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Minecraft server settings how-to

Most settings are in the Properties page in the panel. It is a form with a search box. Change a value, save it, and restart the server for it to take effect. Commands run in the Console.

How do I use the Properties page?

Section titled “How do I use the Properties page?”
  1. Open Properties in the panel.
  2. Type the setting name in the search box, for example motd.
  3. Change the value and save.
  4. Restart the server from the power bar.

Some changes can be done live with a console command instead (see below).

How do I change the gamemode?

Section titled “How do I change the gamemode?”

For everyone joining by default: set gamemode in Properties to survival, creative, adventure or spectator, then restart. To force it on joining players, turn on force-gamemode.

For one player right now, run in the Console:

gamemode creative <playername>

How do I change the difficulty?

Section titled “How do I change the difficulty?”

In Properties set difficulty to peaceful, easy, normal or hard, then restart. Or run difficulty hard in the Console for an instant change.

How do I turn on hardcore?

Section titled “How do I turn on hardcore?”
  1. In Properties set hardcore to true.
  2. Restart. On hardcore, difficulty is locked to hard and a player who dies is put in spectator mode.
  3. Hardcore is chosen when the world is created, so on an existing world the effect may not be what you expect. Test on a copy.

How do I turn PVP on or off?

Section titled “How do I turn PVP on or off?”

In Properties set pvp to true or false, then restart. When false, players cannot hurt each other. Since Minecraft 1.21.9 this setting is a game rule instead of a property, so if pvp is missing from Properties, run gamerule pvp false in the Console.

How do I change the MOTD (server description)?

Section titled “How do I change the MOTD (server description)?”
  1. In Properties, find motd.
  2. Type your text. Color and formatting codes are supported (in server.properties they are written as \u00A7 plus the code letter, for example \u00A7a), so check how it looks in the multiplayer list. Keep it short, around 59 characters.
  3. Save and restart.

How do I change the maximum number of players?

Section titled “How do I change the maximum number of players?”

Set max-players in Properties and restart. Your plan and memory still limit how many people the server can handle. See Minecraft server lag and performance.

How do I set up a whitelist?

Section titled “How do I set up a whitelist?”
  1. In Properties set white-list to true and restart, or run whitelist on (some newer versions have it on by default) in the Console. Set enforce-whitelist to true to also kick online players who are not on the list.
  2. Add players: 
    whitelist add <playername>
  3. Remove with whitelist remove <playername>. Show the list with whitelist list.
  4. See Players for the panel page.

What is online-mode?

Section titled “What is online-mode?”

online-mode checks that each player has a real, paid Minecraft account. Keep it true for normal servers. If false, anyone can join with any name, including impersonating your operators, and player data uses different IDs. Only turn it off if you fully understand the risk. If you use a proxy, follow that proxy’s docs.

How do I change the view distance?

Section titled “How do I change the view distance?”

Set view-distance in Properties. Lower values reduce lag. Also see simulation-distance. More in Minecraft server lag and performance.

How do I change spawn protection?

Section titled “How do I change spawn protection?”

spawn-protection is the radius around spawn where only operators can build. Set it to 0 to turn it off. Restart after saving.

How do I turn the Nether on or off?

Section titled “How do I turn the Nether on or off?”

Set allow-nether in Properties. When false, Nether portals do not work. Restart after saving. Since Minecraft 1.21.9 this setting is a game rule. If it is missing from Properties, run gamerule allow_entering_nether_using_portals false in the Console (on 1.21.10 and older the rule is allowEnteringNetherUsingPortals).

How do I enable command blocks?

Section titled “How do I enable command blocks?”

Set enable-command-block to true in Properties and restart. (Since Minecraft 1.21.9 this is a game rule instead: run gamerule command_blocks_work true in the Console. On 1.21.10 and older the rule is commandBlocksEnabled.) Then in creative, give yourself a command block with give <name> command_block.

How do I allow flying (allow-flight)?

