The short version
- 01Check whether your code is one of the generic sign-in names before searching it.
- 02Update the game if you saw Breeze or Chain, then restart the device.
- 03Make sure the account is not signed in on another device at the same time.
- 04Reset your Microsoft account sign-in, and clear credentials too on Switch.
- 05Follow the second code if you saw Llama, which carries no information alone.
- 06Check the host, not your device, for Hopper, Goat, Silverfish and Kelp.
Start here
Most of the names mean the same thing
Mojang gives error codes names like Drowned, Ghast and Piglin to point you in the right direction, but the direction is usually the same one. Of the fifty or so named codes, roughly half mean nothing more specific than “there was an issue during the sign-in process”, and all of those route to the same general troubleshooting. A dozen or so genuinely tell you something — that your game is out of date, that the world is full, that your account is banned, that you are out of storage. Those are the ones worth looking up.
Applies to: Minecraft: Bedrock Edition across Windows, consoles, mobile and Nintendo Switch. Java Edition uses exit codes and error messages rather than these names, so this does not apply to it.
Which name did you get?
The animal and block names are friendlier than hexadecimal, but they create a false impression: that each name identifies a distinct fault worth researching separately. It does not. Mojang’s own table gives many of them identical meanings and identical instructions. The useful skill is knowing which handful are specific, so you can stop searching for your particular name when it is one of the generic ones and start doing the thing that actually helps.
Breeze, or Chain
Is your game out of date?
Update MinecraftDrowned, Ghast, Piglin, Obsidian, Glowstone
Did it happen while signing in?
Reset sign-inCobblestone, Spyglass
Is the account restricted?
Check the accountHopper, Goat, Silverfish, Kelp
Is the world or server available?
Check the hostChest, Rabbit, Armor, Coal
Is it the device or the content?
Check the deviceLlama
Is a second code shown with it?
Read the other one1. Roughly half of them just mean “sign-in failed”
Read Mojang’s table end to end and a pattern is impossible to miss. Axolotl, Bamboo, Crossbow, Dirt, Drowned, Elder Guardian, Glowstone, Guardian, Honeycomb, Lava, Observer, Obsidian, Piglin, Pufferfish, Sand and Sandstone are all given some version of the same meaning: there was an issue during or while signing in. Several of them carry exactly the same instruction too — follow the general Bedrock troubleshooting, or reset your Microsoft account sign-in.
A second cluster does the same for disconnections. Armadillo, Bat, Feather and Snowball all mean you were disconnected from the server. A third does it for nothing in particular: Boat, Ladder, Lead, Terracotta and TNT mean an error occurred, with Terracotta explicitly described as an unspecified error.
This matters because of how people use these names. Seeing “Piglin” suggests a specific fault with a specific fix, so the natural response is to search for that name and read whatever comes back. But Piglin and Obsidian and Pufferfish are the same entry in Mojang’s table with different words, and no amount of reading about Piglin specifically will produce a Piglin-specific answer.
There is one delightful exception that proves the point. Llama means there was an issue during the sign-in process, and Mojang’s instruction is that there should be another named error code displayed with Llama, and that you should follow the troubleshooting for the other code. Llama is a code that tells you to go and read a different code.
Several codes are explicitly described as temporary — Dirt, Ladder, Lava, Lead, Sand and Sandstone. Waiting and retrying is a legitimate first response to those.
2. The version codes, which are the most fixable
Two names identify a version mismatch, and they are worth knowing because the fix is certain rather than exploratory.
Breeze means the world you are connecting to is newer than your Minecraft version. Somebody else’s game updated and yours did not, so your copy cannot read their world. Mojang’s instruction is to update to the latest version, then restart the device and try again — the restart is part of the instruction rather than a superstition.
Chain means the server or player you are trying to connect with has a different version of Minecraft. Same cause, seen from the multiplayer side rather than the world side. Again the answer is to update, and Mojang publishes separate manual update instructions for consoles, Windows and mobile because automatic updates do not always fire.
If you are on a console or a phone that you assumed updates itself, check rather than assume. A game that has been open in the background for weeks may never have taken an update that has been waiting the whole time.
Breeze
The world is newer than your game. Update, then restart the device.
Chain
The server or player is on a different version. Update manually if needed.
3. When it really is sign-in, what to actually do
If your code is one of the sign-in cluster, the productive move is to stop looking up the name and work through the small number of things that cause sign-in to fail. Mojang’s own entries point at four.
The first is an account in use somewhere else. Blaze’s entry states it plainly: a Microsoft account can only be used on one device at a time. End Stone says much the same from the other direction, describing an issue synchronising your account across devices and telling you to make sure it is not being used on more than one at a time. If somebody else in the house is signed in as you, that is the whole problem.
The second is the stored credentials themselves, which is what resetting your Microsoft account sign-in addresses — it signs you out and back in. Ghast adds a platform detail worth knowing: on Nintendo Switch you should also select Clear Account Credentials under Settings, then Profile. That extra step is easy to miss and Switch users often repeat the ordinary reset several times without it.
The third is the services underneath. Glowstone’s entry suggests checking PlayFab and Xbox Live for service issues, Haybale means an issue connecting to Xbox services and tells Windows players to make sure the Xbox app is up to date, and Mooshroom means a problem with your Microsoft account and sends you to the Gaming Services Repair Tool. None of those is Minecraft, and none of them is fixed by reinstalling Minecraft.
