Your Valheim server password lives in one place: the Server password card on the Overview tab of your server panel. Change it there, restart the server, and the new password is the one Valheim asks every player for as they connect.
This guide covers setting it, the two rules that decide whether your server boots at all, what players see when they type it wrong, and how to get the password back when nobody can remember it.
What the server password does
Valheim asks for the password once, as a player connects, before they ever see your world. It is the only lock on the server. Anyone holding the address or the join code plus the password gets in, and anyone without the password does not, even if your server is listed in the public browser.
Three things it is not:
- It is not your DoomHosting account password. That one is for billing and the panel. Never hand it out.
- It is not the join code. The join code is a six digit number Valheim generates for crossplay and replaces on every restart. The password is yours and stays until you change it. There is a section on the difference further down, because mixing the two up is the single most common Valheim support question we get.
- It is not an admin password. Valheim grants admin rights by player ID in the admin list, which is the Player Manager in your panel, not by a secret you type in.
The rules for a Valheim server password
Two rules, and the second one is the reason for a lot of servers that start and immediately stop again.
Length: 5 to 20 characters. The panel checks this the moment you save. A shorter or longer value is rejected with an error and never reaches the server, so you cannot break a running server this way.
Your Valheim server always has a password. There is no open mode. The password field is required, and saving it empty fails with the same validation error as a too short one. If you want people to be able to walk in, hand out an easy password rather than hunting for a way to remove it.
The password must not appear inside your world name. This is the expensive one. If your world is called DeepNorth, then DeepNorth and DeepNo are both refused, and so is any other piece of that name. Nothing warns you in the panel. The server boots, prints Error bad password:Invalid password in the console, fails to load the world, and exits, so what you see is a server that starts and stops in a loop. Keep the password unrelated to your world name and to your server name and you will never meet it.
A new password applies on the next restart. Valheim reads it once at boot and passes it on the command line, so the running server keeps the old password until you restart. The panel says so with a "Saved. Restart to apply." bar and a Restart now button.
How to change your Valheim server password
- Open your server in the DoomHosting control panel and stay on the Overview tab.
- Find the Server password card. The value is masked by default. The eye button reveals it and the middle button copies it to your clipboard, which is what you want when you are sending it to somebody.
- Click the pencil button on the right of the card to edit it.
- Type the new password, between 5 and 20 characters, then press Enter or click the check button. The cross cancels without saving.
- A "Saved. Restart to apply." bar appears under the card. The password is stored, but the running server is still using the old one. Click Restart now, or restart later from the server header if people are online and you would rather warn them first.
That is the whole job. The same value also sits on the Startup tab as Server Password, next to Server Name and World Name, if you prefer to edit it there or want to check all three at once before a restart.
Both Valheim setups we offer, the vanilla one and the BepInEx one for mods, use the same Server Password field, so switching between them does not change your password or the rules around it.
How players enter the password
The password prompt is the last step of joining, whichever route a player takes:
- Launch Valheim and pick a character.
- Open Join Game.
- Either choose Join IP and paste the
IP:portfrom your panel, or click Add server, paste the join code, and select the server that appears. - Valheim asks for the password. Type it exactly as the panel shows it, capitals included.
- The world loads.
The full walkthrough for both routes, including the Steam favorites trick, is in how to join a Valheim server. Xbox, PS5 and Switch 2 players use the join code and get the same password prompt: their steps are in how to join a Valheim server on Xbox, PS5 and Switch 2.
Forgot your Valheim server password
Nothing is lost, and there is nothing to reset. The password is stored in plain text on your own server and the panel will show it to you:
- Open the server in your panel and stay on Overview.
- On the Server password card, click the eye button. The password appears.
- Click the copy button to put it on your clipboard.
There is no need to open a support ticket for this, and support will not hand a server password out over email in any case. If you have simply lost track of who you gave it to, set a new one with the steps above and restart. Everyone currently connected drops on the restart and comes back with the new password.
Join code or password: which one are you looking at?
They arrive together on the Overview and they get confused constantly, so here is the split:
| Join code | Server password | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Six digits, generated by Valheim | Whatever you set, 5 to 20 characters |
| Where it comes from | The crossplay relay, on every boot | The Server password field in your panel |
| How long it lasts | Until the next restart | Until you change it |
| What it does | Points the game at your server | Lets a player in |
| Exists when crossplay is off | No | Yes |
So a player needs both on a crossplay server: the code (or the address) to find the server, then the password to get in. If somebody tells you the code does not work, ask which box they pasted it into, because a join code typed at the password prompt fails exactly the way a wrong password does.
Common issues
"Incorrect password" when joining. Reveal the password in the panel and send it again as text rather than repeating it out loud. Capitals matter, and a code pasted into the password box gives the same message. A wrong password produces its own message, so it is not the cause of a "Failed to connect": that one is covered in Valheim Failed to connect: how to fix it.
I changed the password and the old one still works. The server has not restarted yet. Valheim reads the password at boot, so the running process keeps the old value until you press Restart now.
The server starts and stops again after I changed the password. Check the password against your world name first. If the password is a piece of the world name, Valheim refuses it, cannot load the world, and exits. The console prints Error bad password:Invalid password just before it goes. Change the password to something unrelated and restart.
The panel will not save my password. It is shorter than 5 characters, longer than 20, or empty. All three are rejected before anything reaches the server.
My friend cannot get in, and there is no password prompt at all. They never reached the server. That is an address or a join code problem, not a password problem. Start with how to join a Valheim server.
Everyone got kicked when I changed it. Applying a new password needs a restart, and a restart disconnects everyone. Your world is saved first, so nothing is lost, but it is worth telling people before you press the button.
More Valheim faults, from stale join codes to failed updates, are collected in common Valheim server problems and how to fix them.
Frequently asked questions
Can I run a Valheim server with no password? No. The password is required and has to be at least 5 characters. Use a simple one you are happy to share if you want an effectively open server.
Which characters can I use? Stick to plain letters and numbers. The password is passed to the server on its command line, so exotic characters and spaces are a needless risk for no security gain at this length.
Does changing the password affect my world or my characters? No. It only changes what players type on the way in.
Do I have to tell everyone again after a restart? No. The password survives restarts. It is the join code that changes on every boot.
Does the password protect a server that is listed publicly? Yes. Being listed only means people can find your server. The password still decides who gets in.
Where do I set the password when I first buy a server? It is already set, and the first thing worth doing is changing it away from the default. The rest of the first day setup is in getting started with your Valheim server.
Not got a server yet? Our Valheim server hosting runs on Ryzen 9 hardware, with the server password, the address and the join code all on the same Overview page from the first boot.
