Enshrouded Dedicated Server: Setup, Ports and Settings

Short version: Keen Games' own setup, in short: the dedicated server is a free Windows-only tool (Steam app 2278520) that comes with the game. Run the server .exe once and it creates enshrouded_server.json, the file that holds every setting. The only port Keen lists is the query port, 15637, plus the ports Steam itself needs. After a game update, run the server on the same version as the players and back up your saves before you touch the config.

Everything on this page comes from Keen Games: its support site and its Steam announcements, linked in the sources below. The change timeline and the notes on where Keen’s own documents disagree are our additions.

What you need

Windows. Keen’s installation guide says: “For now, only Windows is supported. Linux support is planned for later.” The server’s Steam page (app 2278520) also lists Windows only.
Hardware. Keen’s recommendation for 4 to 6 players is an Intel Core i7 at 3.2 GHz or AMD equivalent with 6 cores (12 threads), 16 GB RAM and an SSD with at least 30 GB free. For 16 players it recommends a stronger CPU: i7 at 3.7 GHz or AMD equivalent with 8 cores (16 threads).
Upload bandwidth. “Per player an upload capacity of 2mbit/sec is recommended.”

Keen’s FAQ also gives real numbers for the running server: about 4.4 GB of RAM when idle, up to 100 MB more per player, and “In total the server should not use more than 6GB of physical RAM.” The server files take about 13 GB.

Install and first start

In your Steam library, turn on the Tools checkmark. Keen: “Purchasing and unlocking the game will automatically unlock the dedicated server in the ‘Tools’ section of the Steam library.” It’s listed as Enshrouded Dedicated Server.
Install it, then right-click it and choose Properties > Installed Files > Browse to open the install folder.
Start enshrouded_server.exe from that folder. Keen: “We recommend not using the Steam ‘Launch’-button but run the *.exe instead.”
On the first start, the server creates enshrouded_server.json in the same folder. Stop the server, edit the file in any text editor, and start it again.

The server is ready when the console window (and log) shows a line like [Session] 'HostOnline' (up)!. It can run in the background, but per Keen’s FAQ “there is a DOS window”.

Ports

Keen’s FAQ and its network troubleshooting page give the same answer: “By default, we are using: “queryPort”: 15637”, plus the ports Steam lists in its own “Required Ports for Steam” article. You can change queryPort in the config “to match your firewall settings”. The server only uses IPv4.

Keen’s docs don’t list a separate game port. Some third-party guides tell you to forward more ports, and we compare their advice on our server not showing after an update page.

The main settings in enshrouded_server.json

The file is created fresh when none exists. Keen’s current default file (labelled “VERSION 0.9.0.0” on its gameplay settings page) has these top-level entries:

Setting	Default	What it does (Keen’s docs)
`name`	`"Enshrouded Server"`	The name shown in the server list.
`saveDirectory`	`"./savegame"`	Where the world save is stored.
`logDirectory`	`"./logs"`	Where logs go. Older logs move to `logs/backup`.
`ip`	`"0.0.0.0"`	Set only “if needed for internal network configurations”.
`queryPort`	`15637`	The query port (see above).
`slotCount`	`16`	Player slots, “a number between 1 and 16”. Fewer slots lighten the load on a weak machine.
`tags`	empty	Filter tags players can search for (added in November 2025, see below).
`voiceChatMode`	`"Proximity"`	`Proximity` or `Global`.
`enableVoiceChat`	`false`	Voice chat on or off.
`enableTextChat`	`false`	Text chat on or off.
`gameSettingsPreset`	`"Default"`	`Default`, `Relaxed`, `Hard`, `Survival` or `Custom`.
`gameSettings`	(block)	Individual gameplay values.
`userGroups`	Admin, Friend, Guest, Visitor	Passwords and permissions.
`bans`	empty	Banned players.

Both chat options are off by default. When text chat arrived in January 2025, Keen wrote: “The feature is set as ‘off’ by default on dedicated servers, so make sure to enable it.”

Passwords and user groups

A dedicated server has no single server password. (Since 1.0, games hosted from the game itself use one password plus per-player promote and demote, but the changelog says: “On dedicated servers, the user groups with the associated passwords work as before - promoting and demoting is not possible while playing on the server.”) Each entry in userGroups has its own password, and the password a player types decides which group they join. The main permissions are canKickBan, canAccessInventories, canEditBase, canExtendBase and canEditWorld, plus reservedSlots, which holds slots free for that group. Keen: “By default, randomized passwords are created to prevent unwanted players from joining the server.” Change them to something you can share, and give the Admin password only to admins.

If your file is older than June 2024 and still has a top-level "password" line, Keen says the server turns it into a group called “default” with Friend-level permissions, so an old setup keeps working.

