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Guides / Valheim / Players and panel tools

Ban and kick players on a Valheim server

Kick or ban a Valheim player from the Players page, lift a ban, or ban an id for someone who is not on. By hand: bannedlist.txt and the F5 console.

Updated , checked on Valheim 1.0.20

Open the Players page, find the player and choose Kick or Ban. A ban stops the player joining until you lift it. A kick removes them and lets them back in soon after. Both apply at once, with no restart. More about the game: Valheim servers.

Kick a player

The player must be online.

  1. Open the Players page.
  2. Find the player under Online.
  3. Choose Kick and confirm.

What a kick does depends on whether the panel tools are on. They are the panel’s own small add-on that runs inside the server.

  • Without the panel tools: the game has no kick command on a server. So the panel bans the player and lifts the ban 30 seconds later. The player is removed within 15 seconds and can join again after the 30 seconds.
  • With the panel tools: the panel uses the game’s own kick. The player is sent to the menu and can join again at once.
The Kick box with the panel tools on: the player is sent to the menu and can join again
  1. What a kick does
  2. Kick
The Kick box with the panel tools off: the player is banned and the ban is lifted 30 seconds later
  1. What a kick does
  2. Kick

Ban a player

  1. On the Players page, find the player.
  2. Choose Ban. A box asks “Ban (name)?”.
  3. Confirm with Ban.

The player cannot join until the ban is lifted. If they are in the game, the game removes them within 15 seconds. The row shows the tag Banned, and the name appears in the Banned list.

Someone who left already is under Seen before. Open the menu on their row (the three dots) and choose Ban.

The Ban box: the player cannot join until the ban is lifted
  1. What a ban does
  2. Ban

Lift a ban

In the Banned list on the right, choose Lift (2) next to the name.

The Players page with the Banned list and its Lift button
  1. Banned list
  2. Lift

Ban someone who is not on the server

Use Add by id. This works for someone who has not joined.

  1. Get their id. It looks like Steam_76561190000000000. A Steam id as a 17-digit number works as it is. See find a player id.
  2. In the card Add by id, type it in Player id.
  3. In Add to, choose Banned.
  4. Choose Add.

By hand

The bans are kept in a text file, one id per line.

  1. Open Files and go to .config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim.
  2. Open bannedlist.txt.
  3. Add the id on a new line, such as Steam_76561190000000000. It is case sensitive. The file ships with one line that starts with //; leaving it is fine.
  4. Save. The running game reads the file again within 10 seconds.

To lift a ban, delete the line.

In the game

An admin can press F5 in the game and type:

  • Kick (name)
  • Ban (name)
  • Unban (name)
  • Banned to list everyone banned

The game’s manual lists these four. The wiki says kick, ban and unban also take an ip or a user id instead of a name. The F5 console needs the launch option -console. See Valheim console commands and make yourself admin.

If it does not work

  • Kick and Ban are missing. The player is not online, or your role on the panel does not allow moderating players.
  • A kicked player came straight back. That is how a kick works without the panel tools. Use Ban if you want them out.
  • The Lately list says “turned away”. The player is banned, or the server has a permitted list and they are not on it. See the permitted list.
  • The Players page shows nobody. A server started long ago may need one restart before the page can read who is on.

Sources: valheim.fandom.com: Developer console, valheim.fandom.com: Dedicated servers

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