Thank you all for the help. The "Toasty Answers" was particularly helpful. I apparently had it up and running, but couldn't find it on my own home network (although I was using TCP, not UDP when setting up port forwarding). Even though it doesn't appear on my server list, I can connect to IP through the open game when I have the server running. My son was also able to connect using the connect to IP, but since we're both using the home network, neither of us could find it on the server list in-game.

You can try clicking (on/in steam) View>Servers>LAN tab to see if it shows up in there. I saw mine listed in there in the past when I was setting this up.

I use "connect to IP" on the Valheim menu when I run a home LAN server.
you would type in something like...

192.168.1.121:2456

...that's mine, but it should look similar, just your local IP # with ":2456" at end.

Windows machines seeing each other on a local network always seems to be a hot mess.

Also, for some reason sometimes when you are searching for a server on the same network as you it does not always show up for you, but it will for people elsewhere. Look it up on Youtube, a channel called "Toasty Answers" helped me to get mine up and running

Yes, you can simply tick "Start Server" when loading a world, and it automagically becomes multi-player. You can invite from your Steam Friends List, or you can give out your IP to people to join.

Keep in mind that you will probably want to forward ports 2456-2458 UDP on your router. (And maybe open them in your firewall.)

Originally posted by Spanton:

Setting up a dedicated server will allow your friends to play anytime...and it's free.

thru the "valheim dedicated server" download on steam?

Originally posted by Dangerclose:

Originally posted by Spanton:

Setting up a dedicated server will allow your friends to play anytime...and it's free.

thru the "valheim dedicated server" download on steam?

Yes exactly, intstall the dedicated server tool, port forward and configure...

https://www.pcgamer.com/valheim-multiplayer-dedicated-server/

I'll check when I get home from work and help more if needed =)

Yeah launch it as a server and stick a PW on it. If you are running a persistent one they can go online without you being online but your PC needs to be on running the game, otherwise they can only get on when you are online and hosting and running it

Setting up a dedicated server will allow your friends to play anytime...and it's free.