Running your own Enshrouded dedicated server gives you a persistent voxel world that stays online whether or not the host player is logged in, with full control over difficulty, slots, and admin roles. Keen Games ships an official dedicated server tool, so you do not need a third-party hack to get a 24/7 world up. This guide walks through the complete process: installing the server with SteamCMD, understanding every field in enshrouded_server.json, opening the correct ports, launching, and connecting from the game. The instructions are current as of the “Forging the Path” update (April 2026), the eighth and final major Early Access content update before the planned 1.0 release in Fall 2026.
What you need before you start
The Enshrouded dedicated server is a separate Steam application from the game itself. The game client is Steam App ID 1203620, but the dedicated server downloads under App ID 2278520 and installs anonymously — you do not need to own the game or log into a Steam account to pull the server files. A few baseline facts to keep in mind:
- Platform: Windows is the only natively supported platform. Keen ships a Windows
.exeonly, and official setup guidance targets Windows Server 2022. - Linux: There is no native Linux server binary. Linux hosting works unofficially through Wine or Proton — the popular community Docker image ships explicit
wineandprotonvariants. - Player cap: 16 players, a hard cap baked into the game’s networking. No host can legitimately exceed it.
- RAM: Enshrouded is RAM-heavy. Keen documents a minimum of roughly 5 GB base, plus about 100 MB per player on top. In practice, plan for 16 GB+ for a healthy full server.
Step 1: Install the server with SteamCMD
SteamCMD is Valve’s command-line tool for installing dedicated servers. Download it from Valve, extract it, then run the following command to pull the Enshrouded server into a folder of your choice. The validate flag verifies file integrity, which is worth keeping in your update routine:
steamcmd +login anonymous +force_install_dir "C:\enshrouded-server" +app_update 2278520 validate +quitNote the two key arguments: +login anonymous (no credentials required) and +app_update 2278520 (the dedicated-server App ID, not the game’s 1203620). The same command re-run later updates the server in place, which is exactly how you stay in lockstep with client patches — when “Forging the Path” landed in April 2026, out-of-date servers stopped accepting connections until they were updated.
Step 2: First launch to generate the config
The server binary is enshrouded_server.exe. The configuration file does not exist until the first run, so the sequence is: launch once, let it generate the file, stop the server, edit, then relaunch.
- Run
enshrouded_server.exefrom the install folder. - On first launch it auto-creates
enshrouded_server.jsonin the server’s base folder. - Stop the server (close the console window or shut it down cleanly).
- Edit
enshrouded_server.jsonwith the settings below. - Relaunch the server and wait for the console to report
Host_Online.
That Host_Online message is your signal that the world has loaded and the server is accepting connections. Until you see it, the server is still initializing.
Step 3: Configure enshrouded_server.json
Every meaningful setting lives in this one JSON file. Here are the documented fields and what each one does:
| Field | Meaning | Default / notes |
|---|---|---|
name | Server name shown in the browser | e.g. “Enshrouded Server” |
password | Legacy single join password | Modern configs prefer per-role passwords via userGroups |
saveDirectory | Save-file path | "./savegame" |
logDirectory | Log path | "./logs" |
ip | Bind address | "0.0.0.0" (all interfaces) |
gamePort | Main game traffic | 15636 (TCP + UDP) |
queryPort | Steam server-list / query | 15637 (TCP + UDP) |
slotCount | Player slots | 1–16; 16 is the hard cap, higher values are silently truncated |
gameSettingsPreset | Difficulty preset | Default, Relaxed, Survival, or Custom |
gameSettings | Detailed gameplay block | Only read when preset is Custom |
userGroups | Role array: Admin / Friend / Guest | Each role has its own password plus permission flags |
A minimal, functional configuration looks like this:
{
"name": "My Enshrouded Server",
"saveDirectory": "./savegame",
"logDirectory": "./logs",
"ip": "0.0.0.0",
"gamePort": 15636,
"queryPort": 15637,
"slotCount": 16,
"gameSettingsPreset": "Default",
"userGroups": [
{
"name": "Admin",
"password": "ChangeThisAdminPassword",
"canKickBan": true,
"canAccessInventories": true,
"canEditBase": true,
"canExtendBase": true,
"reservedSlots": 0
},
{
"name": "Friend",
"password": "ChangeThisFriendPassword",
"canKickBan": false,
"canAccessInventories": true,
"canEditBase": true,
"canExtendBase": true,
"reservedSlots": 0
},
{
"name": "Guest",
"password": "ChangeThisGuestPassword",
"canKickBan": false,
"canAccessInventories": false,
"canEditBase": false,
"canExtendBase": false,
"reservedSlots": 0
}
]
}The two settings that trip people up
Two fields cause the most confusion, so they’re worth calling out explicitly.
