In this guide, you'll need a couple things before starting. The most important thing is the network type. You'll need what's called a NAT or a router static IP. A CG NAT will not work. Router static IP I've had no experience with and so I cannot say much on that. To tell if you have a CG NAT, here's the steps: go to your settings on Windows. Go to network & internet, and go to your wifi you are currently connected to. Scroll down until you see something that says "IPV4 default gateway". Go to that number in the browser. Go to the bottom of your router and look for a section that says "user/password". The user is usually "admin" while the password is a string of letters. You'll also see an IP address number on the bottom, from my experience that is unreliable. Input that in the login screen in the browser. It'll probably prompt you for a ton of questions like setting a different password. Do that if you'd like. Every router is different. Once you get past the questions, look for a tab that says "status". Look for the "public IPV4 address". Note that IP down somewhere. Then go to whatsmyip.com and make sure the IP shown on whatsmyip.com is the same as what's shown in your router. If it is the same, you're good to go and you either have a NAT or a static IP. If it's different, your network is a CG NAT and you'll need to see if you can get it to a NAT or static IP. Call your ISP (internet service provider) and ask them if you can get to a NAT or static IP. Usually, it's going to cost extra for the static IP. Both ISPs I've dealt with have it as an extra $10 a month. I should explain the difference between a NAT and CG NAT. A CG NAT means you do not have a public IP address. You and many other households share that IP without even knowing it. Companies do this as a way to save numbers. I think it's a load of bull, but ok. So if you have one and don't want to pay the extra $10 on your internet bill, what does this mean for your server? It basically means your server will not be public. We'll get into it later, but Tailscale is a great software, and even if you have a NAT, but you are the only one who will use your server, I'd just use Tailscale. If you still don't want to pay the $10 and still want it public, do what I do: ask someone if you can host at their house who's networking company is behind a NAT and not a CG NAT. Or you could look into a VPS or Cloudflare tunnels. Cloudflare tunnels seem easy to setup, I should try for educational purposes. A NAT means you have a public IP specific to your house. And a static IP on your router means that it does not change its IP. But I've heard conflicting reports on a static IP, I think with a static IP you don't have the LAN IP starting with 192.168 (we'll get into that later). You would also need a static IP to have multiple IP addresses on your network. Once again, I've never had experience with a static IP. One day though...
Now for the machine. What will your server run on? My server is an HP Compaq 8200 Elite SFF that cost me $40 and then I got spare parts from friends. But it could be a laptop, an actual server, or a Raspberry Pi. Whatever it is, it will work.
Configuring HTTPS requires a domain name and I'd recommend Cloudflare for one. dot com domains are usually $10.46 a year. If you do not intend to setup HTTPS, don't worry about that.
Do not use your server over WiFi, you are expecting to have issues. Get an ethernet cord and use that. Make the server close to the router or get a super long ethernet cord to have it farther away.
Before starting, hook up a monitor, go into the BIOS of your server device by hitting F2, F11, or delete on your keyboard on startup. Look for power settings and look for a setting labeled "after power off". Change it to "power on" or whatever it'll say. This makes it that if your server loses power, it will turn back on as soon as the power comes back on. It's not necessary and I don't know if laptops have it, but it's very useful. My server is hosted at my grandma's and when the power goes out and comes back on, I nor her have to touch it.
Any issues with this guide, shoot me an email "[email protected]"
Date created: August 7th, 2026
Last modified: August 26th, 2026