Auto-Start Your Minecraft Server

If your Minecraft server runs on a VPS, you want it to start automatically after a crash or server reboot. On managed hosting the panel takes care of this, but on your own VPS you need to configure it yourself.

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Method 1: systemd service

Create a service file:

/etc/systemd/system/minecraft.service

[Unit]
Description=Minecraft Server
After=network.target

[Service]
User=minecraft
WorkingDirectory=/home/minecraft/server
ExecStart=/usr/bin/java -Xmx4G -Xms4G -jar server.jar nogui
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the service:

• systemctl daemon-reload
• systemctl enable minecraft - Start automatically at boot.
• systemctl start minecraft - Start now.

Method 2: screen or tmux

For a simpler setup you can use screen with a crontab entry:

@reboot screen -dmS mc java -Xmx4G -jar server.jar nogui

This starts the server in a screen session on every reboot. The downside: it does not automatically restart after a crash.

On the HostValues panel

Servers on the HostValues game panel restart automatically after a crash. You can also set up scheduled restarts via the schedule tab.

How do I check if my service is running?

systemctl status minecraft shows whether the service is active, when it started and recent log lines.

What if the server is stuck in a crash loop?

Systemd has a rate limiter: after 5 rapid crashes it stops trying. Fix the underlying issue (usually a corrupted world or config), then start manually with systemctl start minecraft.

Can I access the console via systemd?

Not directly. Use screen or tmux inside the systemd service if you want interactive console access, or send commands via RCON.

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