How to Set Up a Whitelist on Your Minecraft Server
A whitelist lets you control who can join your server. Only players added to the whitelist will be allowed to connect. It’s one of the simplest ways to make your server private, or invite-only.
Log in to your Nexus Hosting Account.
Once on the dashboard, find and select your intended Minecraft server.
Before making any changes, stop the server to avoid potential data issues. On the Terminal page, click the red Stop button.
Once the server is stopped, click Files in the sidebar. Locate and select the server.properties file from the list.
Scroll down to the bottom and look for the line white-list=false. Change it to:
white-list=true
You also need to change enforce-whitelist=false to enforce-whitelist=true.
Then click Save Content.
Head back to the Terminal page and you can now add your friends to the whitelist by entering whitelist add <username> in the console. Then press Enter.
The console should output a confirmation message that looks something like this:
You can now restart your server, clicking the green Start button on the Terminal page. Only whitelisted players will be able to join.
To manually view or edit the whitelist, go back to Files, scroll to the bottom, and open whitelist.json.
Each entry in whitelist.json contains a player’s name and UUID. To remove a player, delete the full JSON object for that player (from { to }), including any commas if needed.
Click Save Content when done.
Step 1: Log in
Log in to your Nexus Hosting Account.
Step 2: Select the Server
Once on the dashboard, find and select your intended Minecraft server.
Step 3: Stop the Server
Before making any changes, stop the server to avoid potential data issues. On the Terminal page, click the red Stop button.
Step 4: Open server.properties
Once the server is stopped, click Files in the sidebar. Locate and select the server.properties file from the list.
Step 5: Enable the Whitelist
Scroll down to the bottom and look for the line white-list=false. Change it to:
white-list=true
You also need to change enforce-whitelist=false to enforce-whitelist=true.
Then click Save Content.
Step 6: Add Players to the Whitelist
Head back to the Terminal page and you can now add your friends to the whitelist by entering whitelist add <username> in the console. Then press Enter.
The console should output a confirmation message that looks something like this:
Step 7: Restart the Server
You can now restart your server, clicking the green Start button on the Terminal page. Only whitelisted players will be able to join.
Step 8: (Optional) View or Edit the Whitelist
To manually view or edit the whitelist, go back to Files, scroll to the bottom, and open whitelist.json.
Step 9: (Optional) Remove Players from the Whitelist
Each entry in whitelist.json contains a player’s name and UUID. To remove a player, delete the full JSON object for that player (from { to }), including any commas if needed.
Click Save Content when done.
Updated on: 05/05/2025
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