To unban a player, open the Players page, find their name in Banned, and choose Lift. Then confirm. The player can join again. On a running server this applies at once.
From the Banned list
- Open the Players page.
- On the right, find the Banned list. It shows every banned name, with the reason when one was given. The count is in its title, for example “Banned (2)”.
- Choose Lift next to the name.
- A box asks “Lift the ban on (name)?” and says the player can join again. Choose Lift the ban.
- Banned list
The Banned list (1) holds each name with its reason and the Lift button.
The name leaves the list. The What happened feed on the same page records it as “(name)‘s ban was lifted by (who)”.
From the player’s row
If the player has played on your server, they are in Everyone who has played. A banned player carries the tag Banned.
- Open the menu on their row (the three dots).
- Choose Lift the ban.
- Confirm with Lift the ban.
Someone who was never on this server
A name you banned in advance is only in the Banned list. Use Lift there.
If the server is stopped
You can lift a ban while the server is stopped. The panel edits the ban list file itself and says the player “is no longer banned from the next start”. The game reads the list when it starts, so they cannot join until then.
Who can do this
You need a role that allows moderating players. Without it, Lift is not shown.
By hand
On a server of your own, an admin can lift a ban in the game with the command /unban followed by the player’s name. The game then writes server-banlist.json itself. On Loafhosts the file is in the server’s Files, in the top folder. Use the Players page instead of editing the file: the game owns it while the server runs.
A ban that comes back
If factorio.com bans is on, the game also refuses players that Wube has banned from multiplayer. Lifting your ban does not lift Wube’s. See factorio.com bans.
If it does not work
- There is no Lift button. Your role does not allow moderating players.
- “the game did not change its list”. The game refused the command. Read the Console tab for the reason.
- The player still cannot join. Check that Only whitelisted players can join is off, or that they are on the whitelist. Check the password too, if the server has one.
To ban again, see kick and ban players. More about the game: Factorio servers.
Sources: wiki.factorio.com: Console