Connecting to your Palworld server: friends and password

Connect to your Palworld server using the hostd.it address and port shown on your dashboard, set an admin or server password, and fix the most common join issues.

Connecting to your Palworld server is a paste-and-go affair: open Palworld, head into Multiplayer, and drop in your yourname.hostd.it:PORT address. Your exact hostname and port are shown on the dashboard; copy the whole string from there.

Joining from the game

  1. Launch Palworld on Steam.
  2. From the main menu, choose Multiplayer.
  3. Pick Join Multiplayer Game (Dedicated Server).
  4. Paste your full address into the box at the bottom, exactly as shown on your dashboard (it will look like awesome-pals.hostd.it:PORT).
  5. Click Connect.

If you've set a server password (see below), the game will prompt you for it after connecting. Your character data is per-server, so the first time you join you'll create a new character on that world.

Setting or changing the password

Palworld has two separate passwords, and the distinction matters:

  • ServerPassword: required to join the world. Leave it blank for an open server, set it for a private one.
  • AdminPassword: lets you run in-game admin commands once connected. Set this even if your server is private; it's how you access admin tools from inside the game.

Both live in PalWorldSettings.ini at /data/Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini. Open the Files tab on your dashboard, navigate to that file, edit the two values, save, and restart the server.

More on world settings in Tuning Palworld world settings.

"My friends can't find the server"

Run through this list in order. One of these will be the culprit nine times out of ten.

  • Are they using the full address with the port? The bare domain won't work; Palworld needs the full name.hostd.it:PORT string shown on your dashboard.
  • Is the server actually ready? The dashboard status badge shows Ready once the world has loaded. Starting means it's still booting; give it another minute.
  • Did you set a password and forget to share it? Easily done.
  • Are they joining the right way for their platform? Steam and Mac players connect with the address above. Xbox, PlayStation and Microsoft Store / Game Pass players cannot type an address; they join through the in-game community server browser and find your server by name. See Connecting across Steam, Xbox and PlayStation.
  • Steam friends list filtering it out? The dedicated server doesn't show under Steam's friends list; tell them to use Join Multiplayer Game, not the Steam overlay.

A note on crossplay

Palworld has full crossplay across Steam, Microsoft Store, Xbox, PlayStation and Mac, added in update 0.5.0 (March 2025), so a mixed PC and console group can share one hosted world. The only thing that differs is how each platform joins: Steam and Mac use the address above, while Xbox, PlayStation and Game Pass players find the server in the in-game community server browser. Full per-platform steps are in Connecting across Steam, Xbox and PlayStation.

Next steps

Last updated 2026-05-20. Notice a mistake? Tell us.

Cookies

We use a few cookies that are strictly necessary to sign you in and keep your account secure. We do not load any advertising or third-party trackers. We would also like to run our own cookieless analytics so we can understand which pages are useful. See our Cookie Policy for the full list.