The custom-settings gotcha. The detailed gameSettings block — enemy spawn rates, resource and loot multipliers, and similar tuning — is only read when gameSettingsPreset is set to "Custom". If you leave the preset as Default, Relaxed, or Survival and then edit the gameSettings values, your changes are silently ignored and the preset wins. If you want fine-grained control, set the preset to Custom first.
Per-role passwords. The modern config uses userGroups with separate Admin, Friend, and Guest roles, each with its own password and permission flags such as kick/ban and inventory access. Players authenticate into a role by entering that role’s password when joining — so an admin and a guest connect to the same server but get very different privileges. The legacy single password field still exists for backward compatibility, but the role-based approach is the better setup for any shared server.
Step 4: Open the right ports
Enshrouded needs both default ports open on both TCP and UDP. If you self-host, forward and allow both on your router and your firewall:
- 15636 — game traffic (TCP + UDP)
- 15637 — query / Steam server list (TCP + UDP)
If you change the ports in the JSON, remember to mirror those exact numbers in your firewall and port-forward rules. A server that loads fine locally but is invisible to friends is almost always a port problem — the query port in particular is what makes the server show up in the browser.
Step 5: Connect to your server
Once the console shows Host_Online, you connect using the server’s IP and the query port (not the game port):
- In Enshrouded, open the server browser and add the server to your Steam Favorites using
IP:queryPort— for example203.0.113.10:15637. - Refresh the in-game browser and join from your favorites.
- If the server uses role passwords, enter the password for the role you should belong to (Admin, Friend, or Guest).
For more detail on the client side — including troubleshooting connection failures and version mismatches — see our companion guide on how to join a dedicated Enshrouded server.
Self-host vs. managed hosting
Self-hosting on a spare PC works, but it means leaving a machine on around the clock, managing port forwards, and running every SteamCMD update by hand. Because Enshrouded is RAM-heavy and depends on strong single-thread CPU performance plus fast SSD/NVMe storage for voxel-world save and load, under-provisioned hardware is the usual cause of lag and crashes. A managed host removes that friction: automatic SteamCMD updates keep the server matched to client patches, and a file manager or JSON editor lets you tune enshrouded_server.json without remote-desktop access. If you’d rather skip the maintenance, our Enshrouded server hosting plans handle updates and config access out of the box, and you can read the full panel walkthrough in the Enshrouded documentation.
One honest buyer’s-guide note: Enshrouded has no official mod API or Workshop support as of mid-2026, so treat “mod support” as a non-factor — be skeptical of any host that heavily advertises it, and equally skeptical of any host claiming more than 16 slots on a single world, since that’s a game-engine limit, not a plan limit.
Frequently asked questions
What is the SteamCMD App ID for the Enshrouded server?
The dedicated server installs under App ID 2278520 using +login anonymous. That’s different from the game client, which is App ID 1203620. You do not need to own the game to download the server.
How many players can join an Enshrouded server?
16 is the maximum. The slotCount field accepts values from 1 to 16, and anything higher is silently truncated to 16. This is a hard cap in the game’s networking, not a limit set by your host.
Why are my custom difficulty settings being ignored?
The gameSettings block is only read when gameSettingsPreset is set to "Custom". If the preset is left as Default, Relaxed, or Survival, the preset overrides your custom values. Set the preset to Custom to make your tuning take effect.
Can I run an Enshrouded server on Linux?
There is no native Linux server binary — Keen ships a Windows .exe only. Linux hosting is possible unofficially through Wine or Proton, and community Docker images provide both wine and proton variants. Windows Server is the natively supported and officially documented path.
Which ports does Enshrouded use, and what do I connect to?
Open 15636 (game) and 15637 (query) on both TCP and UDP. You connect from the game using IP:queryPort — for example IP:15637 — not the game port.
How much RAM does an Enshrouded server need?
Keen documents a minimum base of roughly 5 GB plus about 100 MB per player. For a full 16-slot world with headroom, the practical community recommendation is 16 GB or more. Under-provisioned RAM is the most common cause of lag and crashes.
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