Kicked From a Minecraft Server: What Each Message Means and How to Fix It

1. “Flying is not enabled on this server”

It's the anti-cheat built into the server itself: if it sees a player in the air for several seconds with nothing to explain it (no elytra, no fall, no creative mode), it kicks them.

For someone who isn't cheating it happens for three reasons: a mod or plugin that gives flight (jetpacks, rings, wings from a modpack), a plugin that launches players into the air, or heavy lag, which makes the server see you floating where your game sees you standing.

The fix, if flying with mods or plugins is allowed on your server: turn on allow-flight in server.properties (on NapNodes, “Settings” → “The game” → “Allow flight”) and restart. It doesn't give anyone flight: it only stops the server kicking people for flying. To catch people flying with cheats on a public server you use an anti-cheat plugin, not this message (protect your server from griefers).

2. “You have been idle for too long!”

The server has a limit of minutes doing nothing and you went past it. It's the player-idle-timeout setting in server.properties; at 0, nobody is kicked for standing still.

If people on your server leave their character at a farm while doing something else, set it to 0 or raise it. On NapNodes it's in “Settings” → “Joining and players” → “Kick idle players (minutes)”; it saves on its own and applies on restart. On a busy server with few free slots, on the other hand, a limit of 15 or 30 minutes makes room for the people who are actually playing.

3. “Kicked for spamming” or “Kicked for exceeding packet rate limit”

“Kicked for spamming” is the chat anti-spam: lots of messages or commands in a short time. It happens by accident with macros, with mods that send commands by themselves or when pasting several lines at once. Since Minecraft 26.2 the chat one and the commands one are separate: chat-spam-threshold-seconds and command-spam-threshold-seconds in server.properties (on NapNodes, “Chat anti-spam” and “Command anti-spam”, under “Joining and players”). The higher it is, the more messages in a row are tolerated; at 0, nobody is kicked.

“Kicked for exceeding packet rate limit” comes from Paper, when a player sends too much data per second. It's usually a cheat client or a client mod that goes too far (autoclickers, minimaps that request data non-stop). Before touching anything on the server, try joining without those mods. If it's a legitimate mod you all need, the limit is in config/paper-global.yml, in the packet-limiter section; raise it bit by bit, because it's also what stops anyone trying to bring the server down with packets.

4. “Timed out”, “Connection Lost” or “End of stream”

All three say the same thing in different words: the connection between your game and the server was cut. “Timed out” means one of the two stopped answering for a few seconds; “Connection Lost” or “End of stream”, that it was cut suddenly. Sometimes there's technical text underneath, like “Internal Exception: java.net.SocketException: Connection reset”: it's the same thing.

First find out whose cut it is. If it kicks all of you at once, it's the server; if only you, it's almost always your connection (Wi-Fi far from the router, someone else downloading, a VPN). Try a cable or your phone's data to be sure (high ping on the server).

If it's the server, look at the “Console” at the moment of the cut. A repeated “Can't keep up!” means the server can't cope and freezes (what “Can't keep up!” means): what causes it and how to find it, in why the server is lagging and how to find lag with spark. On NapNodes, your server's “Performance” tab shows memory and CPU for the last few minutes: if memory is stuck at the maximum when you get kicked, the server is short of RAM or has too many mods.

5. “Server closed”: the server has stopped

Nobody kicked you: the server shut down or restarted with everyone inside. Someone may have pressed “Stop” or “Restart”, a scheduled restart may have run (scheduled tasks) or the server may have crashed. If it crashed, the “Console” says why when you start it again; if it won't start, follow the guide for when it won't start.

On the NapNodes free server there are two more reasons, and the panel tells you which one it was. If people are waiting for their turn to start and yours has been running for more than an hour, it stops, with a warning in the game chat 5 minutes before. And if someone who pays needs the room, the free server that has been running the shortest time stops. In both cases nothing is deleted: you start it again with “Start”. On a plan, the server doesn't stop for that: it's always on and its RAM is yours alone (upgrade the free server to a plan, with the same world).

6. Chat messages: “Chat message validation failure”

Since 1.19 every chat message is signed with your account, and the server checks that they arrive in order. If something doesn't add up, it kicks you with “Chat message validation failure”, “Out-of-order chat packet received. Did your system time change?” or “Expired profile public key”.

What fixes it is almost always on your computer: set the clock to automatic (on Windows, “Settings” → “Time & language” → “Set time automatically”) and close the game and the launcher completely before joining again. If it happens to several of you since a chat plugin was installed, update that plugin to the latest version. Each message, with its cause and the server setting that prevents it, in signed chat errors.

7. Other ones that also kick you

“You logged in from another location”: someone has joined the same server with your account, or your previous game got stuck inside. If it isn't you, change your Microsoft account password.

“That name is already taken”: it shows up on cracked (offline-mode) servers, where the account isn't checked and two people can use the same name (why it happens on a cracked server).

“Kicked by an operator” is a kick: you can join again. “You are banned from this server” is a ban and only an admin can lift it, with pardon YourName (ban and kick players).

“Invalid move player packet received” or the vehicle one: the server received an impossible position, almost always because of cheats or a client mod that moves the player. With no cheats involved, try without client mods.

8. It doesn't kick me, but it pulls me back

If you walk and the game sends you a few blocks back again and again, the server is correcting your position: it thinks you moved faster than possible. In the “Console” it shows as “… moved too quickly!” or “… moved wrongly!” with your name.

On a server that runs well, it happens when going very fast by boat on ice, with elytra and rockets or with a mod that speeds you up. If it happens to all of you walking normally, it's server lag: the same path as in point 4. The thresholds are in spigot.yml (moved-too-quickly-multiplier and moved-wrongly-threshold), but raising them only hides the problem and leaves the door open to speed cheats.

For admins: how to find the reason

1. Note the time and the message

   Ask the player for a screenshot of the message or, at least, what time they were kicked.

2. Search for their name in the console

   In the “Console”, the server writes “Name lost connection:” followed by the reason, the same one the player saw. If it happened a while ago, it's in the logs: “Files” → logs, in latest.log or in the .log.gz files from earlier days.

3. Check whether it was only them

   If several “lost connection” lines appear in the same second, it was the server (lag, restart or crash). If only them, their connection, their mods or one of the settings above.

4. Change one setting at a time

   If you change “Allow flight”, the anti-spam or the idle kick in “Settings”, restart and test before touching the next one: that way you know which it was.

Frequently asked questions