Set up a 7 Days to Die adminserveradmin.xml, permission levels & Telnet

Published on August 4, 2026 · last updated on November 3, 2026

Where do you enter yourself as admin?

The complete admin and permission management of 7 Days to Die sits in one file: the serveradmin.xml in the server data folder. Unlike some other games, there is no admin password you log in with in the game - your rights are tied firmly to your Steam account. You can edit the file via WebFTP/SFTP or the config editor in the web interface.

An entry consists of your SteamID64 and a permission level:

<admins>
    <user platform="Steam" userid="7656119..." permission_level="0" />
</admins>

The SteamID64 is the long string of digits of your profile, not your display name. After entering it, restart the server - only then do the rights take effect. Afterwards, open the console in the game with F1 and you have full access. You later enter every further admin and moderator in the same file: one line per person, each with their own SteamID64 and their own level.

Finding the SteamID64 correctly

By far the most common reason for an ineffective entry is a wrong ID. The SteamID64 is a 17-digit number beginning with 7656119 - neither your display name in the game nor the freely chosen name from the profile URL. Three ways lead to it:

• Via the Steam profile: if you have not set a custom profile URL, you see the number directly in the address bar of your profile.
• Via the running server: if someone has connected before, listplayers shows name and ID side by side. That is the most convenient way to enter fellow players without having to ask them for links.
• Via the server log: connections are logged with the ID - via WebFTP or SFTP, this can be traced later too.

Enter the number completely and without spaces between the quotation marks. An ID shortened by one digit produces no error message - the entry then simply points to an account that never connects, and you look for the error in the wrong place. How fellow players get onto the server at all is described in join a server.

How do you give moderators restricted rights?

Via the same permission_level, just with a higher number. The scale ranges from 0 (full admin rights) to 1000 (normal player) - the lower the number, the more the account may do. Every console command has an assigned minimum level; whoever has an equal or better permission may run it.

This lets you grade your team: a moderator on level 100 can use the commands of everyday moderation, while everything else stays reserved for level-0 admins. Changes to the levels also only take effect after a restart - otherwise, a value set too strictly only becomes noticeable when a moderator cannot run a command in an emergency. These are the commands you need most often in the console:

• kick / ban - remove or ban players.
• settime - set the time of day.
• giveself / spawnentity - spawn items or entities.
• listplayers - show connected players.

When the admin rights do not take effect

Typical picture: you are in the file, press F1 in the game - and the server still refuses the command. Four causes cover almost all cases, checked in this order:

1. No restart. The server reads the serveradmin.xml at startup. A change while it is running has no effect until the next start - that explains most cases.
2. Wrong or incomplete ID. Compare the entered number with the one listplayers shows for your own account.
3. Damaged XML. A missing slash before the closing bracket, an unclosed quotation mark or an & in a comment is enough. The same mechanism as with the serverconfig.xml: the file is discarded as a whole, and the server starts without any admin entry - without a visible warning in the game.
4. The file was overwritten. The server reads the permission and ban lists at startup and then works with the version in memory. So edit the file while the server is stopped: changes to a file that a running process has open are the most common explanation for an adjustment that has disappeared again after the next restart.

In practice, this means: always stop, edit, start, check - and do not enter several people at once while the first entry has not been proven to work. Before larger changes to permission management, make a copy of the file; it belongs in every complete backup anyway, see create backups.

Telnet: management outside the game

The F1 console requires you to be in the game. For everything else, there is Telnet: in the serverconfig.xml, you activate it via TelnetEnabled and set access and protection with TelnetPort and TelnetPassword. Choose a strong password of its own there - the same commands run via Telnet as via the console.

The practical benefit lies less in connecting manually than in what connects to it: management tools and Discord bots attach to your server via Telnet. They let you issue commands, schedule restarts and mirror the in-game chat to a Discord channel - so the server can be moderated even when no admin is online.

Treat the Telnet credentials like an admin password: whoever knows them controls your server completely, without being in the serveradmin.xml. If you leave Telnet deactivated, the F1 console in the game remains the only way to issue commands.

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