Being admin on your 7 Days to Die server lets you use commands like dm (debug/creative mode), kick, ban, and dozens of others that regular players can't touch. This guide covers the reliable way to grant it: editing serveradmin.xml directly and adding your Steam64 ID.
Step 1: Finding Your Steam64 ID
Before editing anything, grab the Steam64 ID for whichever account you want to make admin. This is a long numeric ID unique to that Steam account — it's not the same as a display name or profile URL.
Step 2: Locating and Editing serveradmin.xml
serveradmin.xml doesn't live in your main server directory — it lives inside your world's save folder, and it isn't created until the server has started at least once. If you've just set up a fresh server, start it, let it fully boot, then stop it before continuing.
- Log into your MintServers panel and make sure the server is stopped.
- Navigate to the Files tab on the left-hand sidebar.
- Open the
Savesfolder, then the folder matching your world (GameWorld, e.g.Navezgane), then the folder matching your save name (GameName, e.g.My Game). These match whatever you've set inserverconfig.xml— see our serverconfig.xml guide if you're not sure what yours are set to.
📁 Saves
📁 Navezgane (your GameWorld)
📁 My Game (your GameName)
- Open
serveradmin.xmland find the - Remove the
around that line, replace the placeholder with your Steam64 ID, and make surepermission_levelis set to0(full admin access).
- Save the file, then start your server back up from the Console tab.
Join the server and try an admin command like dm (debug mode) to confirm it worked.
Understanding Permission Levels (0–1000)
The permission system runs on a scale from 0 to 1000 — and it works backwards from what most people expect: the lower the number, the more access it grants. 0 is full admin. 1000 is a regular player with no special privileges. Anyone added to 1000.
Building a Moderator Tier
A user's permission level only matters in relation to what each individual command requires — and that's set separately, in the kick, ban, say, whitelist, dm, and dozens more) has its own permission_level entry there, and a user can run a command as long as their level is equal to or lower than what that command requires.
So if you want moderators who can kick and ban but shouldn't have access to debug or creative commands, don't give them permission_level="0" in 50, and in kick and ban to permission_level="50" (or leave them at their low default) while leaving commands like dm at 0. Your moderators can moderate; only you can access debug tools.
platform="Xbox" (or Playstation) and userid="..." in place of steamID="...". If a Steam64-style entry doesn't seem to take effect for a console player, try that attribute pair instead.
Troubleshooting
Can't find serveradmin.xml:It's only created after the server has started at least once. Start it, let it fully load, then stop it and check the Saves folder again.Admin commands still don't work:Double check themarkers were fully removed from your line — a leftover comment marker will silently disable the entry. Also confirm you restarted the server after saving.Used the wrong ID:Make sure you copied the Steam64 ID and not the player's custom URL name or display name — they need the full numeric ID.Prefer not to edit files?You can also add an admin while the server is running: have them join, use a console command to list connected players and find their in-game ID, then runadmin add. This updates0 serveradmin.xmlfor you automatically.
If anything doesn't take effect the way you expect, no worries! Just open a support ticket and our team will be happy to help.