MAKE SURE TO READ ALL THE WAY TO THE END, I DON'T CARE IF YOU THINK THIS DOESN'T SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM, DO IT ANYWAY!


If searching google hasn't brought you here, then surfing the forum has.
Either way.. your search for the answer "cannot connect to server fix" will hopefully end here.

First lets do the insane nonsense one final time.. just incase someone else took a shortcut an got here by luck, saving alot of time.


Step 1: Port forward the windows firewall or other firewall installed on YOUR pc.

Step 2: Port forward the router(s) and/or modem(s) in YOUR house 'that you have physical access to'.

Step 3: If you have windows firewall please ensure you've added all the neccessary Java.exe variables via "Allow an app through firewall".

Step 4: Ensure you've spell checked everything typed numerical or alphabetical in the first 3 steps as well as on the server list in minecraft.
(This should include caps lock errors too! yes they count.. even the extra 'blank' spaces that sometimes get left by accident that aren't meant
to be in the fields can sometimes occur.. so get rid of those errors too)

Step 5: By now we've driven ourselves insane to a point.. but lets go ahead an make sure all the windows updates are done an that any routers
in use here have either the proper versions of firmware installed (as in some cases, but rare!) or have been updated to the latest version. Yes..
someones going to say "but this is a meaningless step! just do it anyways >.> we wouldn't want anything getting in the way now would we?
After all this is the point of this walk thru.. to put this to an end once an for all.

Step 6: The missing step that causes this problem by now, ok so you've driven your family and friends crazy by this point, you've even called
your ISP a bunch of times and everyones swearing your crazy and/or just "doing it wrong".

This is where it ends.. or at least in my case.. I'm sure there is a version of this that applies to your situation too if your reading all this and wind
up saying "it isn't exactly the same" ah.. but I'm sure there is still a way this applies to you too.

So.. in this last step there is a option that exists on this router (see image below)





That option you would think would be located in the router menu.. see below image again..



An yet it doesn't.. so maybe inside the ISP's own app that they promote?



Nope.. it won't be in here either.. despite having all the router menu stuff too.

So then where?! well.. as it turns out.. it's tucked away inside their junkware app, neatly hidden from any logical minded person.

It looks like this.. (see below image)



Yes that's right everyone.. they made a menu in the router like we normally expect, an then.. to screw with us all they went ahead
and made an app that does the same crap.. then kept ONE option hidden away in YET ANOTHER STUPID APP.. that looks like this.. (image below)



The image above already has the option "Advance Security" disabled, which IS WHAT YOU WANT!!!
So make sure you turn that crap off or else you'll never resolve the "cannot connect to server" problem.

I spent a very long time fighting discord servers, admins, kids, an all manner of other "we're too smart to take you seriously" fools
who swore I was still "doing it wrong". No one can blame me or YOU for not knowing your ISP hid the option to your problem inside
a junkware app an never bothered to tell you about it.

Someone will still read all this like the troll they are anyway and say "ya brah.. they did tell you" uh huh.. go ahead troll.. show us all the adverts
that says specifically that this one lone option was hidden in there. An then I will still ignore said troll.

Look, for all the sane readers still here by this point, this option should've been located in all router management areas, regardless!
An yet it was NOT, an that is my point here.

===========

So lastly, in closing.. how does this apply to YOU, the person with the problem right now reading this. I can only hope that your able to find out
where that same option exists in your router/modem. Because if you do not find it.. you will never fix this problem.

PS: I spent a long time with my ISP to resolve this at the top level of their tech support.
No one in/on the other levels had any idea wtf was wrong.

Hope all this helps. Have a nice day.