What is a whitelist and how do I set it up?
What a whitelist is and how to turn it on for your Minecraft server, and add or remove players with commands in the console.
By Yvan Watchman Updated
With a whitelist you decide who can join your Minecraft server. When the whitelist is on, only players you have added can join. You manage it with a few commands in the console.
Why a whitelist?
- No strangers: only people you know get in, so less chance of griefers.
- Control: you decide who joins and who no longer can.
Good to know
Since Minecraft 26.3 the whitelist is on by default on a new server. If nobody can join your new server, add the players or turn the whitelist off.
Turn the whitelist on and add players
- Log in to the game panel and open your server.
- Type in the Console:
whitelist on- Add a player by their Minecraft name:
whitelist add <playername>- Repeat step 3 for every player, including yourself.
Tip
In the console you type commands without a /. If you are OP, you can also use them in the Minecraft chat, with a / in front.
Other commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
whitelist remove <playername> |
Removes a player from the whitelist |
whitelist list |
Shows who is on the whitelist |
whitelist off |
Turns the whitelist off; everyone can join again |
whitelist reload |
Reloads whitelist.json after a manual change |
Remove players right away
A player who is online but not on the whitelist normally stays online until they log out. If you want such players removed immediately, add this line to server.properties and restart your server:
enforce-whitelist=trueCheck
Type whitelist list in the console to see every player who may join. A player who is not on it gets the message You are not white-listed on this server! when joining.
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