Change your game server's join password

The join password is what your friends type when they connect to your server. On most games you change it in the panel's Startup tab and restart, but Garry's Mod keeps it in a file, and Minecraft and Rust don't have one at all. This guide covers every game we sell.

Where each game keeps it

For every game in the Startup rows, the panel's left rail shows the current password as Join password, hidden behind dots. Press the eye to show it, the copy button to copy it, or the pencil (Change password) to jump straight to the field in the Startup tab. The row only appears while a password is set.

Change it in the Startup tab

1. Open your server and go to the Startup tab, or press the pencil next to Join password in the left rail.
2. Type the new password in the field from the table above.
3. Save it. Most games have a Save button on the field's own row. Valheim and Terraria group their settings into cards, so press Save changes on the card instead.
4. Restart the server. A Restart to apply note appears at the top of the tab with a Restart now button. If the server is stopped, the note reads Loads on next start and the password is used the next time you start it.
5. Reload the page to see the new password in the left rail, then send it to your friends.

Valheim

The Password field is in the Server card at the top of the Startup tab. Every server gets a random one at setup. Valheim needs at least 5 characters, and it won't start if the password appears inside your Server name, so a server called "Vikings2026" can't use "Vikings" as its password. More in the Valheim getting-started guide.

Terraria

The Server password field is in the Joining card of the Startup tab. Use up to 20 letters, numbers, dashes and underscores, or leave it empty so anyone with the address can join. TShock's own user accounts, set up on the Players tab, are a separate thing: see the Terraria getting-started guide.

Palworld

Server Password is empty on a new server, so anyone who finds your listing can join. Set one of up to 30 letters, numbers, dashes and underscores. Don't change it in PalWorldSettings.ini or on the World Settings tab: the server rewrites the password from Startup on every boot. See Server password and admin password.

ARK: Survival Evolved and ARK: Survival Ascended

Both put Join Password on the server's launch line, which beats the ServerPassword line in GameUserSettings.ini, so a password typed into that file is not the one players need. Use up to 64 letters, numbers, dashes and underscores, or leave it blank for a public server.

RuneScape: Dragonwilds

A unique Join Password is made for your server at setup. Change it to 4 to 64 letters, numbers, dashes or underscores. Players who type the old one see Password is incorrect. Your party also needs the World Name: see World name and join password.

Enshrouded

On Enshrouded the password a player types decides their role. Join Password is the Friend role, the one you give your friends. The rail shows it as Friends' password, under Your password (admin). The optional Guest Password and Visitor Password give other roles, switched on from the Players tab's Roles tab. Every role needs its own password, or Enshrouded won't start.

Garry's Mod

Garry's Mod has no password field in the panel. It reads the sv_password line in garrysmod/cfg/server.cfg:

1. Stop the server.
2. Open the File Manager and go to garrysmod/cfg/server.cfg.
3. Set the line, keeping the quotes: sv_password "pick-a-password". Use sv_password "" for no password.
4. Press Save, then Start the server.

Typing sv_password in the Console works only until the next restart, because it doesn't change the file. More in Server name, password and server.cfg.

Minecraft: use the whitelist

Minecraft Java servers have no join password. To keep yours private, open the Players tab, add yourself and your friends on the Whitelist tab, then press Turn whitelist on. Only players on the list, plus your operators, can join after that. Add yourself first. The steps are in How to whitelist players and set operators.

If Bedrock players join through crossplay, they go on the same whitelist. Their names start with a dot (.BedrockPal). See How to let Bedrock players join Java for crossplay itself.

Rust: no join password

Rust has no join password setting, and the Startup tab has none. Anyone who finds your server can join. To keep someone out, ban them from the Console with banid and their SteamID64, or add a whitelist plugin through Oxide: see How to install Oxide (uMod) plugins on your Rust server. The RCON Password in Startup is for admin tools, not players.

Join password or admin password?

Several games also have an Admin Password (and Rust an RCON Password) in the Startup tab. That one unlocks admin commands and lets the panel's Console talk to the server. It never lets a player in, so keep it to yourself and don't send it as the join password. For ARK, see how to set the admin password and enable cheats. For Palworld, see how to become admin.

Common problems

1. The new password is refused. The server hasn't restarted since you saved it. Press Restart now, or restart from the dashboard.
2. The rail still shows the old password. Reload the page. The rail reads the password when the page loads.
3. Save is refused. The password breaks that game's rule: it's empty where the table says it can't be, too short or too long, or (on every Startup game except Valheim) it has a character other than letters, numbers, dashes and underscores.
4. Valheim won't start after a change. The password is under 5 characters or appears inside the server name. Fix either in the Startup tab.
5. A friend still can't get in. Check capitals and spaces when they copy it, and treat every password as case-sensitive.