Since Minecraft Bedrock Dedicated Server version 1.26.30, players are unable to consistently connect to my server. The client connection fails with a "Connection timed out" error.
The same server configuration and network environment work correctly on version 1.26.20.
No changes were made to:
Server configuration
Network environment
Router settings
Firewall settings
Port forwarding settings
The only difference is the Bedrock Dedicated Server version.
Environment
Working version:
Minecraft Bedrock Dedicated Server 1.26.20
Affected versions:
Minecraft Bedrock Dedicated Server 1.26.30
1.26.31
1.26.32
1.26.33
Network:
Same server machine
Same network
Same ports
Same configuration files
Steps to reproduce
Run the Bedrock Dedicated Server with version 1.26.20.
Allow another player to connect.
The player can join successfully.
Then:
Replace only the server binary with version 1.26.30 or newer.
Start the server using the exact same configuration.
Attempt to join from another client.
Actual behavior
The client fails to connect and eventually shows:
Connection timed out
The server appears to be running normally, but incoming connections are not successfully established.
Additional investigation
During testing, I found that the issue may be related to the server's network service initialization.
When the server starts successfully, the log sometimes contains:
[2026-07-06 18:26:44:411 INFO] IPv4 supported, port: 19132 used for LAN discovery
[2026-07-06 18:26:44:411 INFO] IPv6 supported, port: 19133
In this case, players can connect normally.
However, in many launches with the exact same configuration, the server only initializes gameplay ports:
[2026-07-06 18:27:26:382 INFO] IPv4 supported, port: 19135: Used for gameplay
[2026-07-06 18:27:26:383 INFO] IPv6 supported, port: 19136: Used for gameplay
[2026-07-06 18:27:26:438 INFO] Waiting for Minecraft services...
[2026-07-06 18:27:53:996 INFO] Server started.
[2026-07-06 18:27:53:996 INFO] ================ TELEMETRY MESSAGE ===================
[2026-07-06 18:27:53:996 INFO] Server Telemetry is currently not enabled.
[2026-07-06 18:27:53:997 INFO] Enabling this telemetry helps us improve the game.
[2026-07-06 18:27:53:997 INFO]
[2026-07-06 18:27:53:997 INFO] To enable this feature, add the line 'emit-server-telemetry=true'
[2026-07-06 18:27:53:997 INFO] to the server.properties file in the handheld/src-server directory
[2026-07-06 18:27:53:997 INFO] ======================================================
Waiting for Minecraft services...
Server started.
No LAN discovery initialization message appears.
When this happens, players cannot connect and receive a timeout error.
Expected behavior
The server should accept client connections consistently, as it does in version 1.26.20.
Starting the server multiple times with identical settings should not change whether players can connect.
Logs
Successful startup:
[2026-07-06 18:26:44:411 INFO] IPv4 supported, port: 19132 used for LAN discovery
[2026-07-06 18:26:44:411 INFO] IPv6 supported, port: 19133
Failed startup:
[2026-07-06 18:27:26:382 INFO] IPv4 supported, port: 19135: Used for gameplay
[2026-07-06 18:27:26:383 INFO] IPv6 supported, port: 19136: Used for gameplay
[2026-07-06 18:27:26:438 INFO] Waiting for Minecraft services...
[2026-07-06 18:27:53:996 INFO] Server started.
Summary
BDS 1.26.20: Clients can always connect.
BDS 1.26.30+: Clients frequently cannot connect and receive connection timeout.
The problem occurs without any configuration changes.
LAN discovery initialization appears to correlate with successful connections, but the primary issue is that the server cannot accept client connections.
Please investigate possible networking regressions introduced after version 1.26.20.
Comments 3
But now Mic Hoe is advertising to the griefers and trolls that they have a Minecraft server. How do we fix this without advertising the server? LAN discovery does not help my connection and bottlenecks my server provider’s network infrastructure, I cannot enable it.
I have been unable to use BDS for multiplayer for months now, and BDS has given bug reports that explain the problem IN DETAIL and provide a solution to be implemented, or at least tried, for months now. Why do we get pushed to the curb just because we don’t want trolls?
TL;DR: I’m engaging this post to give it traffic again. Maybe an update on if it’s going to be fixed?
not really sure if its server oder client related. but i think its the same cause.
old worlds served via current bds do not connect with bedrock client.
old config with “empty” world works → maybe support can not see the problem or i have not found out, why my elder 1000+ days world has issues.
server starts without errors, client does not connect successfully.
its not the one world problem - i have this on ALL preexisting bedrock worlds are affected!
BDS-23072 vs MCPE-240610
i have the same issue on a VM i have, with 4 bedrock dedicated servers (4 different non-standard ports)
after seeing a post on cubecoders with title “Connectivity Problem with Minecraft Bedrock - Cannot connect to server instances”
(seems my posts are blocked if i do links, hence the description instead)
i tried enabling “enable-lan-visibility” on one of the servers
then that server started working, even on the non standard port
then for fun, i tried enabling it on the other 3, even if that could give port conflicts according to server.properties comments
but… all 4 servers work now, even when not on the same LAN