Learn how to ban and unban players on your Rust server for a seamless gaming experience

Introduction

Maintaining control over who can access and play on your Rust server is essential. Banning and unbanning players is a built-in feature for every Rust server, ensuring you can prevent unwanted players from joining your server or grant access back to previously banned players.

If you're unsure about finding a player's SteamID, refer to our guide here.

Banning a Player or SteamID

There are two methods to ban a player from your Rust server:

Ban via SteamID: Each Steam user has an ID associated with their account. When banned, the account cannot connect to your server again, regardless of the username.

Ban via in-game username: This method retrieves the SteamID of the connected user and bans them via that ID. It's only possible to ban via username while the user is online.

Command Description

/banid "Steam_ID" ["optional_reason"]	Bans a user based on their SteamID.
/ban "user_name" ["optional_reason"]	Bans the connected user with the specified username using their SteamID.

Unbanning a SteamID

You can only unban users via their SteamID, as the server does not track banned usernames. Use the following command to unban a SteamID from your server:

Command Description
/unban user_ID Unbans a user based on their SteamID. Do not include quotes around the userid.

Viewing Banned SteamIDs

To view a list of currently banned SteamIDs on your server, use this command:

Command Description
/banlistex Displays a list of all banned users, including the reason, if provided.

Managing the Banlist File

The banlist is stored in the server's FTP File Access under server/my_server_identity/cfg/bans.cfg. This file is primarily used for importing/exporting ban player information. Before making any changes to this file, follow these steps:

Stop your server entirely to prevent any issues when changing the file.
Make any desired edits to the file.
Save the file.
Restart your server.

Conclusion

By effectively managing player bans on your Rust server, you can maintain control over the gaming environment and ensure a smooth experience for all players. Use this comprehensive guide to learn the ins and outs of banning and unbanning players on your server.

Updated on: 10/04/2023