Install it from the Steam Tools section
Keen Games bundle the server with the game. Buying Enshrouded unlocks the dedicated server in the Tools section of your Steam library, which you may have to make visible first by ticking the Tools box in the library filter.
Once it has downloaded, do not use Steam's Launch button. Keen's own instruction is to right click the entry, open Properties, choose Installed Files, click Browse, and start the executable from the folder directly. Run it once and close it. That first run is what creates enshrouded_server.json, the file everything else in this guide is about.
One limitation to plan around rather than fight: Keen state that for now only Windows is supported, with Linux support planned for later. Every Linux path you will find online is a community workaround, not a supported build.
enshrouded_server.json
The config is plain JSON in the same folder as the server executable. Keen document these entries:
| Entry | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
name | Enshrouded Server | The name players see in the server list. |
saveDirectory | ./savegame | Where the world is written. |
logDirectory | ./logs | Where logs go. Older logs are kept in ./logs/backup. |
ip | 0.0.0.0 | Set this only if your internal network needs it. |
queryPort | 15637 | Change it to match your firewall. |
slotCount | 16 | Player slots. Must be between 1 and 16. |
voiceChatMode | Proximity | Proximity or Global. |
enableVoiceChat, enableTextChat | false | Both are off until you turn them on. |
gameSettingsPreset | Default | Default, Relaxed, Hard, Survival or Custom. |
The presets are worth reading rather than guessing at. Keen describe Default as the direct continuation of how Enshrouded played up to update 0.7.3.0 and the recommendation for first-time players. Relaxed reduces enemies and hands out more resources, aimed at base building. Hard raises the count and the aggression. Survival adds survival mechanics on top of that. Custom opens a long list of individual settings.
Because it is JSON, one missing comma stops the server from starting. If the server will not come up after an edit, check the punctuation before you check anything else. Every entry, the 38 individual game settings and the user groups are listed in the Enshrouded server settings reference.
Ports and getting found
Keen's FAQ answers the port question with one entry: queryPort, 15637 by default, plus the ports Steam itself requires, which they link to rather than restate. The server uses IPv4.
Being reachable and being visible are different problems, and Enshrouded has a specific trap on the second. In the client's Join screen there is a server filter, and dedicated servers only appear when the Show dedicated servers option is switched on there. A crew who cannot see your server should check that before anyone touches a router. Servers can be starred as favourites, which sorts them to the top, and if a server still will not list, Keen's documented fallback is to add it by IP in the Steam client under View, then Game Servers.
To know the server is genuinely up rather than merely running, watch the console or log for Keen's own startup markers: [Session] 'HostOnline' (up)! and the line reporting the transition from Lobby to Host_Online.
What the server saves, and what it does not
This is the part to read twice. Keen state that character save games are not stored on the dedicated server. Character progression is stored only on clients; the world progression is what lives on the server.
In practice that means a full server backup does not protect anyone's character, and a player who loses their own install loses their progress no matter how careful you have been. Tell your group this once, early, rather than after it happens.
Keen's help pages describe the Early Access save layout, and 1.0 changed it. Before 1.0 a world was a set of files with fixed hexadecimal names in creation order (the first world 3ad85aea, the second 3bd85c7d), ten numbered rolling copies, and an -index file you could edit to roll back. Keen says 1.0 "uses a new save data format which results in smaller save game files and a simpler data structure". On our 1.0 test server the world was one file, savegame/world0.ksd, with ten copies in savegame/backup and no -index file. The guide to moving a world to a dedicated server covers both layouts and how to roll back on 1.0.
Keen's own warning applies before you touch any of it: copy all the save files first, so a rollback attempt cannot turn into a loss.
Updates
The server updates through Steam like the game does. Take a copy of savegame before an update, restart cleanly rather than killing the window, and watch for the Host_Online lines on the way back up. There is no headless mode without a console window; Keen confirm the server can run in the background but there is still a command window.
Self-hosting or renting
If you have a Windows machine that can stay on, self-hosting Enshrouded is genuinely easy. One executable, one config file, one port, and the save files are yours to copy anywhere.
The costs are the ordinary ones plus one specific to this game. The machine has to be awake whenever anyone wants to play. Many home connections cannot accept incoming connections at all, whatever you do to the router. Whoever hosts is the person who has to notice a crash. And because there is no supported Linux build, self-hosting here means keeping a Windows machine free for it rather than tucking the server onto whatever spare box you already have.
Renting hands the machine and the restarts to someone else. It does not change the config file, the presets, the port, or the fact that characters live on clients.
Where ForgeWorld Gaming fits
Every ForgeWorld Gaming Enshrouded server runs Enshrouded 1.0, the version Keen Games released on 2026-10-15.
Prefer renting to keeping your own server machine online? ForgeWorld Gaming currently offers Enshrouded Standard: 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 player slots at CA$21.99–CA$41.99/month. Hosted in Iowa, United States. Prices are in Canadian dollars, with no setup fee and cancel any time. Your server is set up automatically after payment. Continue to secure billing, Enshrouded · Dedicated server, CA$21.99 / month (Standard, 4 slots), or compare Enshrouded plans.