Valheim Dedicated Server Setup

A Valheim dedicated server is a Linux process installed anonymously with SteamCMD (app ID 896660), run as a service, reachable on UDP ports 2456–2458 and backed up on a schedule. No Steam account or game licence is needed on the server itself.

• OS: 64-bit Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 LTS, or another distro where SteamCMD runs.
• Access: a VPS with root or sudo over SSH; this is a shell job, not a cPanel one.
• Network: a public IPv4 address and the UDP ports open in both the server firewall and any provider firewall.
• Resources: see the RAM table below; NVMe storage avoids save-time stutter.

Create a non-root user, install SteamCMD, then run app_update 896660 validate into a folder; the download is roughly 2 GB. On Ubuntu, SteamCMD lives in the multiverse repository and needs 32-bit libraries.

# As a sudo user
sudo add-apt-repository multiverse
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt update && sudo apt install steamcmd
sudo adduser --disabled-password --gecos "" valheim

# As the valheim user
sudo -iu valheim
/usr/games/steamcmd +force_install_dir /home/valheim/valheim \
  +login anonymous +app_update 896660 validate +quit

The install folder contains start_server.sh and Iron Gate's dedicated-server manual; read both, because the script sets the library path and Steam app ID the binary expects. Re-run the same SteamCMD line after every game patch, because players cannot join a server on an older version.

Start the server once and check the password rules

Start the binary with a server name, port, world name and password; the password must be at least five characters and must not appear inside the server name, or the server refuses to start.

cd /home/valheim/valheim
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=./linux64:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export SteamAppId=892970
./valheim_server.x86_64 -name "Jaipur Vikings" -port 2456 \
  -world "Dedicated" -password "longpass123" -public 1

• -world: the file name of the world without extension; a new name creates a new, empty map.
• -public 1: lists the server in the community browser; use 0 to join by IP only.
• -crossplay: lets Xbox and Game Pass players join through a join code using the PlayFab relay.

Stop it with Ctrl+C so the world saves cleanly. The log should show your world name and that the game server connected.

A server started in an SSH window dies when the session closes; a systemd unit starts it at boot, restarts it after a crash and sends Ctrl+C (SIGINT) on stop so the world saves. Save this as /etc/systemd/system/valheim.service:

[Unit]
Description=Valheim dedicated server
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=valheim
WorkingDirectory=/home/valheim/valheim
Environment=LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/home/valheim/valheim/linux64
Environment=SteamAppId=892970
ExecStart=/home/valheim/valheim/valheim_server.x86_64 -name "Jaipur Vikings" -port 2456 -world "Dedicated" -password "longpass123" -public 1
KillSignal=SIGINT
TimeoutStopSec=60
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Then run sudo systemctl daemon-reload and sudo systemctl enable --now valheim, and watch the log with journalctl -u valheim -f.

Most first-join problems are a short password, a busy port, a mismatched world name, a closed firewall or a save copied while the server was running.

If SSH itself refuses connections, see SSH connection refused on a VPS.