Admin on a Conan Exiles server is a password, not an account. Whoever types the server's admin password into the game becomes admin, with the admin panel, spawn commands, teleporting and every server setting at their fingertips. This guide covers setting that password, using it in-game, and where the server's settings actually live.
Step 1: Set the admin password
The password lives in ServerSettings.ini on the server.
- Stop the server first. Conan Exiles writes its settings files on shutdown, so editing them while the server runs means your changes get overwritten. This is the step people miss.
- In the game panel, open your server and go to the Files tab.
- Navigate to
ConanSandbox/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/and openServerSettings.ini. - Find the
AdminPassword=line, or add it if it is not there, and set your password:
AdminPassword=YourSecretPassword
- Save the file and start the server.
Pick a real password. Anyone who knows it has full admin powers on your server, and there is no log of who used it.
Step 2: Become admin in-game
- Join your server.
- Open the menu and go to Settings, then the Server Settings tab.
- Click Make Me Admin and enter the admin password.
You now see "Admin Rights Granted". The admin panel opens from the menu, and the Insert key toggles the console on PC.
Where the settings live
There are two places to change how the server plays, and they are the same settings seen from two sides:
In-game, as admin. The Server Settings menu unlocks once you have admin rights, and most gameplay settings sit there: harvest rates, XP multipliers, day and night cycle, thrall settings, PvP windows, building damage and so on. Changes apply immediately and save to the server. This is the comfortable way, and for most owners the only way they ever need.
In ServerSettings.ini, for everything else. The file from step 1 holds every setting, including ones the menu does not surface. Editing it follows the same rule as the password: stop the server, edit, save, start. Funcom documents the full list of settings on the official wiki.
If a setting seems to revert on its own, it is almost always the stop-first rule being skipped: the running server wrote its own copy of the file over yours at shutdown.
The settings that are not in the file
A few things are startup parameters rather than ini settings, and on SpillHosting they have their own fields on the Startup tab in the panel: the server name, the join password (Server Password), max players, and the mod list. Change them there, not in the ini.
Quick reference
- Admin password:
ServerSettings.ini,AdminPassword=, stop the server before editing - Become admin: Settings, Server Settings, Make Me Admin
- Gameplay tuning: the in-game Server Settings menu as admin, or
ServerSettings.ini - Name, join password, max players, mods: the Startup tab in the panel
Something not behaving? Open a ticket from the support page and tell us which setting you are after.