AstroworldGetting started
Minecraft server.properties explained, setting by setting
server.properties is the main settings file of a Minecraft Java server. It decides who can join, how the game plays, how far players see and how hard the server works. It is a plain text file with one setting per line, like max-players=20.
Below are the settings you can change in the panel, grouped the way the form groups them, with the name of the line in the file and the value Minecraft uses when you change nothing.
Where to change server.properties
- In the form: open Settings and go to Server settings. Every field has a name in plain words and a short explanation, and the search box finds a setting by name. The Advanced group appears after Show advanced settings.
- In the file: open Files and click
server.propertiesin the top folder of the server.
Either way, save and restart the server. Minecraft reads the file when it starts, so a change does nothing until the next restart.
General: server list, players and resource pack
| In the panel | Line in the file | What it does | Minecraft default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server description | motd | The text under your server's name in the server list, up to 150 characters in the form | A Minecraft Server |
| Max players | max-players | How many people can be online at once | 20 |
| Idle kick (minutes) | player-idle-timeout | Kicks players who do nothing for this many minutes; 0 never kicks | 0 |
| Resource pack URL | resource-pack | A direct https link to a zip that players download on join | empty |
| Resource pack SHA-1 | resource-pack-sha1 | The 40 character checksum of that zip | empty |
| Resource pack prompt | resource-pack-prompt | A line players see when asked to accept the pack | empty |
| Force resource pack | require-resource-pack | Players who decline the pack cannot play | false |
Colours and a second line in the MOTD are in change your server icon and MOTD; the resource pack lines in add a resource pack to your server. Max players is a limit, not a promise: how many can play smoothly depends on your RAM, see how much RAM.
Gameplay: difficulty, game mode, PvP and spawn
| In the panel | Line in the file | What it does | Minecraft default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Difficulty | difficulty | peaceful, easy, normal or hard; peaceful removes hostile mobs | easy |
| Default gamemode | gamemode | What new players start in: survival, creative, adventure or spectator | survival |
| Force gamemode on join | force-gamemode | Puts everyone back in the default mode each time they join | false |
| Hardcore | hardcore | One life per player; dead players become spectators | false |
| PvP | pvp | Players can damage each other | true |
| Spawn protection (blocks) | spawn-protection | Radius around spawn where only operators can build; 0 turns it off | 16 |
| Allow the Nether | allow-nether | Nether portals work | true |
| Allow flight | allow-flight | Stops the kick for flying; some mods and plugins need it on | false |
| Command blocks | enable-command-block | Command blocks run in the world | false |
| Spawn monsters | spawn-monsters | Hostile mobs spawn | true |
Spawn protection is why new players often cannot break blocks at spawn: set it to 0 if everyone should be able to build there. On 1.21.11 and newer, PvP and monster spawning are also game rules, which you switch in the World tab; see keep inventory and game rules. For a one life server, see make a hardcore Minecraft server.
World: structures and world type
| In the panel | Line in the file | What it does | Minecraft default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Generate structures | generate-structures | Villages, strongholds and other structures in new land | true |
| World type | level-type | minecraft:normal, minecraft:flat, minecraft:large_biomes, minecraft:amplified or minecraft:single_biome_surface | minecraft:normal |
Both only change land that has not been generated yet. For a whole world of the new type, start a new world. The file also holds level-name, the name of the world folder, and level-seed, the seed of a new world; change your server's seed shows how to use them.
Performance: view distance and simulation distance
| In the panel | Line in the file | What it does | Minecraft default |
|---|---|---|---|
| View distance (chunks) | view-distance | How far players can see, from 2 to 32 | 10 |
| Simulation distance (chunks) | simulation-distance | How far around each player the world keeps working: farms, mobs, crops | 10 |
| Entity range (%) | entity-broadcast-range-percentage | How far away players see mobs and items | 100 |
| Watchdog (ms) | max-tick-time | How long one tick may take before the server counts itself as stuck and stops | 60000 |
| Synchronous chunk writes | sync-chunk-writes | Waits for each chunk to be written to disk before going on; off saves faster | true |
Simulation distance is the biggest single lever for performance: every step down means much less world to keep running. A view distance of 10 with a simulation distance of 6 looks the same to players and asks far less of the server. Reduce lag goes deeper.
Keep the watchdog at 60000 or higher. Below that, the server may stop itself during a short heavy moment, such as a big explosion or loading a large area.
Access: whitelist and online mode
| In the panel | Line in the file | What it does | Minecraft default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whitelist | white-list | Only players on the whitelist can join | false |
| Enforce whitelist immediately | enforce-whitelist | Kicks online players who are not on the whitelist as soon as it applies | false |
| Verify accounts with Mojang | online-mode | Checks that every player owns the account they log in with | true |
| Require signed chat | enforce-secure-profile | Refuses clients that cannot sign their chat messages | true |
| Block proxy connections | prevent-proxy-connections | Refuses players who connect through a VPN or proxy | false |
| Hide the player list | hide-online-players | Does not show who is online in the server list | false |
Leave online mode on. With it off, anyone can join under any name, including yours as the owner. The only reason to switch it off is a server behind a proxy of a server network that checks accounts for you. More on the whitelist in whitelist and operator levels.
Advanced: server list, logs and network
| In the panel | Line in the file | What it does | Minecraft default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answer server-list pings | enable-status | The server shows as online in multiplayer lists; off makes it look offline | true |
| Send console output to operators | broadcast-console-to-ops | Operators see the result of console commands in the game | true |
| Send remote command output to operators | broadcast-rcon-to-ops | The same for commands sent from outside the game | true |
| Log player IP addresses | log-ips | Writes the address of each player to the log | true |
| Network compression threshold | network-compression-threshold | Packets bigger than this many bytes are compressed; -1 turns compression off | 256 |
| Connection rate limit | rate-limit | Kicks a player who sends more packets per second than this; 0 is no limit | 0 |
The Minecraft defaults are the right choice here for almost every server.
Lines to leave alone
A few lines in the file belong to how your server is reached, such as server-port and server-ip. They are set for your play address; change them and players can no longer connect. Change the settings above freely, but leave these as they are.
On Paper and Purpur, server.properties is only part of the story: the files bukkit.yml, spigot.yml and the config folder with the Paper settings hold many more options, mostly for performance. Paper, Purpur or Spigot explains what those server types add.
Questions
Where is server.properties on my server?
In the top folder of the server, next to the world folder. Open it in the Files tab, or change the same settings in the Settings tab under Server settings.
Do I need to restart after changing server.properties?
Yes. Minecraft reads the file when it starts, so a change works after the next restart.
Why did my change in server.properties not work?
Usually the server was not restarted, or the value is spelled wrong. true and false are written in small letters, and there are no spaces around the equals sign.
What is a good view distance for a Minecraft server?
Around 10 for view distance and 6 for simulation distance suits most survival servers. Lower both on a busy or heavily modded server.
Checked against the Server settings form in the Settings tab and the Files tab of our control panel, September 2026. Written by the Cheapest Minecraft Hosting team, updated .