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How to Set a Password on Your Space Engineers Server

You can protect your server with a password so that only players who know it can join. Space Engineers does not store the password in plain text but as a hash and salt value in the server config. You generate these two values once and enter them into the config.

Generate the hash and salt

Use the official Space Engineers Dedicated Server tool (free in your Steam library under Tools):

  1. Install the tool
    Install and start the "Space Engineers Dedicated Server" tool via Steam.

  2. Enter the password
    Enter your desired password in the Password field. The tool automatically generates the ServerPasswordHash and ServerPasswordSalt values in its own SpaceEngineers-Dedicated.cfg.

  3. Copy the values
    Open the SpaceEngineers-Dedicated.cfg generated by the tool and copy the contents of <ServerPasswordHash> and <ServerPasswordSalt>.

Transfer the values to the server

Caution

Stop your server before editing the config file.

  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. Open the config
    Open the file SpaceEngineers-Dedicated.cfg.

  4. Enter the values
    Enter the copied values:

    xml
    <ServerPasswordHash>YourHashValue</ServerPasswordHash>
    <ServerPasswordSalt>YourSaltValue</ServerPasswordSalt>
    <ServerPasswordHash>YourHashValue</ServerPasswordHash>
    <ServerPasswordSalt>YourSaltValue</ServerPasswordSalt>
  5. Start the server
    Save the file and start your server. Players are prompted for the password when they connect.

Note

The hash and salt must be a matching pair — always generate them with the same tool. A single plain-text <ServerPassword> element no longer exists in current versions.

Remove the password

To remove the password protection, empty both fields again (<ServerPasswordHash /> and <ServerPasswordSalt />) and restart the server.