Minecraft 26.3 (and 26.2) on Your Server: the Whitelist Is On by Default and Other Changes

Why nobody can join: the whitelist is on

The official 26.3 release notes say it in one line: the white-list option in server.properties is now enabled by default. With it on, only people on the list and operators can join.

It only changes what wasn't already written. If your server.properties already had white-list=false (for example, because you're coming from 26.2), it's respected. It mostly hits people setting up a new server on their PC.

The message depends on the server: on Paper it's in English, “You are not whitelisted on this server!”; on one without plugins (Fabric, Forge, NeoForge) the game shows it in each player's language.

On NapNodes this doesn't happen to you: the installer writes white-list=false if the line doesn't exist, because someone setting up a server for their friends expects them to be able to join. If you get it, you turned it on yourself or brought a server.properties that had it.

How to turn off the whitelist (or use it properly)

1. Turn it off

   In the console, whitelist off. It applies immediately and is saved. You can also set white-list=false in server.properties and restart; in the NapNodes panel, under “Settings”, it's the “Whitelist” setting.

2. Or keep it and add your friends

   whitelist add Name for each one, with the exact name of their Java account. whitelist list shows who's on it. In the NapNodes panel, “Settings” → “Players” → “Whitelist”, no commands needed. Operators (op) can join even if they're not on the list. The rest of the commands are in the admin commands guide.

3. Kick whoever is already in

   With enforce-whitelist=true, when you turn on the list or remove someone from it, they're kicked even if they're already playing. In the panel, “Kick anyone not on the list”.

4. Bedrock players, separately

   If they join through Geyser and Floodgate (Java and Bedrock together), you add them with fwhitelist add Name: the normal whitelist looks up Java accounts.

26.2: separate anti-spam for chat and commands

26.2 split in two the system that kicks people who send too many messages: chat-spam-threshold-seconds for chat and command-spam-threshold-seconds for commands. Both default to 10, which is what there used to be for everything combined.

How it counts: each message adds one second and each tick (a twentieth of a second) takes off a twentieth. With 10, you get kicked for sending 11 messages in 1 second, 14 in 2 or 21 in 10. With 0, nobody gets kicked for it.

Why you'd change it: if someone who builds with lots of commands in a row (WorldEdit, for example) gets kicked, raise the command one and leave chat as it is. In the NapNodes panel they're “Chat anti-spam” and “Command anti-spam”, under “Settings”.

“Missing file: /data/minecraft/game_rules.dat”: nothing to worry about

If your Paper 26.2 server shows that error in the console, you can ignore it. The Paper team itself explained it when releasing 26.2: it comes from a part of the game that's only used in singleplayer and doesn't affect servers. Your game rules are still where they were.

Other 26.2 and 26.3 changes a server notices

Less work with idle mobs (26.3): mobs that never despawn, such as name-tagged ones, stop wandering around when there are no players nearby, just like the rest. With lots of named animals, that's work the server saves.

Generating terrain and finding structures (/locate) is faster (26.3), and so is converting some worlds from before 26.1 (26.2).

Hoglins now count as hostile and don't spawn on Peaceful difficulty (26.2).

Some log lines that server software looked for no longer appear (26.3). If you have a bot or a script that reads the console to know who joins or leaves, check it after updating.

When releasing 26.3, Paper announced that it's preparing to bring together in one place the configuration that's currently spread across bukkit.yml, spigot.yml and its own files, with 26.4 as the planned date. When it arrives, the configuration files will change.

Updating from 26.1 to 26.3

There's no other folder change like the one in 26.1: you update as usual. Back up first, check your plugins have a version and change the version (on NapNodes, “Mods & plugins” → “Server type”). As with every version, the updated world can't go back to the previous one. The step by step is in the guide to updating the server version.

Frequently asked questions