How to Install Minecraft Plugins

How to Install Minecraft Plugins – Introduction

During adventures in Minecraft servers, players experience enchanting worlds and meet fellow Minecraft players along the way. When playing together, the possibilities are infinite from playing minigames, building amazing creations on plots, or even battling in PVP for level-ups. To create such fun, many Minecraft server owners learn how to install Minecraft plugins and use them to take their server to the next level.
 
Minecraft plugins are like add-ons for Minecraft Bukkit / Spigot server-type servers. Through the use of plugins, players can add everything from scoreboards to survival game arenas, regenerating mines for a prison server, and so much more. Nearly anything can be possible with over 60,000+ Minecraft plugins to choose from. Players won’t need a special launcher to play on servers with plugins either. Follow us below as we show you where to find plugins and how to install Minecraft plugins to your Minecraft server!

Where do I Find Minecraft Plugins?

To find Minecraft plugins, there are several websites available where you can download them. It’s important to ensure any website you download plugins from is safe and offers up-to-date plugins. The most reliable and popular websites for updated Minecraft server plugins include:

SpigotMC

Having celebrated its 10th anniversary, SpigotMC is a long-time Minecraft plugin marketplace. On the site, you can search to find free and premium plugins. Additionally, plugin searches are broken down into categories such as “Chat”, “Tools and Utilities”, “World Management”, and more.

Once you have found the perfect plugin for your server, you can click the plugin and press the “Download Now” option to get that plugin. After downloading, you’ll be ready to install that plugin on your Minecraft server! In the next sections, we’ll show you how to install plugins.

Bukkit

Even older than SpigotMC, Bukkit is another great place to find and download Minecraft server plugins. On Bukkit, you’re able to search through easy-to-navigate categories to find the perfect plugin for your server. You’ll see categories for everything from “Admin Tools”, “Anti-Griefing Tools”, “Economy”, and more.

After searching for and finding the plugins that best fit your server, click on that plugin to enter its page. Inside every plugin page at the top, you’ll be able to click “Download Latest File” to download the latest version of that plugin. Once the plugin has been downloaded, you’re ready to install the plugin on your server and we’ll show you how!

Making Your Minecraft Server Compatible with Plugins

Before Minecraft plugins will work on your server, your server will need to be the Minecraft (Bukkit / Spigot) server type. If your server is already set to this, you can skip this step. If it isn’t, we’ll show you how to change your server to support Minecraft plugins:

1. Go on your server webinterface and stop your server.
2. Next, on the left side near the bottom press the “SWITCH GAME” option.
3. On that page search for Minecraft (Bukkit / Spigot) and once you see it, press “Install” next to it.


4. You will be asked if you want to continue with the installation. Press “Install” again to begin the installation.


5. After a few minutes, Minecraft (Bukkit / Spigot) will install.
6. Finally, start your server to load the server type. This will generate a “plugins” folder in your Minecraft server files which you will need for the next steps.

Installing Minecraft Plugins on Your Server Webinterface

1. Head to your Minecraft server webinterface and stop your server.
2. Then, on the left under “Tools”, click on “File Browser” to access your server files.
3. In your server files, go to the location “minecraftbukkit” ➜ “plugins”.


4. Next, press the “Upload file” button at the bottom, search for, and select the plugins you’re wanting to install.


5. Once those plugins are selected, press “Open” to begin uploading those files to your server. After a few seconds, those plugins will be uploaded.
6. Finally, go back to your server webinterface and start your server to load those plugins.

How to Install Minecraft Plugins using an External FTP

1. Firstly, stop your Minecraft server and then access the server FTP using an external FTP program such as FileZilla.
2. Once in your server files, enter the “minecraftbukkit” and then the “plugins” folders.


3. Next, locate the plugins that you downloaded and drag and drop them into that plugins folder.


4. After those files finish uploading, go back to your Minecraft server webinterface and start your server. The plugins you just installed will now load and you can begin using them on your server!

