A player stuck on the "Can't connect" screen almost always has a one-line reason printed right there in red. This guide maps the messages you'll actually see to their causes — and to the panel page that fixes each one.
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| You need | Your Minecraft server's address from the Network page |
| First check | Is the server actually online? (Free servers stop when empty — see below) |
| Then | Read the player's exact error and find it in the table |
The message → cause table
| The player sees | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "You are not white-listed on this server!" | Whitelist is on and they're not on it | Add them on the Players page (Whitelist tab), or turn white-list off on the Properties page |
| "Outdated server! I'm still on <version>" | The server runs an older version than their client | Have them select that version in their launcher, or update the server in the Version Changer |
| "Outdated client! Please use <version>" | The server runs a newer version than their client | They update their client to the version shown |
| "The server is full!" | max-players reached |
Raise max-players on the Properties page |
| "Failed to verify username!" / "Invalid session" | Online-mode mismatch (a cracked/offline client on an online server) | See online-mode, below — decide online vs cracked for the whole server |
| "Connection timed out" / "Connection refused" / "Can't resolve hostname" | Wrong address/port, or the server is offline | Check the address (below) and that the server is running |
| "This server requires Forge/Fabric" / "missing mod" | Modded server; the player lacks the loader + matching mods | They install the same loader and mod set — see Mods & modpacks |
Getting the address right
More "can't join" reports are wrong-address than anything else, and the right form depends on the platform:
- Java, with a Falix subdomain. Create a free subdomain on the Network page (like
yourname.falixsrv.me). It gets an SRV record, so players type just the name — no port. This is the cleanest option; hand out the bare name. - Java, no subdomain. Players use the full
IP:portexactly as shown on the Network page's Ports tab. - Bedrock (phones, consoles, Win10). Bedrock uses UDP and has no SRV record, so players always enter the address and the port in separate fields — never just the name. A Bedrock player also can't join a Java server unless you've installed Geyser for crossplay. See Bedrock & crossplay.
⚠️ Heads up:
server-ipandserver-portinserver.propertiesare managed by the panel — never edit them. If the address is wrong, it's the address you gave out that's wrong, not those keys.
Is the server even online?
On the free plan, a Minecraft server stops automatically about 10 minutes after the last player leaves. So "it worked last night, now it times out" is usually just an idle-stopped server — start it from the panel and it comes back. A player joining again cancels the countdown. Premium servers run 24/7 and never idle-stop. See Free-plan gaming.
If the console shows the server fully started (Done (X.XXXs)) but nobody can connect, the address is the suspect, not the server.
Online-mode and cracked clients
"Failed to verify username" means the server asked Mojang to verify the player and it couldn't — the player is on a cracked (offline) client while your server is in online mode. This is an all-or-nothing setting for the whole server:
- Online mode (default): every player is checked against Mojang. Secure, but cracked clients are rejected.
- Cracked / offline mode: no Mojang check — anyone can join with any name. The Properties page's Cracked Mode toggle flips
online-modeand walks you through the player-data migration (UUIDs change when you switch).
You can't allow just one cracked player; it's the server's mode. Read Cracked vs online mode before you flip it — there are security trade-offs.
Still stuck?
If nobody can join and the message is a plain timeout even with the right address and an online server, treat it like any other unreachable server: check the Firewall page for a Drop rule, and confirm the port on the Network page. I can't reach my app walks the same checks for the networking side.