Section titled “How do I allow flying (allow-flight)?”

allow-flight set to true stops the server from kicking players for flying, which matters for some mods and plugins. It does not give players flight in survival by itself.

How do I change the server icon?

Section titled “How do I change the server icon?”
  1. Make a 64 by 64 pixel PNG image.
  2. Name it server-icon.png.
  3. Upload it to the main folder of the server using Files (see Files).
  4. Restart the server. It shows in the multiplayer list.

How do I set a resource pack?

Section titled “How do I set a resource pack?”
  1. Host your resource pack as a .zip file at a direct download link that works in a browser.
  2. In Properties set resource-pack to that link.
  3. If needed set resource-pack-sha1 and turn on require-resource-pack to force it.
  4. Restart. Players get a prompt when they join.

How do I set a world border?

Section titled “How do I set a world border?”

Run these in the Console:

worldborder center 0 0
worldborder set 10000
worldborder get

set takes a diameter in blocks. worldborder add 1000 grows it. Also see max-world-size below.

How do I change gamerules (keepInventory, mobGriefing and others)?

Section titled “How do I change gamerules (keepInventory, mobGriefing and others)?”

Use gamerule in the Console. Examples on Minecraft 1.21.10 and older:

gamerule keepInventory true
gamerule mobGriefing false
gamerule doDaylightCycle false
gamerule doWeatherCycle false

From Minecraft 1.21.11 on, all game rules were renamed to lowercase with underscores, and some changed meaning:

gamerule keep_inventory true
gamerule mob_griefing false
gamerule advance_time false
gamerule advance_weather false

advance_time replaces doDaylightCycle and advance_weather replaces doWeatherCycle. Run gamerule and press Tab to see all rules on your version.

How do I make someone an operator?

Section titled “How do I make someone an operator?”

Run op <playername> in the Console. Remove it with deop <playername>. Operators can run powerful commands, so give it carefully.

How do I ban, unban or kick a player?

Section titled “How do I ban, unban or kick a player?”
  • Kick: kick <playername> [reason]
  • Ban: ban <playername> [reason]
  • Unban: pardon <playername>
  • Ban an IP: ban-ip <ip> and unban with pardon-ip <ip>

How do I save the world or stop the server safely?

Section titled “How do I save the world or stop the server safely?”
  1. Run save-all in the Console to force a save.
  2. To stop, use stop or the Stop button in the power bar. This saves the world.
  3. Avoid Kill unless the server is stuck, because it can lose recent changes.

How do I set the time or weather?

Section titled “How do I set the time or weather?”
time set day
time set night
time set 6000
weather clear
weather rain

How do I find the world seed?

Section titled “How do I find the world seed?”

Run /seed in the Console. To use a seed on a new world, see Regenerate the world. The level-seed setting only applies to newly created worlds.

How do I change the world type (level-type)?

Section titled “How do I change the world type (level-type)?”

Set level-type in Properties, for example minecraft:normal, minecraft:flat, minecraft:large_biomes or minecraft:amplified. It only applies when a new world is created. See Regenerate the world.

What does max-world-size do?

Section titled “What does max-world-size do?”

max-world-size sets the largest allowed radius of the world border, in blocks (the default is very large, 29999984). A lower number keeps the world small. It caps the border, it does not remove blocks already outside it.

How do I kick idle players (player-idle-timeout)?

Section titled “How do I kick idle players (player-idle-timeout)?”

Set player-idle-timeout in Properties to a number of minutes. Players who do nothing for that long are kicked. Use 0 to turn it off.

How do I enable RCON?

Section titled “How do I enable RCON?”

RCON is remote console access. It is in Properties as enable-rcon. Only turn it on if you need it and you have a tool that uses it. Always set a strong, unique rcon.password. Leave the port setting alone unless you know it is allowed on your server, and open a ticket if you need help. Do not share the password.

Still stuck?

Section titled “Still stuck?”

Open a ticket or ask on Discord. See Contact support.