You're sitting in the same room, laptop screens glowing, snacks ready, and you just want to play together. It should be easy. You open your game—usually Minecraft, though the term applies to plenty of titles—hit "Open to LAN," and wait for your friend's screen to populate with your world. But it doesn't. The scanning bar just spins. Or maybe the world shows up, but clicking it yields a "Connection Timed Out" error that makes you want to throw your mouse at the wall.
Honestly, learning how to join a LAN world is often more about troubleshooting your network’s invisible barriers than it is about clicking a button.
LAN stands for Local Area Network. In theory, this means any device connected to your home router should see every other device. In reality, modern operating systems like Windows 11 and macOS are built like fortresses. They don't want random devices talking to them. When you try to join a friend's game, you aren't just sending data; you're asking a firewall for permission to enter a gated community. If the gatekeeper says no, you're stuck in the lobby.
The Basic Steps Everyone Skips
Before we get into the "why isn't this working" weeds, let’s talk about the standard path. To start, the host player loads their single-player world. Once inside, they hit the Escape key and find the "Open to LAN" button. Here, you pick your game mode and decide if you want to allow cheats. When you click "Start LAN World," the game spits out a five-digit port number in the chat box.
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Don't ignore that number.
The second player then goes to the Multiplayer menu. Most of the time, the game should automatically detect the world under a "Local Games" header at the bottom of the list. If it does, great. You’re the lucky 10%. If it doesn't, you have to do it the manual way by clicking "Direct Connection" and typing in the host's IP address followed by that port number we just mentioned.
It looks something like 192.168.1.5:54321.
Why You Can't See the World
If the world isn't showing up, the first thing to check is your versions. This is the biggest "gotcha" in gaming. If you are running Minecraft 1.20.1 and your friend is on 1.20.4, the LAN connection will almost certainly fail or won't even appear. Java Edition and Bedrock Edition also cannot play together via a standard LAN setup. They are essentially two different languages. If you're on a phone (Bedrock) and your friend is on a PC (Java), you won't see each other without third-party tools like GeyserMC, which is way beyond a simple local setup.
The Firewall Problem is Real
Windows Defender is a buzzkill. It’s designed to stop unauthorized incoming connections, and unfortunately, your friend's computer looks like an unauthorized connection.
To fix this, the host needs to check their firewall settings. You go into the Control Panel, find "Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall," and look for "javaw.exe" or the specific game title. You’ll likely see two or three entries. Make sure both the "Private" and "Public" boxes are checked. Why both? Because sometimes Windows classifies your home Wi-Fi as a "Public" network by mistake, and if the "Public" box isn't checked, the firewall will block your friend's attempt to join.
It’s also worth checking your antivirus. Programs like Norton, McAfee, or Bitdefender have their own firewalls that often override Windows. They are notoriously aggressive. If you're struggling to figure out how to join a LAN world, try disabling your antivirus for five minutes just to see if the connection goes through. If it works, you know where the problem lies.
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Network Discovery and Sharing
Sometimes the issue isn't the game; it's the OS. Windows has a setting called "Network Discovery." If this is turned off, your computer is essentially wearing an invisibility cloak.
- Open your Settings.
- Go to Network & Internet.
- Find Advanced Network Settings.
- Look for Sharing Settings.
- Ensure "Network discovery" and "File and printer sharing" are toggled to On.
Once both computers can "see" each other on the network, the game usually follows suit.
When "Automatic" Fails: The Direct Connect Method
If the world still isn't appearing in the list, you have to force it. This is where people get intimidated, but it's basically just giving the computer a specific address instead of letting it wander around looking for one.
First, the host needs their IP address. On Windows, you open the Command Prompt (type cmd in the start menu) and type ipconfig. Look for the line that says "IPv4 Address." It usually starts with 192.168.x.x or 10.0.x.x.
Next, grab that 5-digit port number from the host's Minecraft chat.
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The person trying to join should go to "Direct Connection" and type the IP, then a colon, then the port. If your IP is 192.168.1.15 and the port is 56789, you type 192.168.1.15:56789. This bypasses the "searching" phase and knocks directly on the host's door.
AP Isolation: The Router's Secret Trap
There is a setting inside many modern routers, especially those provided by ISPs like Comcast or AT&T, called "AP Isolation" or "Client Isolation."
This is common in hotels or dorms.
It’s a security feature that prevents wireless devices from talking to each other. Even if you are both on the "Guest" Wi-Fi at a house, the router might be blocking the connection between your two laptops to prevent hacking. If you’re at home and nothing else is working, log into your router’s admin panel (usually by typing 192.168.1.1 into a browser) and make sure AP Isolation is disabled.
If you're on a university campus or at a hotel, LAN play is almost certainly blocked at the router level. In these cases, you’ll need a "Virtual LAN" like Hamachi or Tailscale. These programs create a digital tunnel between your computers that tricks them into thinking they’re on the same home router, even if they're miles apart or trapped behind a restrictive dorm firewall.
VPNs and Interferences
Are you using a VPN? Turn it off.
A VPN changes your IP address and routes your traffic through a server in another city or country. If you're trying to join a LAN world while your VPN is set to "London" and your friend is sitting next to you in Chicago, your computer thinks it's in the UK. It won't look for local devices. Both players should disconnect from any VPN services before trying to link up.
Minecraft-Specific Quirks
Minecraft is the king of LAN play, but it's also the buggiest. One weird trick that often works when the world won't show up is to have the host player sit in the "Open to LAN" screen for a minute before actually hitting start.
Another issue: The "Pings."
Sometimes the world shows up but has a red "X" over the signal bars. This usually means the host's computer is under heavy load and isn't responding to the join request fast enough. If you’re hosting on a laptop that’s five years old, and you have 30 Chrome tabs open in the background, your friend might time out before the game even finishes handshaking. Close your background apps. Give the CPU some breathing room.
MacOS vs. Windows
Connecting a Mac to a Windows PC via LAN is surprisingly stable, but the Mac's firewall is tucked away in System Settings > Network > Firewall. Ensure it isn't set to "Block all incoming connections." If it is, the Mac can join the PC, but the PC will never be able to join the Mac.
Actionable Next Steps to Get Playing
If you're stuck right now, follow this exact sequence:
- Sync Versions: Ensure every player is on the exact same version number (e.g., 1.21.1).
- Check the Network: Confirm both devices are on the same Wi-Fi SSID. Note that some routers separate 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands; try putting both on the same band.
- The Firewall Test: Disable the firewall on the host machine briefly to see if the world appears. If it does, re-enable it and add an exception for the game.
- Direct Connect: Skip the automatic list. Use the
ipconfigcommand to find the host's IPv4 address and combine it with the port number provided by the game. - Restart the Router: It sounds cliché, but clearing the router's DNS cache and routing table can fix "ghost" connection issues that nothing else can touch.
If you’ve done all this and still can’t connect, the issue is likely a hardware limitation or a restrictive ISP-level setting. At that point, your best bet is to host a free server through a service like Aternos or use a tool like Tailscale to bypass the local network's physical limitations entirely. Sometimes the "Local" in Local Area Network just doesn't want to cooperate, and going through the cloud is actually faster.