Server.properties

A server.properties file opened with Notepad++

server.properties is the file which stores all the settings for a multiplayer (Minecraft or Minecraft Classic) server.

If you are going to edit server.properties it is important that you use the same structure as the original uses, although the order of the lines is arbitrary. The text before the equal sign is the key, which you shouldn't change. The text after the equal sign is the property's value, which you can edit. Lines that begin with # are comments - altering or removing these lines has no effect on the game.

After changes are made to the server.properties file, the server must be restarted for them to take effect.

If the server.properties file does not list all properties (such as if a new version of the server adds new properties, or if the file does not exist), then on startup the server will rewrite the server.properties file with the new properties listed and set them to their default values.

File Location

This file is automatically generated upon first start of the server (if it doesn't exist).

OS	File Location	Notes
Windows	Same directory as Minecraft_Server.exe
Linux Unix *nix/Mac	Path of Working Directory (pwd)	If you start it from your home directory (/home/yourname) the server files will be created in /home/yourname. Follow these guidelines for ensuring that the server files are generated where you would expect them. Set aside an entire directory for all of the server files. (Things could get messy if you don't). Place your minecraft_server.jar here. Use the Media:Minecraft server template.txt script as a guideline for setting up a startup script for your Minecraft server. Make sure it's in your executable $PATH Be sure to add the execution permission to the startup script (chmod +x file_name, or use a folder manager) minecraft_server(.sh)

Server.properties

As of 1.8.1, these are the default settings for a newly installed Minecraft server:

#Minecraft server properties
#(File modification datestamp)
spawn-protection=16
max-tick-time=60000
generator-settings=
force-gamemode=false
allow-nether=true
gamemode=0
enable-query=false
player-idle-timeout=0
difficulty=1
spawn-monsters=true
op-permission-level=4
resource-pack-hash=
announce-player-achievements=true
pvp=true
snooper-enabled=true
level-type=DEFAULT
hardcore=false
enable-command-block=false
max-players=20
network-compression-threshold=256
max-world-size=29999984
server-port=25565
server-ip=
spawn-npcs=true
allow-flight=false
level-name=world
view-distance=10
resource-pack=
spawn-animals=true
white-list=false
generate-structures=true
online-mode=true
max-build-height=256
level-seed=
use-native-transport=true
motd=A Minecraft Server
enable-rcon=false

