How to reset the End and the Nether on your Minecraft server without touching the Overworld

Why reset the End (and when you don't need to)

The usual reason is that there are no unlooted End cities left: each one has, at most, one pair of elytra, and players who join the server late go without. A new End brings back the dragon, the main island, the cities and the ships, and whoever missed the first fight gets to do it.

If you only want to fight the dragon again, you don't need to reset anything: you summon it again with four End crystals, one in the middle of each side of the exit portal (the bedrock one on the main island). They explode, the towers rebuild and a new dragon appears. What doesn't come back that way is the cities that were already looted.

Where each dimension's folder is

Since 26.1 (the version we install), Paper keeps each dimension inside the world folder: world/dimensions/minecraft/the_end for the End and world/dimensions/minecraft/the_nether for the Nether. That's also where, in its data folder, the state of the dragon fight is stored, so the folder takes everything about the End with it.

In earlier Paper versions they were separate folders next to the world's: world_the_end and world_nether. If your server is on one of those versions, those are the ones to move. If you changed level-name in server.properties, look for the folder with that name instead of “world”.

Before resetting: warn everyone and get them out of the End

Anyone inside the dimension when you reset it, even if they're offline, will appear in the new one at the same coordinates. In the End, away from the islands, that's usually the void, and they lose what they're carrying. Give a few days' notice (chat, your Discord) so everyone goes back to the Overworld and takes what they have there: farms, chests and houses in that dimension disappear.

Make a backup too: in “Backups”, create one (you can have two of your own, on top of the automatic daily backup). The free server has no backups; there, before anything else, compress the folder in “Files” (“Compress”) and download the .zip.

Resetting the End step by step

1. Stop the server

   With “Stop”, in the panel. If you move the folder while the server is running, it can write it again when it saves and leave it half-done.

2. Find the End folder

   In “Files”, go into world, then dimensions and minecraft. You'll see overworld, the_nether and the_end. On Paper before 26.1, the folder is world_the_end, in the main folder.

3. Move it aside, don't delete it

   Tick the_end, press “Move” and take it to the server's main folder; there, with “Rename”, give it a name that sets it apart, for example end-old-2026-10. Outside dimensions the server doesn't use it, but it's still there in case you change your minds.

4. Start the server

   With “Start”. The server doesn't find the End and generates a new one with the same world seed: the main island with its towers and a live dragon waiting.

5. Check it worked

   Go through an End portal in the Overworld. If you see the dragon's health bar, you're done. When it dies, the first gateway to the outer islands opens, with their new cities (each dragon killed opens one more).

6. Delete the old one once you're sure

   The folder you moved aside takes up disk space. Once a few days have passed and nobody misses it, delete it from “Files”. On the free server, with its small disk, better not to wait long.

Resetting the Nether

It's the same, with the the_nether folder (or world_nether in versions before 26.1): stop, move it aside with “Move”, start. Fortresses, bastions and ancient debris regenerate, which is the main reason people reset it.

The portals in the Overworld are still there and work: when you go through one, the game looks for a portal in the new Nether and, since there isn't one, creates one at the matching coordinates (the Overworld ones divided by 8). If you want two portals to lead to the same place, the Nether calculator tells you where each one will land.

Nether tunnels and highways, on the other hand, are lost with the folder. If the server relies on them to get around, think twice or warn people to write down coordinates.

What doesn't go with the folder

Each player's inventory, advancements and statistics are stored separately (in world/players), not in the End or Nether folder: they're not touched. A player who already killed the dragon keeps the advancement. Anyone whose respawn point was on a respawn anchor in the Nether does lose it: they'll respawn at the world spawn.

Plugins that store places with coordinates can be left pointing at nothing: EssentialsX homes (/home) and warps in those dimensions, land claims or CoreProtect logs. Delete those homes and claims, or tell people they no longer work, so nobody appears inside a wall or in the void.

And if you want the old End back

Stop the server, move the new End aside with “Move” and put the old folder back in world/dimensions/minecraft with its old name, the_end (“Rename”). When you start it, everything is as it was. Or restore the backup you made from “Backups”, bearing in mind it takes the whole server back to that moment, Overworld included.

Frequently asked questions