How to host a 7 Days to Die dedicated server

This guide is for V3.4.0, the stable version since 26 October 2026. It covers the three ways to host, the full setup on your own PC for Linux and Windows, the settings to change first, moving a world you already have, and what to check when friends can't join.

Three ways to host

Hosting from the game needs nothing extra: the Steam page lists online and LAN co-op, and the world runs in the host's game while they play. A dedicated server is a separate program with no graphics that keeps the world running whether or not anyone is in it. That suits a group who log in at different times, or a horde night nobody wants to miss because the host is away.

What your own PC needs

The Fun Pimps publish figures for the game, not for the server. The server rows are from our own test on 3 October 2026, on a build before V3.4.0.

A generated world bigger than the default needs more memory. The RAM calculator gives our estimate for your group.

Set it up, step by step

1. Download the server

Install SteamCMD, Valve's command-line Steam client, then run one line. It puts the server in its own folder and logs in anonymously:

steamcmd +force_install_dir ~/7dtd-server +login anonymous +app_update 294420 validate +quit

On Windows, the same line with a Windows folder:

steamcmd +force_install_dir C:\7dtd-server +login anonymous +app_update 294420 validate +quit

Run the same line again whenever the game updates: the server and every player must be on the same version.

2. Make your own copy of the settings file

The server folder ships a serverconfig.xml with every setting and a comment on each. Copy it to myserver.xml and edit the copy. The update line above checks every game file, so an edited original can be put back to the stock file the next time you update. The next section covers what to change.

3. Start it

On Linux, from the server folder:

cd ~/7dtd-server
cp serverconfig.xml myserver.xml
mkdir -p logs
./7DaysToDieServer.x86_64 -configfile=myserver.xml -quit -batchmode -nographics -dedicated -logfile logs/latest.log

These are the flags the LinuxGSM project starts it with, and the binary and flags we run ours with. The folder also has a startserver.sh that takes the same -configfile= argument.

On Windows, the server folder has startdedicated.bat. Open it in Notepad, change -configfile=serverconfig.xml to -configfile=myserver.xml, save it and double-click it. A terminal window opens with the server's log, and you type console commands there.

The server takes a while to load: about 80 seconds in our tests on the stock map, longer the first time it builds a generated world. It's ready when the log prints StartGame done. It reads its settings file only when it starts, so restart it after any change.

4. Open the ports

Give the server PC a fixed address on your home network, then forward these ports to it on your router and allow them through the PC's firewall:

Don't forward 8080 (the web dashboard, off by default) or 8081 (telnet). If you change ServerPort, the other ports move with it. The file's own comment about keeping the port between 26900 and 26905 or 27015 and 27020 is about being found as a LAN server on your home network, not a list to forward.

5. Join

In 7 Days to Die, choose Join a Game, then Connect to IP, and enter your public address and port 26900. Your friends do the same from their homes. With ServerVisibility at 2 the server is also listed in the server browser, so set a ServerPassword unless you want strangers.

The settings to change first

Each is a <property> line in your copy of the file. The serverconfig.xml generator has every property with its default, and shows which lines of an old file version 3 ignores. A starting set for a private group on the stock map:

<property name="ServerName"           value="Our horde nights"/>
<property name="ServerPassword"       value="pick-a-password"/>
<property name="ServerMaxPlayerCount" value="8"/>
<property name="ServerVisibility"     value="2"/>
<property name="GameWorld"            value="Navezgane"/>
<property name="GameName"             value="MyGame"/>

Difficulty, XP, loot, blood moons and zombie speed aren't in this list on purpose. V3.0 moved about thirty of the old lines, including GameDifficulty and XPMultiplier, into one SandboxCode property, and guides written before June 2026 still list the old ones. Set your rules in the game's Sandbox Options screen, use its copy code button and paste the code in as the SandboxCode value.

Make yourself an admin

Admins, the whitelist and bans live in serveradmin.xml in the server's Saves folder. The file asks you to change it through console commands. Once you've joined once, type admin add <your id> 0 into the server's console, using the ID the log printed when you joined (Steam players look like Steam_7656…); 0 is the highest level. On Windows the console is the terminal window. On Linux, run telnet localhost 8081 on the server PC: with no TelnetPassword the file says telnet listens only on the PC itself, which is how it should stay.

