How to set up an Enshrouded dedicated server

An Enshrouded dedicated server is a separate program that keeps your world online, even when the person who started it logs off. It comes free with the game on Steam, runs on Windows and is set up with one file: enshrouded_server.json. Below you’ll find what it needs, how to start it step by step, which settings matter and how roles and passwords work. Checked for Enshrouded 1.0 with hotfix 1.0.0.3, as of 27 October 2026.

What does an Enshrouded dedicated server need?

Keen Games, the studio behind Enshrouded, gives these figures for the server:

The server only stores the world. Characters live on each player’s own PC, so a player keeps their character when they join another server. The world is saved every 5 minutes.

Set up your server step by step

There are two routes. You can host it yourself on a Windows PC, or rent a server that runs it for you.

Hosting it yourself

1. Download the server. In your Steam library, tick Tools so the Tools section shows. Install Enshrouded Dedicated Server from there. Anyone who owns the game gets it.
2. Start it once. Right-click the tool, choose Properties, then Installed Files and Browse. Start enshrouded_server.exe from that folder. Keen advises against Steam’s Launch button.
3. Wait for the ready line. The server is ready when the window shows [Session] 'HostOnline' (up)!. The first start takes longer.
4. Stop it and edit the settings. The first start creates enshrouded_server.json next to the exe. Change the name, slots and passwords (see below) and start it again.
5. Open the port. By default the server uses query port 15637, plus the ports Steam needs. Forward them in your router and allow them in Windows Firewall.

Keen supports Windows only; Linux support is planned but has no date. The catch with hosting at home: the world is only online while that PC is on, and an internet connection without its own public IPv4 address won’t let friends in.

Renting a server

On a rented server the program, the port and the public address are already sorted. At CakeHosting you open the Startup tab in the game panel, set the server name, the number of players and a password for each role, and press Start. The console shows the same ready line. Your server then appears in the server list.

The settings in enshrouded_server.json

A fresh file looks like this, with these default values:

Always stop the server before you edit the file, because it reads its settings when it starts. Keep the quotes and commas intact: a typo in a text value stops the server from starting, and the console names the faulty value. Fewer slots also means less load, which helps if memory or the processor runs short.

Roles and passwords for your group

Enshrouded doesn’t use one server password. Under userGroups, each role has a name, a password and a set of rights. The password a player types decides their role. A new dedicated server starts with four roles:

• Admin: everything, including kicking and banning players.
• Friend: build in bases and use chests.
• Guest: explore and fight, but no building in bases and no chests.
• Visitor: like a guest, but also no changes to the world outside bases.

The rights are switches set to true or false: canKickBan, canAccessInventories, canEditBase, canExtendBase (flame altars) and canEditWorld. With reservedSlots you keep places free for a role. Every role can fight, gather and do quests outside bases.

A new file gets random passwords, so nobody walks in by accident. Replace them with your own and give every role a different one. On our servers we saw that a 1.0 server won’t start when two roles share a password, and the panel doesn’t accept passwords made of digits only. Only give the Admin password to people you trust completely.

Difficulty and world settings

With gameSettingsPreset you pick the difficulty:

• Default: the standard game, Keen’s advice for a first playthrough.
• Relaxed: fewer enemies, more resources and loot. Good for builders.
• Hard: more enemies, and more aggressive ones.
• Survival: aggressive enemies plus extra survival rules.
• Custom: only then does the server use your own values under gameSettings, such as enemy damage, the Shroud timer, hunger and the length of day and night.

You can change the preset for an existing world, but only with a restart. Players see the active settings in the pause menu. Make a backup first, so you can go back if a setting turns out too harsh.

Your Enshrouded dedicated server doesn’t show up

Most of the time it’s one of these:

• The server isn’t ready yet. Wait for the HostOnline line in the console.
• Dedicated servers are hidden. In the Join menu, turn on the filter option that shows dedicated servers.
• Different versions. The game updates through Steam, the server only when it restarts. Restart it after every patch.
• The port can’t be reached from outside. That only happens when you host it yourself.

Still nothing? Mark the server as a favourite. In Steam, open View, Game Servers, choose Favorites and add the IP address with the query port. Favourites appear at the top of the list in the game. More causes and fixes are in Enshrouded server not showing up, and what changed with the full release is in Enshrouded 1.0 and your server.

An Enshrouded server at CakeHosting

On our servers the Windows server runs through Wine, and the panel does the fiddly parts. On every start it writes the query port, the server name, the number of players and the four role passwords from the Startup tab into enshrouded_server.json. Change those in the Startup tab, not in the file, or the panel puts the old values back. The preset, the game settings, chat and the rights per role are yours to edit in the file manager or over SFTP. Auto Update in Startup fetches the latest version on every start, and you make backups in the Backups tab. How the Startup tab works is in Change your server settings under Startup.