Windows can join Switch multiplayer, but Switch cannot join Windows

I don't know anything about multiplayer, but could Minecraft be inadvertently checking to see if you have an active Nintendo Switch Online Membership when trying to connect to a LAN world?

@ @unknown

You can't play LAN cross platform without it, you have to have an active Switch Online subscription, and Microsoft account. This is definitely an issue in Minecraft or perhaps with their cross platform implementation using the MS account. I am leaning towards Minecraft itself since this issue only seems to be happening to people (just suddenly stops connecting) after the latest patch

@@unknown and @@unknown  Yeah Id like to add to my previous comment that the nintendo switch, has a single online membership, we are playing minecraft using the Nintendo account that has this online membership. I do have to add on 5 januari I bought a new membership and activated it on the 6th. I doubt this would be the cause, as the previous membership expired and we renewed and MC worked fine for a couple of days (if you check my previous comment from the 11th, we had MC working on the 9th.

You cannot play online multiplayer minecraft without a Nintendo online subscription (and you need a Microsoft account). 

Same behavior observed here. Receiving error code 2306-0332 on the Switch.

Can connect PC -> Switch. 

Cannot connect Switch -> PC. Please fix!!

Exact same issue. Please. Can't play with my kid while PC is hosting. If the Switch is a host it has a lot more limitations memory-wise and processor-wise so it plays awful and has lags this way.

Exact same issue here.

I tried all you can find on the internet... nothing works.

That's strange. I'm using WIN10, and my friend on Nintendo Switch joins and plays on my world just fine, with no problem joining.

@bingusboy20 What versions are you running? I asume also 1.19.51? both wifi or is PC wired? are both Microsoft users also owners of Minecraft bedrock edition (the PC player must be atleast). how many days since 2023 or 1.19.51 did you play (or hours, but atleast 2 or 3 days?).

Windows 10, what exact build version? 10.0.19045.2486 maybe? I dunno, I believe you tho, its just a silly bug I cant get to understand why it persists for some of us, but apparently works for you (and others?).

@bingusboy20, are you on the same wifi on lan game ? I think our issue is only with crossover on the same network for family

@vskkdrnasd do you mean you also have this bug with a switch trting to connect to a pc AND your android device? Because the issue you link to seem to be slightly different. No active third subscription required for local lan crossplatform multiplayer, and there,the original poster claims he uses the same Microsoft account to play, while i asume this may cause problems and i only use seperate Microsoft accounts to play on switch and pc. We even tried switching microsoft accounts and platforms. Thus user A on switch, trying to connect to world run by user B on pc. And the other way, user B logged in on switch connecting to user A on own world on pc. Switch cant connect.

Also mayor difference is we CAN see the other friend online and press the connect button. You link to an issue that seems to not even show eachother. Not a dupe

I have been having the exact same issue.
Spent about a day working through it with no success.

TLDR; Ruled out network, version and platform issues. The switch can't connect to my Windows 10 Minecraft specifically. That leads me to believe there is something about my Windows or Minecraft environment that is preventing the switch from connecting. Every other combination of platform and network works. I can connect when the switch hosts. The switch can connect to other windows 10 hosts on and off the network. It just can't connect when my Windows 10 machine hosts.

It stopped working about a week ago (around 6-8pm PST 1/10/23).

We can see my Windows 10 user and game from the switch under Friends, and receive invites, however any attempts to connect timeout.

I can join worlds on the switch from windows. The switch can connect to other computers in the house when they host. It seems to just be me or my windows 10 install. I can not think of anything that would have changed on the network or my PC around the time it stopped working.

Both the switch and the pc are connected to the same network via wifi and ethernet respectively. There is not an active VPN.

