Setting up a Minecraft Bedrock server (mobile, console and Windows)

Bedrock is the Minecraft edition for phones, consoles and the Microsoft Store version on Windows. Mojang publishes its official server for free, the Bedrock Dedicated Server, for Windows and Ubuntu (it works the same on Debian).

1. Download and install

Go to minecraft.net/download/server/bedrock, accept the terms and pick the .zip for your system.

Windows: extract it to C:\bedrock and run bedrock_server.exe.

Linux: copy the link of the Ubuntu .zip and:

apt install -y unzip curl
adduser --disabled-password --gecos "" bedrock
su - bedrock
mkdir ~/server && cd ~/server
curl -L -A "Mozilla/5.0" -o bedrock.zip "PASTE_THE_LINK_HERE"
unzip bedrock.zip && rm bedrock.zip
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./bedrock_server

When the console says Server started, it is running. To stop it cleanly, type stop.

2. Settings (server.properties)

Setting	What for
`server-name`	The name shown in the game
`gamemode` / `difficulty`	Game mode and difficulty
`max-players`	Players at once
`allow-list`	With `true`, only listed players get in (`allowlist add Name` in the console)
`online-mode`	Keep it `true`: it requires a Microsoft/Xbox account
`server-port`	19132 unless you change it
`level-name` / `level-seed`	World folder name and seed

To make yourself operator, with your character connected, type op YourName in the console.

3. Open port 19132 (UDP)

Bedrock uses UDP, not TCP:

# Windows (PowerShell as administrator)
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Bedrock UDP 19132" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 19132 -Action Allow -Profile Any

# Linux
ufw allow 19132/udp

On Spain servers, apply the Bedrock filter in the Security tab.

4. Joining

Phone and Windows: Play → Servers → Add Server, with your VPS's IP and port 19132.
Consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch): the game only lets you join featured servers, not your own. There are community workarounds, but they are not official.

5. Updating without losing the world

This is the key point with Bedrock: players update automatically, and if your server stays on an older version they cannot join. When a new version comes out:

Stop the server with stop.
Set aside the worlds folder and the files server.properties, permissions.json and allowlist.json.
Extract the new version on top and put those four back.
Start it.

On Linux, for example:

mkdir -p ~/backup && cd ~/server
cp -r worlds server.properties permissions.json allowlist.json ~/backup/
curl -L -A "Mozilla/5.0" -o ~/new.zip "NEW_VERSION_LINK"
unzip -o ~/new.zip && rm ~/new.zip
cp -r ~/backup/* .

Java and Bedrock together?

If you want players from both editions in the same world, set up a Java server with Paper and add the Geyser plugin (plus Floodgate, so Bedrock players do not need a Java account). Geyser listens on 19132 UDP, which you open in addition to 25565 TCP.