Minecraft Server Whitelist: How to Turn It On and Add Your Friends

What the whitelist does

With the whitelist on (white-list=true in server.properties), the server rejects anyone who isn't on it when they connect: they get a message saying they're not whitelisted and never get in.

The list is saved in whitelist.json, in the server's main folder, with each player's name and UUID. The UUID is what counts: if someone changes the name on their Minecraft account, they're still on it.

Operators (op) can join even if they're not on the list. Even so, add yourself too: if one day you remove your op, you won't be locked out of your own server.

Since Minecraft 26.3, a new server starts with the whitelist on and nobody can join until you turn it off or add your friends (what else changed in 26.3). On NapNodes it comes turned off: you switch it on whenever you want.

1. Turning it on with commands

1. Open the console

   In the server's panel, “Console”, with the server running. In the console, commands go without the slash; in the game, with it and as an op (how to make yourself op and the other commands).

2. Add yourself first

   whitelist add YourName. That way you don't lock yourself out when you turn it on.

3. Turn it on

   whitelist on. It's saved to server.properties automatically: it stays on even if you restart.

4. Add everyone else

   whitelist add Name, one by one, with the exact name of their Minecraft Java account (3 to 16 letters, numbers or underscores).

5. Check

   whitelist list shows who's on it. To remove someone, whitelist remove Name; to turn it off, whitelist off.

2. Doing it from the NapNodes panel, without commands

On panel.napnodes.com, inside your Minecraft server, go to “Settings”. The switches are in the “Joining and players” section; at the bottom of the page, “Players” has the list.

1. Turn on “Whitelist”

   It's the “Whitelist” switch under “Joining and players”. If you also turn on “Kick anyone not on the list”, anyone already online who isn't on the list is kicked when the whitelist goes on. It saves as soon as you change it and applies when the server restarts.

2. Add your friends

   In “Players”, “Whitelist” tab, type the Minecraft name and press “Add”. With the server running, the panel uses the whitelist add command; with it stopped, it looks up that account's UUID and writes it into whitelist.json, so you don't need to start the server to prepare the list.

3. Remove someone

   In the same list, “Remove” next to their name. In the other two tabs, “Operators” and “Banned”, you do the same with ops and bans.

3. “I turned it on and it won't let me in”

The name is misspelled. It has to be the Minecraft Java account name, not their Xbox or Discord name, nor the one shown in someone else's launcher. If in doubt, check the name and its UUID with the UUID tool.

They play on Bedrock (mobile, console, Windows). If your server has Geyser and Floodgate (on NapNodes, the “Bedrock” tab in “Mods & plugins”), those players aren't added with whitelist add but with fwhitelist add Name in the console, using their Xbox account name (Java and Bedrock together).

The server is cracked (online-mode=false). There, each player's UUID isn't their account's, so a list prepared with the server stopped won't match. Add them with the server running, using the command. The guide to cracked servers explains why that mode lets anyone join with someone else's name.

If it's none of those, watch the “Console” at the moment they try to join: the server says which name and UUID they arrived with, and you compare it with the list.

4. Whitelist, password and bans: what to use when

Minecraft Java has no server password. To let only your friends in, the tool is the whitelist; to keep a specific person from coming back, a ban (ban Name, or the “Banned” tab in the panel).

On a server open to strangers you don't use a whitelist: there, what protects you is protection plugins and permissions (covered in the guides to protecting your server from griefers and LuckPerms).

Your server, private from the first minute

On NapNodes you can create a free Minecraft server, no card needed, and have the whitelist on before you give the address to anyone. If the group grows and you want the server always on, it moves to a plan with the same world and the same list.

Frequently asked questions