What I've tried so far:
Verifying version parity v1.19.51
Verified microsoft accounts
Verified nintendo switch online membership
Reserved IP for the switch (to eliminate DHCP issues)
Disabling router firewall
Disabling router NAT
Removing the router from the equation by connecting both the switch and pc to a wifi hotspot
Reinstalling minecraft on both devices
Deleting all of the texture packs on the pc
Disabling only allow custom skins
Adding Inbound/Outbound rules for minecraft to the windows defender firewall
Disabling the firewall completely
Restarting both devices multiple times

I'm going kind of bonkers trying to figure this out and not finding much else to try online.

This bug affects Windows 10 hosting a game in general, not only against a switch. It cannot host a game whatsoever. I have this issue on two separate computers. Minecraft version 1.19.51

@cooldemo perhaps. For us, there are two windows laptops and an iPad that can all join my Windows 10 world, only the Switch is unable. As best I can tell, everyone can join worlds hosted by everyone else except for that Switch to this computer.

My son and I had this same issue over lan and online. Eventually, we had to access the pc world by the Switch adding the Xbox gamertag (not the mc username) and then we were able to get the units to connect and play on the pc hosted world. It used to work fine, but 2 updates ago, this got messed up and that was the only way we could connect.

@Chris Ratliff

Can you elaborate on this please? My child (on the Nintendo Switch) happened to notice that their in-game name displayed on my Win10 screen isn't actually their Xbox gamertag the other day. Seems like it's the name that they were using when first playing Minecraft offline on the Nintendo Switch. Afterwards I signed them up for Microsoft/XBox account to (try and) begin cross playing online with me on the Windows 10 PC. When doing so they used the same name plus a few numbers to be a unique Xbox playertag. Those numbers don't show up on my end on the Win10 PC. I didn't think much of it until reading your comment.

How does one, "add the Xbox gamertag (not the mc username)" on the Nintendo Switch? On the Nintendo Switch we're already logging into the "Nintendo account" and then logging into a "Microsoft account" per the Minecraft main window when first launching the game. Actually it does all of that automatically and you can see the button labels changing accordingly. What else is there to do? You could be on to something on why this doesn't work for some of us.

@alphabeta

Sure, after getting logged into MC Switch, under Play -> Friends tab, there is a "Find Cross-Platform Friends" button.

After clicking that, it will ask you enter the gamertag. Once entered, it will show a prompt of users with that name. Be sure to enter the exact Xbox gamertag. Request the friend and they should receive a notification for becoming friends. After being accepted, open server/realm world will be shown. Just be sure that it is online, as the local (lan) setting ONLY seems to show other Switch users on same connection, not cross platform. Any thing Cross-Platform appears to require Nintendo Online to work properly.

I also have the LAN functionality failing

And in my case there is a very clear root cause. Before running the windows 10 2022H2 update  everything worked. AFTERWARDS, it didn't work. Nothing else changed in the meantime.

Although I'm not familiar with Switch, this may be linked to the same win10 update issue.

See also my ticket MCPE-166175

I'm seeing the same issue but with PS4/PS5. I can connect to worlds that are running on the PS4/PS5 from my windows 10 PC but neither of those consoles can connect to worlds running on my Windows 10 PC. They see the cross-play game but time out when trying to connect.

I've tried uninstalling recent Windows updates (including 22H2 mentioned elsewhere), disabling (and resetting) the firewall and anti-virus and I've also connected the PS4 and PC on the same physical switch with ethernet cables to rule out wifi router issues but nothing makes a difference. I've also re-installed minecraft on the PC but nothing changes.

The minecraft version matches on all devices (1.19.51).

The only thing I've noticed is different is my PC hosted world is only listed under cross play games on thePS4/5. I was sure it also used to be listed under LAN games too. When I connect to the PS4 from the PC the PS4 is listed under cross-play AND LAN games, but only cross-play when connecting from PS4/5 -> PC.

Happy to help debug the issue if needed.

Previously posted on MCPE-165950, but the latest comment pointed here. I'm not convinced this is the same since Windows 10 games don't appear on LAN at all for me. It was previously working on this same LAN/device configuration. I've tried typical troubleshooting steps (disable firewall, security software, etc.) as posted in my previous comment.

