How to change your Minecraft difficulty, gamemode and whitelist Print

This article explains how to change your Minecraft server difficulty and default gamemode, and how to enable or manage the whitelist on your PlayNHost server.

1. Log in to the Game Panel and stop the server

1. Go to https://panel.playnhost.com and log in.
2. Select your Minecraft server.
3. On the server dashboard, click Stop and wait until the server is fully offline.

2. Open server.properties

Most basic Minecraft settings are stored in the server.properties file.

4. In the Game Panel, open File Manager for your Minecraft server.
5. Find and click server.properties to open the file editor.

3. Change server difficulty

Look for the line:

difficulty=normal

You can change the value to:

• peaceful
• easy
• normal
• hard

Example:

difficulty=hard

After editing, click Save in the file editor.

4. Change default gamemode

The default gamemode for new players is controlled by the gamemode line.

gamemode=survival

Set it to one of:

• survival
• creative
• adventure
• spectator (for newer versions)

Example:

gamemode=creative

Click Save after changing the value.

Note: This only affects new players joining the server. For existing players, you may need to change their gamemode in-game using commands (for example: /gamemode survival <player>).

5. Enable or disable the whitelist

The whitelist controls who is allowed to join your server.

• In server.properties, find the line:

  white-list=false

• Set it to true to enable the whitelist:

  white-list=true

• Click Save.

When the whitelist is enabled, only players added to the whitelist file or via commands will be able to join.

6. Add or remove players from the whitelist (basic method)

After enabling the whitelist, you can manage players using in-game commands or the console.

• Add a player:

  /whitelist add PlayerName

• Remove a player:

  /whitelist remove PlayerName

• See the whitelist:

  /whitelist list

If you are using the server console in the Game Panel, you do not need the leading / when typing commands.

7. Restart the server to apply changes

6. Return to the server dashboard in the Game Panel.
7. Click Start (or Restart).
8. Once the server is online, join and test:
   • Check mobs and damage to confirm the new difficulty.
   • Create a new player or use commands to verify the gamemode.
   • Try joining with and without being whitelisted to confirm the whitelist behaviour.

8. If something goes wrong

• If the server fails to start after editing server.properties, open the file again and make sure there are no extra characters or spaces added to setting names.
• If difficulty or gamemode does not change, confirm that you saved the file and fully restarted the server (not just rejoined from the client).

If you are unsure about a particular setting or receive errors in the console, please open a ticket from Support → Submit a Ticket with your server IP, version and what you changed.