How to Join an Enshrouded Dedicated Server in 1.0

JochemCEO of Space-Node

Published on 2026-10-15

Open Join, turn on the dedicated server filter and type the password for your role. Plus joining by IP and why friends sometimes cannot see a server.

Joining an Enshrouded dedicated server

To join an Enshrouded dedicated server, pick Join in the main menu, switch on the "Show dedicated server" option in the server filter, select the server and type the password the owner gave you. If the server still does not show up, add it as a favourite in the Steam client with its IP address and query port, written as IP:QueryPort, and it appears at the top of the in-game list.

That is the short version. The rest of this guide covers the details for Enshrouded 1.0, which came out on 15 October 2026, and the usual reasons a friend cannot find the server you set up.

The steps come from Keen Games' Dedicated Server FAQ and Keen's patch notes on Steam. Keen has not edited its server help articles for 1.0, and the 1.0 changelog says the pre-game menus were reworked. So a button may sit in a slightly different spot than described here, but the route is the same.

Joining Step by Step

Open Join. Keen calls the server browser "the default method for connecting to a server", and you reach it with Join in the main menu.
Show dedicated servers. Keen's FAQ says to "enable the 'Show dedicated server' options in the server filter to show dedicated servers in the server list." Without it, dedicated servers stay hidden. Since the Thralls of Twilight update in May 2025, the Join menu also keeps player-hosted games and dedicated servers in separate lists, so make sure you are looking at the dedicated one.
Narrow the list. The server filter can filter on password protection, sessions with Steam friends, empty servers and a minimum number of free slots. Since the Wake of the Water update, owners can give their server tags such as LookingForPlayers, BaseBuilding, Exploration, Roleplay or a language, and you can filter on voice and text chat as well. Keen's notes for Hotfix #30 also mention a "filter server names" text field, which is the quickest way in if you know the name.
Join and type the password. On a server with password-protected roles, a password window appears. The password you type decides your role on that server: Admin, Friend, Guest, Visitor or a custom group the owner made. Ask the owner which password goes with which role.
Star it. Click the star icon to make the server a favourite. Keen sorts the list with favourites first, then your Steam friends' sessions, then dedicated servers, then peer-to-peer games, so next time it is at the top.

For server owners: the 1.0 changelog says admins and hosts now see a chat message when a player joins, including that player's permission level. It is a quick way to see whether a friend typed the Guest password instead of the Friend one.

When the Server Is Not in the List

There are two ways to reach a server the browser does not show.

Search by IP in the game. The Hollow Halls update in March 2024 made it possible to search and favourite servers by IP in the server browser. Thralls of Twilight then reworked that search-by-IP widget: Keen says it "shows the necessary port information and it also allows directly joining the found server." Keen's help center does not describe the widget, so if you cannot find it after the 1.0 menu changes, use the Steam route below.

Add it as a Steam favourite. This is the route in Keen's Favorite Server via IP article. Keen's FAQ says this option "needs to be used if the dedicated server is not appearing in the in-game-list of the client."

Get the server's IP address and query port from the owner or from your hosting panel.
Open the Steam client and go to View, then Game Servers.
Open the Favorites tab and click the + button at the bottom.
Enter the IP and query port with a colon between them, for example 203.0.113.25:15637.
Start Enshrouded and open Join. The server is now listed at the top.

The default query port is 15637. An owner can change it in enshrouded_server.json, and a hosting company may hand out a different number, so use the port you were given. Keen's docs also say Enshrouded uses IPv4 only for multiplayer, so an IPv6 address will not work here.

One more option from Keen's network troubleshooting article: if people have trouble finding or joining, someone already in the game can invite them through the Steam friends list. Right-click the name and pick invite to game.

Why Your Friends Cannot See the Server

Go through these in order. Most cases are one of the first two.

The dedicated server filter is off

This is the classic one. Switch on "Show dedicated server" and check that you are in the dedicated server list. Then look at the other filters: "empty servers" or a minimum number of free slots can hide a server that has people on it, and a password protection filter can hide every server that uses passwords.

