How to fix multiplayer is disabled in Minecraft

One of the most fun parts of Minecraft is the multiplayer aspect. There's a huge variety of fun Minecraft servers out there, offering fun game modes ranging from intense prison servers to relaxing parkour servers.

Unfortunately, however, problems can arise when trying to enjoy Minecraft multiplayer. One of the most common of which is the "multiplayer is disabled" error message when one tries to play multiplayer mode.

Those experiencing this problem will often see an error message such as "Multiplayer is disabled. Please check your Microsoft account settings" when trying to play multiplayer. The issue can be resolved by referring to the simple steps below.

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How to fix the Minecraft error: "Multiplayer is disabled. Please check your Microsoft account settings"

Simply put, the "Multiplayer is disabled" error occurs due to protection settings present in the family group associated with the Microsoft account used to play Minecraft.

To fix the issue, affected players must change their age on the Microsoft account to be over 18. After this, they need to leave the Microsoft family group tied to the account and also allow multiplayer on Xbox. The problem should then be fixed.

Step 1) Changing the account age to over 18

1. Go to: https://account.microsoft.com/profile
2. Sign into your Microsoft account if needed
3. Click "Edit profile info"
4. Change the date of Birth year to 2000
5. Press Save

Step 2) Leaving the Microsoft family group

1. Go to https://family.microsoft.com/
2. Sign into your Microsoft account if needed
3. Press the 3 dots to open the dropdown menu on the family group to see more options
4. Select leave family group > remove

Step 3) Allow multiplayer on Xbox

1. Go to https://account.xbox.com/settings
2. Sign into your Microsoft account if needed
3. Click the "Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows 10 devices Online Safety" tab
4. Set "You can play with people outside of Xbox Live" to "Allow"
5. Set "You can join multiplayer games" to "Allow"
6. Press submit

Players must ensure their settings are identical to this (Image via Microsoft)

Step 4) Connect to a test server to ensure the problem is fixed

After following the previous 3 steps, the problem should be fixed. To make sure of this, players can connect to the Minecraft multiplayer server

IP: test.prisonfun.com

This server supports all versions of the game and is online 24/7 for players to confirm their connection towards. If players are able to join this server, then the problem has fully been fixed.

If players are still unable to connect to the server with IP: test.prisonfun.com, there is likely another problem at hand. There might be a problem with the network configuration in this case, which can be fixed with this helpful guide.

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