How to connect to and play on a WoW Private server.

To connect to a private server, you need to take the following steps:

1. Find a private server website from the directory that suits your needs (eg. WotLK enabled, 100x exp rate). Each server also works with a specific version of WoW. If your version of WoW is a more recent version than the version the server is using, you won't be able to connect. Check the version of WoW the server is running first, to avoid hassles with upgrading and downgrading later. Many private server websites have guides on how to upgrade or downgrade to the correct version of the WoW Client.


2. Sign up on the website for an account. This is the account you will use to log into the game. The account creation page will usually be visible from the main page of the website.


3. Find out the realm information of the server. This will usually be outlined in a connection guide. You will usually get text somewhere along the lines of: "set realmlist servername.com"


4. Open up the World of Warcraft folder on your computer. The default location for this on a PC is C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft. In that folder will be a file called realmlist.wtf. Right click on this file, and choose 'open' and then 'select the program from a list'. From this list choose notepad or wordpad, and tick the box asking if you always want to use the selected program for this filetype.


5. A file will be opened in notepad, and you will be shown something like
   
   set realmlist us.logon.worldofwarcraft.com
   set patchlist us.version.worldofwarcraft.com
   
   You should 'save-as' this file, in your WoW folder. Call it something like original_realmlist.wtf, so you can easily revert back to it should you ever want to return to the official server.


6. Open the realmlist.wtf file again, and this time, delete it's contents and replace it with the text given to you on the private server site (set realmlist servername.com). Save the file and close it. If you already had WoW running, close it and open it again. Log in using the details you signed up with on the server's website. Congratulations, you are connected!