How To Make A Private Unturned Server
Want to play Unturned with just your friends and keep things low-key? Setting up a private Unturned server lets you control who joins, what rules apply, and how the world evolves—without dealing with public traffic or griefers.
Add a strong password to your Unturned server
Set Max Players to your group size for tighter control
Use a whitelist plugin or mod for added security if needed
To secure your Unturned server with a password, you would need to do the following steps:
Turn off your Unturned Server in the Apollo Panel.
Go to the Startup tab, then set a server password using the "Password" setting you want players to enter when joining your Unturned Server.
Afterwards, you can start the server and be good to go. You have successfully set a server password on your Unturned Server.
To enforce a specific maximum player count for tighter control, do the following steps:
Turn off your Unturned Server in the Apollo Panel.
Go to the Startup tab, then set a number between 1 and 100 using the "Max Players" setting, depending on how many players you have at most on your Unturned Server.
Then, turn on the server, and you should see the new maximum player count on your Unturned Server based on the number you set in the Startup Tab.
If you want to control precisely who can join your private Unturned server, using a whitelist is one of the best solutions. It allows you to restrict server access to specific Steam accounts by using a simple whitelist system, ensuring that only approved players can connect, even if they have the server password.
Turn off the Unturned server.
In the Files Tab, locate the Servers/unturned/Server/Commands.dat file.
In the configuration file, add a separate line with the word "Whitelisted." Also, if you don't have cheats enabled, make sure they are by adding another line with "Cheats Enabled."
Save the contents of the .dat file.
Start your Unturned Server, and the server should now have whitelist enabled.
Now, when you try joining, you should see that you will get a message saying that "You are not whitelisted on this server," which is a good thing as it means no one can join the Unturned Server without being added to the whitelist, even if you have set yourself as the owner of the server in the server settings.
Now, to add players to the whitelist, you need to do the following steps while the server is running:
We need to get the SteamID64 of the player, so first, go to Steam ID Finder.
Enter the player's Steam Profile link and click on the Search button.
After clicking the button, you will see a variety of IDs and other details; however, for this guide, we will only need the user's "steamID64 (Dec)."
In the Server Console, enter the command permit [Player's SteamID64]/[Tag], with the "Player's SteamID64" as the ID we got earlier, and the tag, which primarily functions as an identifier when listing or managing whitelisted players.
Afterwards, the player will be able to join the server with the whitelist enabled.
To view the list of whitelisted players on the server, just run the command permits, which will output a list of the players permitted to join the server. From the list, you will see the PlayerID/s and the Tag/s that you have assigned to them.
You can remove the players from the Unturned server whitelist using commands while the server is running.
While the server is running, first get the ID of the player that you want to remove from the whitelist. You can use the permits command mentioned earlier to show a list of PlayerIDs and their corresponding tags to help you find the player's ID.
Run the command unpermit [Player ID] in the Console Tab. If you want to do it in-game instead, add a forward slash / or an at sign @ before the word "unpermit", so it should look like /unpermit [Player ID].
After running the command, the server should return that the player has been unpermitted to join the server, meaning they have been removed from the whitelist.
Don't hesitate to reach out to our support team! We're available 24/7 to assist!
Overview
Add a strong password to your Unturned server
Set Max Players to your group size for tighter control
Use a whitelist plugin or mod for added security if needed
Adding A Password To Your Unturned Server
To secure your Unturned server with a password, you would need to do the following steps:
Turn off your Unturned Server in the Apollo Panel.
Go to the Startup tab, then set a server password using the "Password" setting you want players to enter when joining your Unturned Server.
Afterwards, you can start the server and be good to go. You have successfully set a server password on your Unturned Server.
Setting A Maximum Player Count
To enforce a specific maximum player count for tighter control, do the following steps:
Turn off your Unturned Server in the Apollo Panel.
Go to the Startup tab, then set a number between 1 and 100 using the "Max Players" setting, depending on how many players you have at most on your Unturned Server.
Then, turn on the server, and you should see the new maximum player count on your Unturned Server based on the number you set in the Startup Tab.
Using A Whitelist
If you want to control precisely who can join your private Unturned server, using a whitelist is one of the best solutions. It allows you to restrict server access to specific Steam accounts by using a simple whitelist system, ensuring that only approved players can connect, even if they have the server password.
Enabling The Server Whitelist
Turn off the Unturned server.
In the Files Tab, locate the Servers/unturned/Server/Commands.dat file.
In the configuration file, add a separate line with the word "Whitelisted." Also, if you don't have cheats enabled, make sure they are by adding another line with "Cheats Enabled."
Save the contents of the .dat file.
Start your Unturned Server, and the server should now have whitelist enabled.
Now, when you try joining, you should see that you will get a message saying that "You are not whitelisted on this server," which is a good thing as it means no one can join the Unturned Server without being added to the whitelist, even if you have set yourself as the owner of the server in the server settings.
Adding Players To The Whitelist
Now, to add players to the whitelist, you need to do the following steps while the server is running:
We need to get the SteamID64 of the player, so first, go to Steam ID Finder.
Enter the player's Steam Profile link and click on the Search button.
After clicking the button, you will see a variety of IDs and other details; however, for this guide, we will only need the user's "steamID64 (Dec)."
In the Server Console, enter the command permit [Player's SteamID64]/[Tag], with the "Player's SteamID64" as the ID we got earlier, and the tag, which primarily functions as an identifier when listing or managing whitelisted players.
Afterwards, the player will be able to join the server with the whitelist enabled.
Viewing the Whitelisted Players
To view the list of whitelisted players on the server, just run the command permits, which will output a list of the players permitted to join the server. From the list, you will see the PlayerID/s and the Tag/s that you have assigned to them.
Removing Players From The Whitelist
You can remove the players from the Unturned server whitelist using commands while the server is running.
While the server is running, first get the ID of the player that you want to remove from the whitelist. You can use the permits command mentioned earlier to show a list of PlayerIDs and their corresponding tags to help you find the player's ID.
Run the command unpermit [Player ID] in the Console Tab. If you want to do it in-game instead, add a forward slash / or an at sign @ before the word "unpermit", so it should look like /unpermit [Player ID].
After running the command, the server should return that the player has been unpermitted to join the server, meaning they have been removed from the whitelist.
Still have some questions about making a private Unturned server?
Don't hesitate to reach out to our support team! We're available 24/7 to assist!
Updated on: 09/06/2025
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