The server and the game are on different versions

1.0 came with a new dedicated server build. Steam's data for the server tool (app 2278520) shows the new public build went live at 15:00 UTC on 15 October 2026, a few minutes after the game update. A server that has not updated since then still runs an Early Access build.

Since Patch #7, the server list also shows servers that run a different version than your game, with a "version mismatch" note. If you see that note, update the server through SteamCMD, or restart it if your host updates on restart. Also make sure every player has the 1.0 update in Steam. Keen marks some small hotfixes as client-only, so not every patch needs a server update, but 1.0 did.

The query port is wrong or blocked

Keen documents one port, queryPort 15637, plus the ports Steam itself needs. If you host at home, that port must be reachable from the internet, which means a port forward on your router and an allowed rule in the Windows firewall. Keen does not say whether it is UDP or TCP, so on a home router, forward both. If you changed queryPort in the config, use the new number when you add the server as IP:QueryPort.

The server is not fully started

Keen's FAQ says a server that has finished starting prints [Session] 'HostOnline' (up)! in its console window and log. If that line is not there yet, give it a moment or look in the ./logs folder for an error.

The password

A password does not hide a server, but it decides who gets in and with which rights. Some things that go wrong:

A friend joined with the wrong role. The role comes from the password typed when joining, so they need to rejoin with the right one. On dedicated servers, the 1.0 changelog says "promoting and demoting is not possible while playing on the server." That is different from a co-op game hosted in 1.0, where the host uses one password and promotes or demotes players in the game, so co-op instructions do not carry over.
An old config. If enshrouded_server.json still has the old top-level "password" line, the server turns it into a group called "default" with Friend permissions. Players use that password.
A group without a password. Anyone who can see the server can join with that group's rights. Keen highly recommends setting passwords for every group.

Our Enshrouded server settings guide explains the user groups, their permissions and the passwords in detail.

The server is full

slotCount sets the number of slots, from 1 to 16. If a group has reservedSlots, the server shows as "full" to players from other groups once only the reserved slots are left. Our player limit and RAM guide goes deeper into slot counts.

They play on PS5

Enshrouded 1.0 is on PC and PS5, but Keen's launch FAQ says it "will not be cross-platform at launch", adding that Keen is working on cross-platform play but has "no current estimate". Keen has not announced any way for PS5 players to join a PC dedicated server, and the server tool is a Windows program on Steam. PS5 players play online with other PS5 players. The PlayStation Store lists up to 8 online players with PS Plus, which is required for online play. The Xbox Series X|S version is not out yet.

Hosting It With Space-Node

A server on your own PC is only online while that PC is on, and you handle the port forward yourself. If you would rather skip that, Enshrouded server hosting at Space-Node keeps the world online for the whole group, with DDoS protection and 9 regions to choose from: the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Canada, USA (California), USA (Virginia), Singapore, India and Australia. Keen puts the server process at about 4.4 GB of RAM when idle, so for 1.0 we suggest starting on Flame, 8 GB for €10.20 a month and up to 8 players. Groups of up to 16 go on Beacon, 12 GB for €15.80.

If your group already has a world from a co-op game, our guide on moving an Enshrouded world to a dedicated server shows how to bring it along.

FAQ

Can I join an Enshrouded server by IP? Yes. Keen added a search-by-IP widget to the server browser that shows the port and lets you join the server it finds. The documented fallback is the Steam favourites list, where you add the server as IP:QueryPort.

Which port do I use when adding a server? The query port. It is 15637 unless the owner or the host changed it.

Do I need to bring my own character? Yes, and you keep it. Keen stores character progress only on the players' own PCs, while the world lives on the server. You pick your character when you join.

Can PS5 players join a PC dedicated server? Not at launch. Enshrouded has no crossplay in 1.0, and Keen has not announced PS5 access to dedicated servers.

Why does the server show "version mismatch"? The server and your game run different versions. After 1.0, that usually means the server has not downloaded the 1.0 server build yet, or your game has not updated.