I am updating to say that I have now installed Minecraft on 3 computers. Only one computer shows up in LAN play when hosting. One computer has the 22H2 Windows 10 update and does not show up as a LAN host (but so does another without 22H2). All computers can join an iOS or android host. I can't seem to determine the cause of this sudden issue.

Haven't been able to connect a switch to PC at all on 1.19.51, mostly functional on earlier versions. Major dealbreaker bug.

I have the same exact problem. A week ago I could normaly play with two of my PC friends on a PC Hosted world. After being offline for just an hour, the problem started and since then, I cannot join any PC players. This is literally a MAJOR Problem and I hope this gets fixed ASAP

Same issue here... The bedrock on consoles just don't seem to connect to the WIN10 version. I can easily connect to a realms server using the switch but cannot connect to a PC hosted world even though I see that the PC user is playing and I can see the world. Also interesting is that windows doesn't see players to invite that are online. When I try to invite someone to play i can only see players who are offline when playing on pc

EDIT

Just successfuly invited an online win10 player to a switch hosted world. I cannot see any online players to invite while playing on WIN10 - maybe that is the culprit?

I am having the exact same issue as the OP.

My girlfriend bought  Minecraft for PC, running on Windows 10. 

I can see her world from my Switch while she’s playing and it says the world is joinable. She’s even sent me an invite from PC and it showed up on my Switch. But the connection to her PC world is never made. Exactly like OP says: “Eventually an error is returned that the world cannot be joined and the connection timed out.”

I’ve tried disabling the firewall, making sure Minecraft is whitelisted within the firewall settings, I’ve uninstalled third party antivirus software, I’ve tried port forwarding, and I’ve tested wifi vs wired connection. All come back with the same result: connection times out.

Any advice or some insight into whether there’s a larger problem would be much appreciated.

I'm having a similar problem yours seems to happen on the same wifi network because you're playing with your child. My friends who own a Nintendo Switch can't connect to my world on Windows 10 edition even though it worked fine like a week ago, and this is only affecting those switch players because anyone else can join. It loads for a long time, and then it times out. It might be on the switch side of things but I'm glad im not the only one who has this issue rn.

@KirbyMlgnes I have the same issue with my brother's switch, Sister's switch, My PS4, and my PS5. It doesnt seem to be only a switch issue, possibly an issue with all consoles. Though I don't have a Xbox to test that

Just adding another comment to back-up Alejandro Cruz’s issues. I tried connecting to my girlfriend’s Windows 10 world from my PS4 this evening. And the connection times out just the same as it has with the Switch earlier in the day.

It’s not just a Switch issue.

I wonder if they're actually working to fix this deadly bug. It's been almost a whole month and the confirmation status is still "Community Consensus"... will this get neglected like other 500 community consensus bugs existing?

this issue is not about switch, it's about Windows, i raised another ticket here, MCPE-166252

so all windows game cannot be found by other consoles and devices, even 2 same Windows bedrock version cannot see each other. (java version is ok)

Just an update - I only have an issue when trying to connect from Switch to PC (windows 10).

PC to PC (Windows 10 to Windows 11 and vice versa), and PC (Windows 10) to Switch both work fine. I have not tried to/from Android but might give it a go.

The game I want to connect to always appears, but does not allow me to connect when on the Switch.

For me and many others PC to PC (Win 10 for me) does not work. They don't show up in the Friends tab list anymore. 

@Sam have you updated all your PCs to the latest windows version? (22H2 check windows update, might not update automatically). 

I and my firends successed connect from switch to PC.

We couldn't connect before yesterday. Today we tried again, and it goes well.