Difficulty and gameplay settings

The individual values in gameSettings only apply when gameSettingsPreset is "Custom". Keen: “When ‘Custom’ is selected, only then a long list of individual settings can be tweaked.” Two more rules from Keen’s docs:

A number outside the allowed range is replaced with the minimum or maximum. Invalid text stops the server from starting, and the console shows the bad value.
Settings can’t change while the server runs: “you will need to restart the server to change them.”

The time settings are in nanoseconds. Converted by us, the defaults are: dayTimeDuration 1800000000000 = 30 minutes, nightTimeDuration 720000000000 = 12 minutes, and fromHungerToStarving 600000000000 = 10 minutes (allowed range 5 to 20 minutes).

How the config file has changed

Our own timeline, built from Keen’s Steam announcements. If you’re working from an old guide or an old config file, this shows what it’s missing. Newest first.

Date	Update	What changed in the server config (Keen, quoted)
Oct 14, 2026 (changelog; release Oct 15)	1.0, v1.0.0.0	“Added a new option called “Automatic” to the server setting that controls the amount of enemies that spawn in each encounter.” Also “Reworked the values for the enemy damage slider in the server difficulty settings.” The changelog doesn’t name the config keys.
Nov 10, 2025	Update 7, v0.9.0.0 (Wake of the Water)	Server `tags` (“LookingForPlayers”, “BaseBuilding”, “Exploration”, “Roleplay” and language tags), a ban list, and the Visitor role with a new permission for “terraforming or interactions with the open world outside of bases”.
Jun 25, 2025	Hotfix #27	“Fixed an issue that prevented starting the dedicated server executable directly from the Steam library.”
Jan 29, 2025	Hotfix #21	“Fixed an issue preventing the default server_enshrouded.json from being created when the file didn’t previously exist, when starting a dedicated server.” Also “Updated the readme file for dedicated server configuration.”
Jan 28, 2025	Update 5, v0.8.0.0 (Pact of the Flame)	Text and voice chat added; text chat is “off” by default on dedicated servers.
Jul 29, 2024	Update 3, v0.7.3.0 (Back to the Shroud)	“Added difficulty presets and individual gameplay settings… to the config file for dedicated servers.”
Jun 5, 2024	Update 2, v0.7.2.0 (Melodies of the Mire)	“On dedicated servers, user groups with corresponding permissions can be freely configured.” The single password line was replaced by `userGroups`.

Keen’s docs don’t always agree with each other, so check the file your own server generates:

Friend’s canExtendBase. The example on Keen’s roles page sets it to true. The default file on its gameplay settings page (version 0.9.0.0) sets it to false.
New groups in old files. Keen’s roles page says the preset groups from Update 2 “are only generated when the ‘enshrouded_server.json’ is freshly created”. It doesn’t say whether the same applies to the Visitor group and canEditWorld from Update 7. If your file has no Visitor group, compare it with the default file on Keen’s gameplay settings page.

After a game update

Update the server to the same version as the players. In 2024 Keen wrote: “you will need to ensure the server is running the same version as the game.” Not every patch changes the server, though. Our list of hotfixes that need a server update shows what Keen said for each 2026 release.
Back up the save folder first. The world save lives in saveDirectory. Each world keeps 10 rolling copies, and a new one is made “every 10 minutes or when shutting down”. For a rollback, Keen’s advice is to “create a copy of all save files” before changing anything.
If the config looks wrong after the update, Keen says old versions of the file “can sometimes be incorrectly updated. In this case you can delete the file to let it be created freshly on the next startup.” Keep a copy first so you can put your name, passwords and settings back.
Restart and wait for 'HostOnline' (up)! before anyone tries to join.

If the server still doesn’t show up in the list after that, see Enshrouded dedicated server not showing after an update.

1.0: October 15, 2026

Enshrouded left Early Access on October 15, 2026 (Keen’s launch post), with version 1.0.0.0. What the 1.0.0.0 changelog says for server hosts (checked Oct 15, 2026):

Install, ports, config file: no change mentioned. Keen’s dedicated server articles on its support site still read the same as before 1.0; we checked all nine on Oct 15.
Enemy amount: a new “Automatic” option. “When Automatic is set, the amount of enemies is scaled depending on the size of the party in a multiplayer game.” Players in other parts of Embervale don’t count toward the party. The support site doesn’t list this value yet, so check the default file your 1.0 server creates for the exact key.
Enemy damage: the slider values were reworked, and Keen says they now better reflect “the factual damage increase observed during combat”. If you copy an old gameSettings block, the same number may not mean the same damage. That’s our reading.
Permissions: user groups and passwords on dedicated servers “work as before”.
Performance: “Reduced the memory needed for server and client communication.” No new RAM figures are given, so the numbers in “What you need” are still Keen’s pre-1.0 ones.
Saves: 1.0 uses a new save data format, and saves from 0.8 or earlier are backed up and migrated on first load. The changelog doesn’t say how this applies to saveDirectory on a dedicated server, so back up your save folder before you start the 1.0 server.
Server update: not stated either way. See which hotfixes needed a server update.