# Private Hytale Server: Password, Whitelist and Bans > How to make your Hytale server private: set a password, turn on the whitelist with /whitelist, ban players, and what happens with the in-game server list. Original page: https://napnodes.com/en/guides/private-hytale-server-password-whitelist · Updated: 2026-11-07 Out of the box, anyone with the address can join a Hytale server. There are two locks to close it: the password, which is the same for everyone, and the whitelist, which works player by player. You can use both at once. ## Password or whitelist A password is the quickest option for a group of friends: drop it in the chat and you're done. The downside is that anyone who has it can pass it on, and changing it means telling everybody. The whitelist gives you more control: only listed players get in, and removing one doesn't affect the rest. In exchange, you have to add each new player by name. For a community or a server with people you don't know, it's the right one. ## Set a password 1. **Stop the server**: The server rewrites its files while it runs: anything you change with it on will most likely be lost. 2. **Open config.json**: With the official launcher, it's in Server/config.json. 3. **Fill in the Password field**: Left empty, anyone with the address can join. Take care not to break the format: one extra comma or an unclosed quote and [the server can't read it](https://napnodes.com/en/guides/hytale-server-config-json). [The config.json editor](https://napnodes.com/en/tools/hytale-config-json-editor) checks it for you. 4. **Start it and test it**: When you join, the game will ask for the password. ## Turn on the whitelist Since Update 6 (August 2026), the whitelist is a permission, `hytale.server.join`, and no longer a separate file: if you had a whitelist.json, the server moved it to whitelist.json.migrated. You type commands in the server console without the slash, or in chat with it if you're an operator ([how to become one](https://napnodes.com/en/guides/hytale-server-permissions)). 1. **Add yourself first**: With `whitelist add` and your player name, before turning it on: that way you don't lock yourself out. 2. **Add everyone else**: With `whitelist add` and each name. `whitelist list` shows who's on it. 3. **Turn it on**: With `whitelist enable`. From then on only people with the permission can join. `whitelist status` tells you whether it's on. 4. **Test with someone who isn't listed**: If they get in, the whitelist isn't on. ## Removing someone `whitelist remove` and their name takes them off the list: they can't come back while it's on. `kick` and the name only throws them out for now: they can return. `ban` and the name or their UUID keeps them out even if the server is open, and `unban` lifts it; bans are saved in bans.json. `whitelist disable` opens the server again without removing anyone, and `whitelist clear` empties the list. ## Whole groups, without adding them one by one Because the whitelist is a permission, you can give it to a group with `perm group add` and `hytale.server.join`: everyone you put in that group can join. It's explained in [the permissions guide](https://napnodes.com/en/guides/hytale-server-permissions#the-whitelist-is-now-a-permission-too). ## Does it show up in the in-game server list? Not on its own. To appear in Server Discovery, the game's server browser, you have to create a profile, pass review and link the server with a command ([how it works](https://napnodes.com/en/guides/hytale-server-list)). If you haven't done that, only people with the address reach it. Even so, use one of the two locks: an address shared with a group ends up getting around. ## On NapNodes 1. **Stop it**: With “Stop”: the password can only be changed with the server stopped. 2. **Set the password**: In “Settings” → “Password to join”. It saves itself and applies when you start the server; left empty, anyone with the address can join. 3. **Press “Start”**: Your friends join with the address from “Address to play” and the password. 4. **Or use the whitelist**: In “Console”, with the server on, type the commands above as they are, without the slash. ## Questions ### How do I set a password on a Hytale server? With the Password field in config.json, with the server stopped. On NapNodes, in “Settings” → “Password to join”. ### How do I turn on the whitelist in Hytale? Add yourself with “whitelist add” and your name, add the others and turn it on with “whitelist enable”, from the server console. ### Where is Hytale's whitelist.json? Since Update 6 it isn't used: the whitelist is the hytale.server.join permission and the old file was moved to whitelist.json.migrated. ### Does my Hytale server appear on the public list? Only if you create its profile, it passes review and you link it with a command. Otherwise only people with the address can join. ### Can I use a password and a whitelist at once? Yes, they're separate. With both, you have to be on the list and know the password. --- NapNodes gives you a free Hytale server, no card and no end date: it isn't always on (it switches itself off after an hour with nobody on, and you start it again with one click). How it works: https://napnodes.com/en/free. Paid plans, always on and with no commitment: https://napnodes.com/en/pricing.