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To back up a Valheim dedicated server safely, stop the server completely, copy the entire world data from its active save directory, and keep the backup outside the server volume. Older worlds require the matching .fwl and .db files; Valheim 1.0 worlds require the complete folder in worlds_local. To restore, stop the server, move the current world aside, upload the backup to the same directory, set -world to the exact saved name, and start the server.
The save path and naming behavior vary by operating system, hosting panel, launch arguments, and world format. The paths below are defaults reported by third-party Valheim server guides, so verify the active path and spelling on your own installation before deleting or replacing anything.
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The safe backup sequence
- Stop the Valheim server and wait until its process has exited.
- Find the active save directory, including any path supplied with
-savedir. - Identify whether the world is a legacy
.fwl/.dbpair or a Valheim 1.0 folder. - Copy the complete world data to a separate disk, computer, or storage account. Do not copy only one file from a legacy world or only loose files from a 1.0 folder.
- Record the backup date, world name, server path, and Valheim version or format. Keep the original server data until a restore has been tested.
A running server can still be writing the database when you copy it. A snapshot taken at that moment can be incomplete even if the file transfer reports success.
Find the Valheim world file location
Start with the default path for the machine that actually runs the dedicated server. If the server was configured with -savedir, that custom directory takes precedence over the defaults.
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| Server platform | Default save location | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | %USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalLowIronGateValheimworlds |
Legacy .fwl/.db files or a world folder, depending on the format in use. |
| Linux | ~/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds or ~/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local |
Use the directory that contains the world currently loaded by the server. A 1.0 installation normally uses a folder under worlds_local. |
| Custom installation | The directory supplied by -savedir |
The argument changes where worlds and permission files are stored; inspect the service, startup script, or panel command to find its value. |
Check the launch command before copying
Look at the systemd unit, shell script, Windows shortcut, batch file, or hosting-panel startup field that launches the server. An illustrative command is:
valheim_server -savedir '/path/to/save' -world 'MyWorld'The quoted path and world name are examples, not universal values. A different service account can give ~ a different meaning, and a panel can mount the save directory somewhere that is not obvious from the game directory. If you find more than one Valheim save directory, confirm which one the running command references before making a backup.
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Determine which world format you have
Legacy worlds: the .fwl and .db pair
Legacy saves appear as two files with the same base name, such as MyWorld.fwl and MyWorld.db. The .fwl file contains world metadata; the .db file contains the world database and progress. Both files are required for a complete restore. A copy of only the .fwl file does not preserve the playable world state, and a copy of only the .db file does not provide a complete loadable save.
Keep the original filenames and extension casing when you archive the pair. Put both files in one clearly named backup directory or archive, for example MyWorld-2026-10-14-legacy. Do not edit the file names to make them match a different world until you have a specific reason and a separate verified copy.
Valheim 1.0 worlds: a folder per world
Valheim 1.0 changed the save layout. Instead of one .fwl/.db pair, each world is represented by a folder under worlds_local. The data is split into smaller pieces, and saving writes only chunks that changed. That layout makes the folder itself the unit that must be preserved.
Back up the entire folder named for the world, including every file and subfolder inside it. Selecting a few files that look recently modified is not a safe substitute: unchanged chunks and metadata may still be needed to load the world. Preserve the folder name because the server uses it when matching the -world setting.
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Back up a server hosted in a control panel
Many game-server panels provide a Backups tab that snapshots the server volume. When the panel includes worlds_local or the legacy save directory in that volume, a panel snapshot can protect the complete world without a separate file transfer. Confirm the snapshot’s included paths and download at least one copy that is not dependent on the panel account.
Using a panel file manager
- Use the panel’s Stop control and wait for the status to show that the process is offline.
- Open the file manager and navigate to the configured save directory, not merely the server’s installation directory.
- For a legacy world, select both matching
.fwland.dbfiles. - For a 1.0 world, select the complete world folder under
worlds_local. - Download the selection or create an archive, then store it on a separate computer or drive.
- Open the downloaded archive and verify that the expected files are present before deleting any server-side copy.
Uploading a 1.0 folder through a panel
Some panels have an Upload Save tool that expects the world folder to be the top level of a ZIP archive. In that case, create an archive whose root contains MyWorld/, not an extra parent folder such as backup-2026/MyWorld/. Upload it with the panel’s save-import function when available rather than dropping loose files through FTP. The exact menu names differ by provider, so check the panel’s import instructions and confirm the resulting path before starting the server.
