How to Change the World Seed on a Minecraft Java Server

The world seed determines how the world is generated. It only affects newly generated worlds — so you have to delete your existing world first.

Attention

Your current world will be lost permanently. Create a backup beforehand if you still need it later.

1. Stop the server
   Stop your server via the dashboard.

2. Connect via SFTP
   Connect to your server via SFTP, or use the file browser.

3. Set the seed
   Open the file server.properties, find the entry level-seed= and enter the desired seed:

   level-seed=5101553622029575588

   Then save the file.

4. Delete the old world
   Delete the world folder in the main directory. Without this step the server simply keeps loading your old world and the new seed has no effect.

   Paper, Spigot & Purpur

   On these servers the Nether and the End are stored in separate folders. Also delete world_nether and world_the_end so those dimensions are regenerated as well.

5. Start the server
   Start your server. The world is now generated using your new seed.

Tip

You can find out the seed of an existing world by entering the command /seed in the game. If you leave level-seed= empty, the server generates a random seed.