4. Account state: bans, permissions and the wrong account
A few codes are about what your account is allowed to do rather than about connectivity, and these are the ones where troubleshooting is genuinely pointless until the underlying situation changes.
Cobblestone means you may have a ban on your account, and Mojang points at its banned accounts and appeal process. Nothing on the device will change that.
Spyglass means a permissions issue, and Mojang’s instruction is to make sure multiplayer permissions are enabled for your account, pointing at its guidance on managing multiplayer access for a child account. This is the code that appears when a parental control is doing its job, and it is a common surprise on a newly set-up family account.
Two codes identify the wrong account entirely, split by platform. Mushroom Block means the wrong Microsoft or Xbox account is being used to sign in to the current Nintendo Switch account, and Sugar Cane says the same for a PlayStation Network account. Wither Rose is the related PlayStation case, described as an issue with your PlayStation Network account, with a restart and re-login as the first move.
Fox is the odd one here: it means the IP address you entered has been blocked, and Mojang’s first instruction is to verify you entered the correct address before assuming anything worse.
5. The world, the server, and who else is involved
This group is worth separating because in every case the thing to check is somebody or something else, not your own device.
Hopper means the world you are trying to join is full, and the instruction is simply to try again when there is capacity. Goat means the world is no longer available, which Mojang notes can happen if the hosting player quit the game — so the check is with the host, not with you. Kelp means your connection timed out and again points at confirming the server or hosting player is online.
Silverfish is the most specific of these: the server you are trying to join may not exist or be locked, and for a privately hosted server Mojang states it must be online with the Allow multiplayer games permission enabled. That is a setting on the server, and the owner is the only person who can change it.
Creeper means Minecraft was unable to connect to your world due to a network issue and has its own dedicated article. Nethernet and Door both mean a multiplayer connection error. Panda means a local server could not be found, which points at LAN troubleshooting rather than internet troubleshooting — a useful distinction when everyone is in the same house.
Arrow and Snowball both touch Realms, and Blaze’s entry adds a Realms-specific step: if you are playing on a Realm, have the owner close and reopen it to clear connection errors.
6. Codes about your device or your content
The last group has nothing to do with accounts or servers, and these are the most satisfying to get because the fix is entirely in your hands.
Chest means your device does not have enough storage space to play Minecraft. Mojang’s answer is to free space by uninstalling programs, deleting files, or upgrading storage. It is worth taking literally — a device that is nearly full can fail in ways that look like anything but a storage problem.
Rabbit means a resource pack issue, and the instruction is to disable add-ons to prevent game issues. Armor means an issue with your skin, fixed by changing it in the Dressing Room. Both are cases where content you added is the fault rather than the game.
Coal means a problem playing splitscreen, and points at two separate requirement documents — the general multiplayer requirements and the specific Bedrock split-screen requirements. Splitscreen has hardware and account requirements that are easy to fall short of without realising.
Block means an issue with the Minecraft data being sent or received and has its own article. Cauldron means Minecraft could not reach the authentication server or the connection timed out, and also has its own. Those two, along with Creeper, Drowned and Deep Ocean, are the only named codes Mojang considered worth a dedicated page — which is a reasonable shortlist of the ones that are genuinely hard.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Drowned error code mean in Minecraft?
That there was an error signing in to your Microsoft account. It is one of the large group of names that all mean a sign-in failure, so there is no Drowned-specific fix. Reset your Microsoft account sign-in, check the account is not in use on another device, then follow the general Bedrock troubleshooting.
What does the Ghast error code mean?
An issue with your credentials. Mojang’s instruction is to sign out and restart Minecraft. On Nintendo Switch there is an extra step people miss: also select Clear Account Credentials under Settings, then Profile. Without it, repeating the ordinary sign-out often changes nothing.
Why do Piglin, Obsidian and Glowstone all seem the same?
Because they are. Mojang’s table gives all three the meaning “there was an issue during the sign-in process”, and about half the named codes share some version of it. Searching for your specific name will not find a specific fix, because there is not one.
What does the Breeze error code mean?
The world you are connecting to is newer than your version of Minecraft. Update the game to the latest version, then restart your device and try again. Mojang publishes manual update instructions for consoles, Windows and mobile, since automatic updates do not always apply.
What is the Llama error code?
A sign-in issue that carries no information on its own. Mojang states another named error code should be displayed alongside Llama, and that you should follow the troubleshooting for that other code instead. If you only noticed Llama, look again for a second name on the screen.
What does Cobblestone mean in Minecraft?
That you may have a ban on your account. It is not a connection fault and no device troubleshooting will clear it — Mojang points at its banned accounts documentation and the appeal process. Spyglass is the related but different case: multiplayer permissions disabled, often by a parental control.
Sources and review notes
Checked on . Compiled by Glitchary from Mojang’s named error code table for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition and its general Bedrock error code troubleshooting. Every code meaning and instruction quoted here is Mojang’s. The grouping of the codes by what they actually tell you, and the observation that roughly half carry no specific information, are editorial. Mojang adds and revises named codes regularly — check the current table for a name not listed here. Glitchary is independent of Mojang and Microsoft.