Minecraft server properties

Key	Type	Default Value	Description
allow-flight	boolean	false	Allows users to use flight on your server while in Survival mode, if they have a mod that provides flight installed. With allow-flight enabled griefers will possibly be more common, because it will make their work easier. In Creative mode this has no effect. false - Flight is not allowed (players in air for at least 5 seconds will be kicked). true - Flight is allowed, and used if the player has a fly mod installed.
allow-nether	boolean	true	Allows players to travel to the Nether. false - Nether portals will not work. true - The server will allow portals to send players to the Nether.
announce-player-achievements	boolean	true	Allows server to announce when a player gets an achievement.
difficulty	integer (0-3)	1	Defines the difficulty (such as damage dealt by mobs and the way hunger and poison affects players) of the server. 0 - Peaceful 1 - Easy 2 - Normal 3 - Hard
enable-query	boolean	false	Enables GameSpy4 protocol server listener. Used to get information about server.
enable-rcon	boolean	false	Enables remote access to the server console.
enable-command-block	boolean	false	Enables command blocks
force-gamemode	boolean	false	Force players to join in the default game mode. false - Players will join in the gamemode they left in. true - Players will always join in the default gamemode.
gamemode	integer (0-3)	0	Defines the mode of gameplay. 0 - Survival 1 - Creative 2 - Adventure 3 - Spectator
generate-structures	boolean	true	Defines whether structures (such as villages) will be generated. false - Structures will not be generated in new chunks. true - Structures will be generated in new chunks. Note: Dungeons will still generate if this is set to false.
generator-settings	string	blank	The settings used to customize world generation. See Superflat and Customized for possible settings and examples.
hardcore	boolean	false	If set to true, players will be permanently banned if they die.
level-name	string	world	The "level-name" value will be used as the world name and its folder name. You may also copy your saved game folder here, and change the name to the same as that folder's to load it instead. Characters such as ' (apostrophe) may need to be escaped by adding a backslash before them.
level-seed	string	blank	Add a seed for your world, as in Singleplayer. Some examples are: minecraft, 404, 1a2b3c.
level-type	string	DEFAULT	Determines the type of map that is generated. DEFAULT - Standard world with hills, valleys, water, etc. FLAT - A flat world with no features, meant for building. LARGEBIOMES - Same as default but all biomes are larger. AMPLIFIED - Same as default but world-generation height limit is increased. CUSTOMIZED - Same as default unless generator-settings is set to a preset.
max-build-height	integer	256	The maximum height in which building is allowed. Terrain may still naturally generate above a low height limit.
max-players	integer (0-2147483647)	20	The maximum number of players that can play on the server at the same time. Note that if more players are on the server it will use more resources. Note also, op player connections are not supposed to count against the max players, but ops currently cannot join a full server. Extremely large values for this field result in the client-side user list being broken.
max-tick-time	integer (0–(2^63 - 1))	60000	The maximum number of milliseconds a single tick may take before the server watchdog stops the server with the message, A single server tick took 60.00 seconds (should be max 0.05); Considering it to be crashed, server will forcibly shutdown. Once this criteria is met, it calls System.exit(1). -1 - disable watchdog entirely (this disable option was added in 14w32a)
max-world-size	integer (1-29999984)	29999984	This sets the maximum possible size in blocks, expressed as a radius, that the world border can obtain. Setting the world border bigger causes the commands to complete successfully but the actual border will not move past this block limit. Setting the max-world-size higher than the default doesn't appear to do anything. Examples: Setting max-world-size to 1000 will allow you to have a 2000x2000 world border. Setting max-world-size to 4000 will give you an 8000 x 8000 world border.
motd	string	A Minecraft Server	This is the message that is displayed in the server list of the client, below the name. The MOTD does support color and formatting codes. The MOTD supports custom symbols, such as "♥". However, such characters must be converted to JavaScript entities. An online converter can be found here If the MOTD is over 59 characters, the server list will likely report a communication error.
network-compression-threshold	integer	256	By default it allows packets that are n-1 bytes big to go normally, but a packet that n bytes or more will be compressed down. So, lower number means more compression but compressing small amounts of bytes might actually end up with a larger result than what went in. -1 - disable compression entirely 0 - compress everything Note: The Ethernet spec requires that packets less than 64 bytes become padded to 64 bytes. Thus, setting a value lower than 64 may not be beneficial. It is also not recommended to exceed the MTU, typically 1500 bytes.
online-mode	boolean	true	Server checks connecting players against minecraft's account database. Only set this to false if your server is not connected to the Internet. Hackers with fake accounts can connect if this is set to false! If minecraft.net is down or inaccessible, no players will be able to connect if this is set to true. Setting this variable to off purposely is called "cracking" a server, and servers that are presently with online mode off are called "cracked" servers, allowing players with unlicensed copies of Minecraft to join. true - Enabled. The server will assume it has an Internet connection and check every connecting player. false - Disabled. The server will not attempt to check connecting players.
op-permission-level	integer (1-4)	4	Sets permission level for ops. 1 - Ops can bypass spawn protection. 2 - Ops can use /clear, /difficulty, /effect, /gamemode, /gamerule, /give, and /tp, and can edit command blocks. 3 - Ops can use /ban, /deop, /kick, and /op. 4 - Ops can use /stop.
player-idle-timeout	integer	0	If non-zero, players are kicked from the server if they are idle for more than that many minutes. Note: Idle time is reset when the server receives one of the following packets: 102 (0x66) WindowClick 108 (0x6c) ButtonClick 130 (0x82) UpdateSign 14 (0xe) BlockDig 15 (0xf) Place 16 (0x10) BlockItemSwitch 18 (0x12) ArmAnimation 19 (0x13) EntityAction 205 (0xcd) ClientCommand 3 (0x3) Chat 7 (0x7) UseEntity
pvp	boolean	true	Enable PvP on the server. Players shooting themselves with arrows will only receive damage if PvP is enabled. true - Players will be able to kill each other. false - Players cannot kill other players (also known as Player versus Environment (PvE)). Note: Indirect damage sources spawned by players (such as lava, fire, TNT and to some extent water, sand and gravel) will still deal damage to other players.
query.port	integer (1-65534)	25565	Sets the port for the query server (see enable-query).
rcon.password	string	blank	Sets the password to rcon.
rcon.port	integer (1-65534)	25575	Sets the port to rcon.
resource-pack	string	blank	Optional URI to a resource pack. The player may choose to use it.
resource-pack-hash	string	blank	Optional SHA-1 digest of the resource pack, in lowercase hexadecimal. It's recommended to specify this. This is not yet used to verify the integrity of the resource pack, but improves the effectiveness and reliability of caching.
server-ip	string	blank	Set this if you want the server to bind to a particular IP. It is strongly recommended that you leave server-ip blank! Set to blank, or the IP you want your server to run (listen) on.
server-port	integer (1-65534)	25565	Changes the port the server is hosting (listening) on. This port must be forwarded if the server is hosted in a network using NAT (If you have a home router/firewall).
snooper-enabled	boolean	true	Sets whether the server sends snoop data regularly to http://snoop.minecraft.net. false - disable snooping. true - enable snooping.
spawn-animals	boolean	true	Determines if animals will be able to spawn. true - Animals spawn as normal. false - Animals will immediately vanish. Tip: if you have major lag, turn this off/set to false.
spawn-monsters	boolean	true	Determines if monsters will be spawned. true - Enabled. Monsters will appear at night and in the dark. false - Disabled. No monsters. This does nothing if difficulty = 0 (peaceful) Unless your difficulty is not set to 0, when a monster can still spawn from a Monster Spawner. Tip: if you have major lag, turn this off/set to false.
spawn-npcs	boolean	true	Determines if villagers will be spawned. true - Enabled. Villagers will spawn. false - Disabled. No villagers.
spawn-protection	integer	16	Determines the radius of the spawn protection. Setting this to 0 will not disable spawn protection. 0 will protect the single block at the spawn point. 1 will protect a 3x3 area centered on the spawn point. 2 will protect 5x5, 3 will protect 7x7, etc. This option is not generated on the first server start and appears when the first player joins. If there are no ops set on the server, the spawn protection will be disabled automatically.
use-native-transport	boolean	true	Linux server performance improvements: optimized packet sending/receiving on Linux true - Enabled. Enable Linux packet sending/receiving optimization false - Disabled. Disable Linux packet sending/receiving optimization
view-distance	integer (3-15)	10	Sets the amount of world data the server sends the client, measured in chunks in each direction of the player (radius, not diameter). It determines the server-side viewing distance. (see Render distance) 10 is the default/recommended. If you have major lag, reduce this value.
white-list	boolean	false	Enables a whitelist on the server. With a whitelist enabled, users not on the whitelist will be unable to connect. Intended for private servers, such as those for real-life friends or strangers carefully selected via an application process, for example. false - No white list is used. true - The file whitelist.json is used to generate the white list. Note: Ops are automatically white listed, and there is no need to add them to the whitelist.

