Minecraft, fixing the "Multiplayer is disabled. Please check your Microsoft account settings." frustrating issue

minecraft-child-account.md

I have a Microsoft Family account and have my daughter as one of the family members.

Whenever she tries to play Minecraft (Java Edition) with us, it pops up something like the following:

"Multiplayer is disabled. Please check your Microsoft account settings."

I tried all kinds of things found online. They kept saying to go to the Xbox Privacy and online safety screen, but I couldn't find the "You can play with people outside of Xbox Live" and "You can join multiplayer games" settings. Well, that's because I needed to click on the "Xbox Series ... and Windows 10 devices Online Safety" tab.

Here's a direct link. You will need to replace the "GAMERTAGHERE" with your child's gamer tag. You need to be logged in under your (parental) account, not the child's.

https://account.xbox.com/en-us/settings?gamertag=GAMERTAGHERE&activetab=main:privilegetab

Another way to get there:

1. Go here: https://account.xbox.com/en-us/settings
2. Log in with your own account if you need to
3. Click on your child's profile (should be right below the "Privacy & online safety" heading

Now:

1. Click on "Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows 10 devices Online Safety" (important!)
2. You should see: " can: ... You can join multiplayer games Allow | Block"
3. Turn on everything in that list, or at least the first (You can play with people outside of Xbox Live) and the second to last (You can join multiplayer games)
4. In the Minecraft launcher: click on their name, click Log out, and then restart the entire computer (seriously!)
5. Now open the Minecraft launcher and log in under their name

If this helped you, comment below. :-)

In the Minecraft launcher, click on their name, click Log out, and then restart the entire computer (seriously)

Signing out of Xbox app appears to help.
Restart was not necessary.

Good to know @gabaruga

Thanks for this. The information elsewhere on the internet was maddening as was interpreting the various Microsoft interfaces.

Saved my life! I can't believe the documentation is poor. One thing to add: It can take an hour or more for the changes to take effect. If multiplayer is still disabled after logging back in, just log out and try again later.

Thanks for that additional info, @adamstimb! (By the way, I'm going to Wrocław this September for React Universe...!)

I tried those and many other suggestions. At some point the xbox settings where correct to allow joining servers and realm but the game still greyed multiplayer out. In the end the xbox support helped out and fixed it. First they did changes to allow multiplayer in the game menu, but when I tried to join a server I got a similar failure message. They changed other things, I deleted the account in minecraft launcher, started the launcher again, logged in and it went through all along and joined the server.

@NODeeJay I appreciate you sharing your solution here .. hopefully helps others out. I wonder if removing the account in Minecraft launcher and logging in again was the key step.

thanks a lot you save me. loggoff and logon in minecraft launcher was the point.

I has same situation. Multiplayer and Realms become active only after I login and logout to Minecraft on sons computer with my account, and then, son was able to access Multiplayer and Realms from its own account.

Youre a legend