Question: When I'm trying to set up a socket server, I've got an error message:

```
Exception in thread "main" java.net.BindException: Cannot assign requested address: JVM_Bind
    at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.socketBind(Native Method)
    at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.bind(PlainSocketImpl.java:383)
    at java.net.ServerSocket.bind(ServerSocket.java:328)
    at java.net.ServerSocket.<init>(ServerSocket.java:194)
    at java.net.ServerSocket.<init>(ServerSocket.java:106)
    at socketyserver.SocketyServer.main(SocketyServer.java:12)
Java Result: 1

```

Whole code is simplest as it can be:

```
public static void main(String[] args) throws UnknownHostException, IOException
{
    ServerSocket serverSocket;
    serverSocket = new ServerSocket(9999);
}

```

I'm 100% sure that my ports are forwarded, Windows Firewall is off. Nothing blocks port 9999. What else can go wrong?

Answer: 
The error says `Cannot assign requested address`. This means that you need to use the correct address for one of your network interfaces or `0.0.0.0` to accept connections from all interfaces.

The other solutions about ports only work after sometimes-failing black magic (like working after some computer restarts but not others) because the port is completely irrelevant.
The port is taken by another process. Possibly an unterminated older run of your program. Make sure your program has exited cleanly or kill it.