Seems to be working again for me too. (Windows 10 to Windows 10)

OP here. Given the recent comments, I ran a quick test with the original parameters and I can confirm I'm able to successfully connect from the Nintendo Switch to the Win10 PC for the first time. I made no configuration changes to either device to further troubleshoot this, so I'm going to continue to assume this was an issue on the backend somewhere that has been addressed. I hope this remains stable, but from my perspective, this issue can close.

Appreciate all the confirmation that came in from others having the same problem which allowed me to avoid pouring more hours into troubleshooting my devices and network. We had just started playing while this issue was taking place so we never had the luxury of seeing it work before, until now.

Hi. Have retested and confirm that it seems to work again. No Minecraft or Switch updates, so maybe something in the Microsoft/XBox server communication stack?

I confirm its working again! 🙂 

Thanks for the info, everyone.

It worked fine in my environment, too.

I haven't done anything since the problem started.

My environment: Mutual LAN connection of win10, win10, win11

My post when the problem occurs: MCPE-165950

Same for me, it is resolved and will finaly play with my kids!

Resolved for me as well.

Can confirm it works for us aswell.

having the same problem again.

Yep can confirm this is back.  No LAN play on pc to pc or pc to Switch.

Having this exact issue with my son and a PS4.  I can join his PS4 worlds on my PC, but he cannot join the worlds created on my PC, with or without any mods/packs.  I have tried every troubleshooting step besides completely reinstalling Windows, which is not an option, and absolutely shouldn't be necessary

Indeed, same issue is back, iOS to Windows 11 via LAN.

Having same issue here W10 to W10.

I have the same issue with Multiple Win10 pc's on a home LAN, my kids and I cannot play LAN multiplayer together anymore it seems after recent updates to 1.19.62 and maybe some win 10 updates? The 'friends' worlds are just never visible between Win10 pc to Win10 pc, but i started a world on my android phone and we could see the world in the 'friends' list of the Win 10 PCs, It was even joinable, from PC to the android phone but that's not a playable solution obviously. I hope this can be fixed soon as it's disabled an important family pastime. Please Fix LAN multiplayer in Win10 networks!

Note- All the network settings and firewall settings check out fine, followed all the available guides already to no avail. Its probably a win 10 update flaw that stuffed this up.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/something-is-blocking-incoming-minecraft-lan/4208a27d-6027-411d-8251-723a1b124c31
People have already posted this in the MS answers Community too.

Version 1.19.63 fixed it for us (updated on Switch and PC - use Windows Store to update on PC)

1.19.63? Still not available in my Microsoft store... No change as yet.

Hi, same problem. I played LAN game on two PCs 25 days ago without any problems, today LAN not working.

Indeed, still the same problem here, and no 1.19.63 update available

Obviously this isn't affecting all the MC players who are using LAN games at home so isn't super high priority, i guess, but it is very frustrating and we'd all love some help with it asap. I don't think there was ever a 1.19.63 update? Can anyone guess the reason this is occurring? Is there possibly a temp fix or something we can do to get us going again before a real update?

The 1.19.63 Update just dropped in Australia, installed on 2 fully up to date Win10 PCs. Restarted all machines and check network discovery and firewall settings all ok too.

It did not fix the issue, we still cannot connect win10 to win10, and now we cannot connect Win10 to Android either, we could before this update.... we also cannot connect Android to Win10.

LAN Minecraft in the home is very important to young families who don't want their kids playing online but who want their kids to have a fun and creative gaming experience. Please give us a solution.

Windows 10 to Windows 10 LAN friends are not showing up

We have 4 computers that all stopped showing LAN friends worlds at the same time. All were on 1.19.62 and have since been updated to 1.19.63 . Three computers connect over WIFI and one over wired. This was first noticed 2/23/23 but it could have been going on before then as my kids hadn't played in a week.

For trouble shooting on all computers, we have tried:

Changing  to a different internet network on a different router.

Made sure network visibility and file sharing was turned on.

Minecraft worlds are set to LAN visible

Firewall is set to allow Minecraft and Network Discovery

3 of 4 computers have the latest Windows update.