have bookmarked.
When someone still cannot connect
Work through it in this order, because it fixes the common cases first:
- Ask what the error says, word for word. "It does not work" has twenty causes; the message has one.
- Check they used the port. Easily half of all cases.
- Check the version and the edition. The second half.
- Check the server is online in the panel, not Starting or Offline.
- Check your whitelist or password before you blame the network.
- Have them use direct connect rather than a saved entry, which can hold an old address.
The friends cannot connect checklist runs through this in more depth, and if your server is missing from an in-game browser rather than refusing a direct connection, server not showing in the server list is the right guide instead.
Giving someone help running it
Players and admins are different things. If a friend is going to help you run the server, do not give them your GuavaHost password. Add them under People in the server menu as a sub-user, with only the permissions you want them to have, and remove them later in one click. See giving a friend access with sub-users.
In-game admin is separate again, and every game does it differently: ops and permission plugins on Minecraft, an admin list on Valheim, owner IDs elsewhere. Keep the two as separate lists so nobody ends up with more than they need.
A note on a Discord for your server
Once you are past about five players, a small Discord earns its keep: one place to post the address, announce restarts and collect bug reports, reachable even when someone's game has crashed. You do not need channels for everything. Announcements, general and a bug thread covers it for a long time.
Common questions
Why can my friend not join when I can?
The usual answer is that you are joining through a saved entry that already has the port in it, and they typed only the IP. After that, it is a version or edition mismatch. Ask them to read out the exact error message, because it almost always names the real cause.
Do I have to share the port?
Yes, unless your server uses the game's default port and the player's game fills it in automatically. Sharing the full address with the port is always safe, so make it a habit rather than something you think about each time.
Can Bedrock and Java players join the same server?
Not on a plain server, because they are different games. One Java server can host both at once with Geyser and Floodgate, and in that setup the two editions connect on different ports, so you hand out two addresses rather than one.
Should I use a whitelist or a password?
A whitelist is better for a Minecraft server you want to keep to known people, because it survives a password being passed around. A password is simpler and works across most other games. For a server you want strangers to join, use neither and spend the effort on griefing protection instead.
Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.
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