Moving a world you already have

A world is two folders deep: Saves\<world>\<game>. On Windows the game keeps them in %APPDATA%\7DaysToDie\Saves; our Linux server keeps them in ~/.local/share/7DaysToDie/Saves. A generated world also needs its map, in GeneratedWorlds\<world> beside Saves.

1. Stop the server and the game.
2. Copy the world's folder from Saves (with the game folder inside it) to the server's Saves, and for a generated world its folder from GeneratedWorlds too.
3. Set GameWorld to the world folder's name and GameName to the game folder's name, then start the server.

The save and the server must be on the same game version.

When friends can't join

The server isn't in the list

It may still be loading: wait for StartGame done in the log. Check ServerVisibility: 0 hides it, and 1 doesn't do what it sounds like on a dedicated server, because, as the file explains, nobody is ever a friend of a dedicated server, so it shows only once someone has connected by address. Connect to IP works whatever the list shows.

Connecting times out

Check each port above is forwarded to the server PC's current address and allowed through its firewall. Test from outside your home: some routers won't connect you to your own public address from inside, so at home use the server PC's local address instead. If your internet provider puts you behind carrier-grade NAT, you can't forward ports at all: you need a tunnelling service, or a server somewhere with a public address.

“Version mismatch”, or it refuses right after an update

Players update automatically, so after a patch the server is the one behind: stop it and run the SteamCMD line again. Players who picked an older or experimental version in Steam's Betas tab must go back to the same branch as the server; after V3.1.0, The Fun Pimps told players who couldn't reach a dedicated server to select “Default Public Version”.

The first join takes ages

A new player downloads the whole world before they spawn, at up to ServerMaxWorldTransferSpeedKiBs, 512 kiB a second by default. On a large generated world that can take minutes. Raise it towards the game's cap of about 1300 if your upload can carry it.

Your difficulty or XP settings do nothing

Lines such as GameDifficulty, XPMultiplier or LootAbundance come from a pre-V3 file or guide, and the V3.0 notes list them as removed. Set a SandboxCode instead, restart, and check the Sandbox Code: line the server prints as it starts; the console command getsandboxoptions (or gso) lists the options in force. Also check the server really starts with your copy: the -configfile= name must match the file you edited.

Mods

EasyAntiCheat is on by default (EACEnabled is true). Community modding guides agree that XML modlets run with it on, while mods that add code (DLL files) need it off on the server and players starting the game without it. Mods with new models or textures must be installed by every player as well.

Mac players with French selected

A V3.4.0 known issue: a Mac with the game's language set to French can't join a server or a co-op game. Switching the game to another language avoids it.

One more V3.4.0 note from The Fun Pimps: joining a server on 3.4.0 b6 or later may turn some resource items carried over from a 3.3 inventory into different items, once.

Renting a server instead

This section is about our 7 Days to Die servers only.

• No router setup. The panel shows the address and port your friends type into Connect to IP.
• Settings in a panel. It edits serverconfig.xml for you, including the sandbox code. Eight of the file's settings are set at every start instead: you change the server name, password and player cap in the panel, and the port, web dashboard and telnet are fixed. Telnet gets a random password on the first start and is never opened to the internet; the panel's console uses it for you.
• Your world. Bring in a world on the panel's Files page takes a zip of the folders above and switches the server to that world, and you can undo it. Keep your own copy: download your files from the panel's Files page, as one .zip or over SFTP.
• Updates and mods. Each server checks for a game update every time it starts. Modlets go up over SFTP, followed by a restart.
• Size. Ours start at 8 GB of memory and allow 8 players by default.

A pass lasts a day, a week or a month, and the buyer chooses whether it renews until they cancel or runs once. When a pass ends the server stops and its files are kept for 30 days. Sizes are on the pricing page, and hourly, daily or monthly works through which pass suits how often your group plays.

Game facts checked against 7 Days to Die V3.4.0 on 11 November 2026.