How to host an Enshrouded dedicated server

Three ways to host

Enshrouded is for up to 16 players, whichever way you host it.

From the game, the world exists while the host plays. A dedicated server keeps it running for whoever logs in. The world lives on the server; each player's character lives on their own PC and travels with them.

What your PC needs

These are Keen Games' recommended specifications for the server, from its help centre.

Keen's server FAQ gives smaller numbers: about 4.4 GB of memory at idle, up to 100 MB more per player, and no more than 6 GB in all. That answer was written before 1.0, so treat the 16 GB as the safer figure for the whole PC. The download is smaller than Keen's FAQ says: about 7.6 GB for v1.0.1.2 when we installed it on 11 November 2026.

On Linux or a Mac? Keen's installation page says “For now, only Windows is supported. Linux support is planned for later.” The Windows server runs on Linux under Wine or Proton, which is how our servers run it. Without a Windows PC to leave on, a rented server is the practical answer.

Install it

With the Steam client

1. In your Steam library, tick Tools in the filter and install Enshrouded Dedicated Server. It unlocks with the game.
2. Right-click it, choose Properties, then Installed Files and Browse.
3. Start enshrouded_server.exe from that folder. Keen recommend this over Steam's Launch button.

With SteamCMD

No Steam account is needed: the server downloads with an anonymous login.

steamcmd +force_install_dir C:\EnshroudedServer +login anonymous +app_update 2278520 validate +quit

On Linux, add +@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType windows before +login, because only a Windows build exists. Run the same command again to update the server.

First start

The server runs in a console window. On its first start it writes enshrouded_server.json next to the exe, creates the savegame and logs folders, and makes a new world. It is ready when the window and the log show:

[Session] 'HostOnline' (up)!

Stop it before you edit the file: press CTRL+C in its window rather than killing the process. In our tests, on Linux, the same interrupt shut the server down in an orderly way in about two seconds.

enshrouded_server.json

Everything is in this one file. Edit it with the server stopped, in a plain text editor, and keep a copy of the working version: a missing comma or quote breaks JSON.

1.0 added two things to gameSettings: flameLevelFogRemoval (default 11, 0 to 20), the Flame level needed to place Flame Altars in the Shroud, and an Automatic choice for randomSpawnerAmount. The file our server wrote on 1.0.1.2 set randomSpawnerAmount to Automatic, though the readme's example still shows Normal.

User groups are the passwords

There is no single server password. A fresh file has four user groups, each with its own random password, and the password a player types decides which group they join as. Keen made the passwords random “to prevent unwanted players from joining the server”, so until you change one, nobody can join with it.

The keys behind those columns are canKickBan, canAccessInventories, canEditBase, canExtendBase and canEditWorld. reservedSlots keeps slots free for a group, so an admin can get in when the server is full. You can add groups of your own with any mix. Leave a group you don't use with its random password and nobody can join as it.

An example, with the server name, slot count and two groups changed. The ... stands for the parts to leave as the server wrote them.

{
  "name": "Friday Night Flameborn",
  "saveDirectory": "./savegame",
  "logDirectory": "./logs",
  "ip": "0.0.0.0",
  "queryPort": 15637,
  "slotCount": 8,
  ...
  "userGroups": [
    {
      "name": "Admin",
      "password": "a-long-password-only-you-know",
      "canKickBan": true,
      "canAccessInventories": true,
      "canEditWorld": true,
      "canEditBase": true,
      "canExtendBase": true,
      "reservedSlots": 1
    },
    {
      "name": "Friend",
      "password": "the-one-you-give-your-group",
      "canKickBan": false,
      "canAccessInventories": true,
      "canEditWorld": true,
      "canEditBase": true,
      "canExtendBase": false,
      "reservedSlots": 0
    },
    ...
  ],
  "bannedAccounts": []
}

Two notes from Keen. A top-level "password" line from an old guide no longer sets the password; if the server finds one, it makes a group called default with Friend-like rights from it. And since 1.0, the per-player promote and demote in the game is for hosts playing from the game: “On dedicated servers, the user groups with the associated passwords work as before”.

Ports and your router

Keen name one port, queryPort, and say the server uses IPv4. In our tests that one port carried both the game and the Steam server list, over UDP. Forward it to the PC, and allow enshrouded_server.exe through Windows Firewall. Keen also point to the ports Steam itself uses; if Steam already works on that PC, you don't need to do more for those.

Many guides still list a second port, 15636. That was the game port of older versions. The current file has no game port setting, and our own server blueprint notes that the server ignores the old gamePort key.

How friends join

1. In Enshrouded, choose Join from the main menu.
2. In the server filter on the right, turn on Show dedicated server. Without it, dedicated servers don't appear.
3. Find the server by name, pick it, and type the password for the group you've given them.
4. Star it to keep it at the top of the list next time.

If it isn't in the list, Keen's fallback is a Steam favourite: in the Steam client choose View, Game Servers, the Favorites tab, then +, and enter the address and query port, such as 203.0.113.10:15637. Favourites show at the top of the game's list.

A dedicated server is for PC players on Steam. After an Enshrouded update, update and restart the server too, so players on the new version can join.

Server not showing up?

Saves and moving a world

The server keeps its world in savegame. Keen's save page says world files are named with fixed codes in order of creation: 3ad85aea for the first world, 3bd85c7d for the second, and so on, with an _info file holding details such as the world's name and an -index file saying which of the world's ten numbered rolling copies is current. Keen's server FAQ says the server saves every 5 minutes, and that characters are never stored on the server.

A world you played from the game is in %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Enshrouded, or in Steam Cloud at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\<Steam ID>\1203620\remote. Since 1.0 the game's menus have separate tabs for local and Steam Cloud saves, so check both. To move one to a server, stop the server and copy that world's files, all the ones starting with its code, into savegame. Keep your own copy first. Keen say 1.0 brought a new, simpler save format, so compare the file names with what your server wrote before you replace anything.

An Early Access world still loads. Keen say the first 1.0 load converts a save made in 0.8 or earlier to the new format, keeping a copy of the old data first, and resets the skill tree, so everyone spends their skill points again. They also strongly encourage starting a new world for 1.0, because the early game has changed.

Renting a server instead

Our Enshrouded servers set the server name and the main group password from the panel, and the port is already open.

Game facts checked against Enshrouded v1.0.1.2 on 11 November 2026.