Editing Minecraft Plugin Configuration Files

1. To begin editing your plugin configuration files, once again stop your server.
2. Once your server is shut off, on the left under “Tools”, select “File Browser”.
3. In the server file browser, navigate to the “minecraftbukkit” ➜ “plugins” folder.
4. Inside the plugins folder, look for folders named after the plugins installed. For example, the “WorldEdit.jar” plugin will create a “WorldEdit” folder.


5. Next, click to enter the folders of your plugins, and there, you will find the configuration files of that plugin. In the example of WorldEdit, you will see a “config.yml” file.


6. To edit a file, click it. You’ll see all of the settings for that plugin in the file. Edit them to your liking ensuring that every setting that is changed is edited and formatted correctly.
7. After making adjustments to your plugin files, press “Save changes” and start your server. Those setting changes will now load on your server!

Common Minecraft Plugin Issues

Plugins are not working at all on my server

If you have installed several different plugins and none of them are working, this can be caused by your server not properly supporting Minecraft plugins. When your server is set to the incorrect Minecraft server type, your server will not be able to use plugins. To fix this, follow the above section named “Making Your Minecraft Server Compatible with Plugins” to make sure your server is set up properly. Once your server is set to Minecraft (Bukkit / Spigot), you’ll be able to install and use plugins without issues!

Plugins work, but the plugin I installed doesn’t

Minecraft plugin may be outdated

Sometimes when you’re searching for plugins, they may be outdated. After installing a plugin, you can watch the “Live Server Console” of your Minecraft server to check for errors. This is the most common error you’ll see if a plugin is outdated and the error will be red in color:
[20:29:47 INFO]: [Essentials] Disabling Essentials v2.13.1
[20:29:47 ERROR]: Error occurred while disabling Essentials v2.13.1 (Is it up to date?)
 
If this occurs, you’ll need to update the plugin or replace it with a plugin that is. In the case of Essentials, you can see what version the plugin is updated to by checking the “File” tab on Bukkit. Then next to each version, you’ll be able to see its supported Minecraft “Game Version”.

For our example, the Minecraft server we’re using is version 1.19.2. Since this Essentials plugin is only updated to game version 1.7.9, it will not work on our server. To fix this, we searched for and found an updated version of Essentials called EssentialsX. On the Spigot page, the “Tested Minecraft Versions” include 1.19 as a working version and so we can install this plugin instead.

After installing the updated plugin on your Minecraft server, restart your server. That Minecraft plugin will now load correctly on your server!

The plugin is missing a dependency

In some cases, Minecraft plugins can require another plugin to work properly. WorldGuard is a great example of this, as WorldGuard needs the plugin WorldEdit to function correctly. You can check the “Live Server Console” of your server after installing a plugin to see why that plugin isn’t loading. If you see an error similar to this, that means the plugin is missing its dependency:
[20:40:38 ERROR]: [STDERR] [org.bukkit.craftbukkit.v1_19_R1.legacy.CraftLegacy]
[20:40:44 ERROR]: Could not load 'plugins/worldguard-bukkit-7.0.7-dist (1).jar' in folder 'plugins'
org.bukkit.plugin.UnknownDependencyException: Unknown/missing dependency plugins: [WorldEdit]. Please download and install these plugins to run 'WorldGuard'.
 
The error you’ll see can also include what plugin dependencies need to be installed. For example with WorldGuard, WorldEdit will need to be installed. Install that plugin on your server and then restart. Once the dependencies are installed, that plugin will then load and you can begin using it on your server!

Install Plugins and Enhance Your Minecraft Server

Now that plugins are installed and loaded on your server, what new experiences will you try first? The possibilities are endless no matter if you’re creating your first arena from a Spleef plugin, copying and pasting beautiful builds with WorldEdit, or making crates and keys for players to open. When installing plugins, you only need a few minutes to do so and you’re ready to have a blast with them. Start installing Minecraft plugins on your Minecraft game server today and see the excitement that awaits you and your server players!

Get your own Minecraft server!