Minecraft Classic server properties

Key	Type	Default Value	Description
verify-names	boolean	true	If enabled the server will make sure that the client is logged in with the same IP on Minecraft.net. This has caused problems for people trying to play on the same computer they are hosting the server on as the server will see the local IP (127.0.0.1) while Minecraft.net will see the external IP. It is recommended that this is enabled unless you want to play on your server from the same computer you are hosting it on true - Enabled. The server will check all names with Minecraft.net false - Disabled. The server will make sure the IP matches
admin-slot	boolean	false	Allow ops to join even if the server is full.
public	boolean		Whether the server should be displayed in the server list, or not. true - The server will be displayed in the server list - anyone can see it. false - Only people with the URL which can be found in externalurl.txt and people who know the IP and port can join the server
server-name	string		The name of the server. This is displayed in the server list and when someone is joining the server A single line of text. Characters such as ' (apostrophe) may need to be escaped by adding a backslash before them.
max-players	integer (0-256)		The max numbers of players that can play on the server at the same time. Note that if more players are on the server it will use more resources. Note also, admin connections are not counted against the max players.
max-connections	integer (1-3)		The max number of connections the server will accept from the same IP. Note: If you try to set it higher than 3 it will be changed back to 3.
motd	string		MOTD is short for Message of the day, though you do not need to change it every day. The MOTD is displayed when people join the server.
grow-trees	boolean		Whether or not the server will allow planted saplings to grow into trees. true - the server will allow saplings to grow into trees. false - the server will not allow saplings to grow into trees.