How to allocate more RAM to Minecraft client & server

If you’re interested in finding out how to allocate more RAM to Minecraft, we’ve gone over the technical details here.

Figuring out how to make Minecraft run smoother can be quite tricky, and if anyone has any experience trying to install mods or setting up servers in Minecraft, then you already know how infuriating it can be. To help you out, we’ve put detailed, simple instructions into writing.

Dedicating or allocating more RAM to your game can reduce lag, loading times, and increase frame-rate in some cases. Overall, it makes the gameplay experience much more enjoyable and is recommended especially if you’re playing on a gaming rig with decent specs. If you’re unsure of how much RAM to allocate to Minecraft, we’d recommend having a look at WePC’s article on how much RAM you need for gaming.

In light of that, we’ve gone over the easiest ways to allocate more RAM to your Minecraft client, and dedicate more RAM to your server.

How to allocate more RAM to Minecraft

There’s a few methods that you can use to allocate more RAM to Minecraft. The first we’ll go over is through using the Minecraft Launcher itself. This method only works if you’re using the Minecraft Launcher 2.0.0 update or later.

How to allocate more RAM to Minecraft via Client Launcher

• Check you’re running Minecraft Launcher 2.0.0 or later
• Open Minecraft and head on over to Installations
• There will be an entry, most likely titled Latest release
• Hit the three dots / settings icon on Latest release, then hit Edit
• Click More options

Below where it says JVM Arguments you should see a long string of data. It’s in this box that we’re going to be able to adjust the amount of RAM dedicated to the game.

At the start of the string it should say: -Xmx2G. You’ll want to then change the 2G to however much RAM you want to allocate. For example, 4GB of memory would look like the following: -Xmx4G.

After this, you should hit Save, and the next time you load up Minecraft you’ll now have allocated more RAM to your game client.

Read More: How to Get a Command Block in Minecraft

Of course, you should only allocate a portion of your RAM to your game, and certainly not all the memory installed on your PC. That would be silly.

How to dedicate more RAM to Minecraft Server

If you’ve set up a Minecraft server, dedicating more RAM to it can be even blockier. If you’re running the server via an external host, you will likely have purchases a server package with a specific memory allocation. In this case, you won’t really be able to change your dedicated RAM.

Read More: Minecraft Legends – release date, new trailer and what we know so far

However, if you’re running a server from your home PC – you should be able to dedicate more RAM to the server by following the following steps.

• Open the root Minecraft server folder
• Create a new text document and then paste the following text into it
• java -Xmx####M -Xms####M -exe Minecraft_Server.exe -o true
  PAUSE
• Replace the two variations of #### with the amount of RAM in MBs you want dedicated to your server: e.g. 4GB = 4096

The text file should look like the above picture (if you’ve chosen to allocate 4GB / 4096MB of RAM to your server).

• Click File > Save As
• Name the file something relevant, e.g. minecraft_server
• Change Save as type from .txt to .bat
• Save the file

Ensure that this new file is in the root of your Minecraft server folder, as it will be your new server launcher file. Whenever you want to run the server, run this file instead of the Minecraft_Server.exe file.

---

You should now have all of the relevant resources to either dedicate more RAM to your Minecraft game, or allocate more memory to your Minecraft server. Of course, we’d recommend that you only allocate a small portion of your PCs available RAM to the game, as it doesn’t require all of it.