Back up through FTP or SFTP
FTP and SFTP are useful when the host does not expose a full file manager. Stop the server first, connect with the account that owns the save directory, and download the complete legacy pair or complete 1.0 folder. Preserve subdirectories and hidden files if the client offers that option. A transfer that omits nested files can produce a world that appears in the list but fails while loading.
After downloading, compare the remote and local folder structure. For a legacy save, the local backup should contain both same-named extensions. For a 1.0 save, the local backup should open to the world folder and then its internal data files, rather than showing an empty wrapper directory.
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On a Linux host, a local copy is fast, but it is not a backup if it remains on the same disk as the live server. Copy the save directory to another mounted disk, an administrative workstation, or an object-storage destination after the server has stopped.
Copy the current world folder
For a 1.0 world, a recursive copy preserves the folder structure. Replace the example paths with the account and destination used by your server:
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cp -a ~/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local/MyWorld /backup/valheim/MyWorld-2026-10-14For legacy worlds, copy both matching files into a dated directory:
mkdir -p /backup/valheim/MyWorld-2026-10-14
cp ~/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds/MyWorld.fwl ~/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds/MyWorld.db /backup/valheim/MyWorld-2026-10-14/These commands assume the default location and a world named MyWorld. They will not find a save in a custom -savedir directory unless you change the source path.
Create a compressed archive
Compressing the complete folder makes it easier to move and reduces the chance of uploading only part of a save. For a 1.0 world, archive the world folder itself:
tar -czf /backup/valheim/MyWorld-2026-10-14.tar.gz -C ~/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local MyWorldList the archive after creating it:
tar -tzf /backup/valheim/MyWorld-2026-10-14.tar.gz | headThe listing should begin with the world folder and include its contents. Keep the archive on storage that is not lost when the server disk fails.
Schedule recurring backups without copying live data
Daily compressed archives of worlds_local are a common Linux-server approach, but the schedule, retention period, and exact cron syntax are administrative choices rather than Valheim guarantees. The reliable sequence is always the same: stop or otherwise quiesce the server, create the archive, verify it, transfer it off the machine, and remove only archives that exceed your chosen retention policy.
If stopping the service for an automated job is acceptable, put the stop, archive, and start actions in a tested script and run it under the account that owns the save directory. If uninterrupted uptime is required, do not assume that copying a live database is safe; use a host snapshot mechanism that guarantees a consistent filesystem state, or schedule a maintenance window.
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- Use dated names so you can identify the world and creation time.
- Keep several generations instead of overwriting the only backup.
- Watch disk space; compressed archives can accumulate quickly when worlds change often.
- Send failures to an alert destination and periodically inspect a newly created archive.
- Perform a test restore on a separate server before trusting an automated job.
How to restore a Valheim world
Restoration is safest when the current save is moved aside rather than deleted. That gives you a rollback if the backup is incomplete, the wrong world was selected, or the server expects a different format.
- Stop the server and confirm that no Valheim server process is writing to the save directory.
- Locate the active directory, including any
-savediroverride. - Rename or move the existing world to a quarantine name such as
MyWorld-before-restore. Do not remove it yet. - Upload or copy the backup into the same save directory. Restore a legacy pair together, or restore the complete 1.0 world folder.
- Set the startup option
-worldto match the restored folder name or the legacy.fwlbase name exactly. - Start the server and watch its log and console for a successful world load.
- Connect with a client and verify terrain, structures, player progress, inventories, and recent changes before deleting the quarantined data.
Restoring a legacy pair
Place MyWorld.fwl and MyWorld.db directly in the directory where the server expects legacy worlds. Do not leave them one directory deeper inside an archive-named folder. The -world value should be MyWorld, without the extension, if that is how the server was configured originally.
Restoring a Valheim 1.0 folder
Place the complete folder directly under worlds_local. If the archive expanded to worlds_local/MyWorld/MyWorld/..., move the inner folder up one level before starting the server. Set -world to the folder’s name and preserve all nested files.
What happens when an old world is converted
When a legacy world is loaded for the first time in the 1.0 format, the server converts it to the folder layout and writes a backup first. The initial load can take several minutes without visible progress. Do not kill the process solely because the console appears idle.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsKeep your own untouched copy of the original .fwl/.db pair before testing conversion. If conversion fails or the result is not the expected world, stop the server, move the converted folder aside, restore the original pair, and investigate from that copy.
Troubleshoot a missing or incorrect world
The world does not appear
- Check that the server is reading the directory you backed up; a
-savediroverride is the most common reason for looking in the wrong default path. - Confirm that a legacy pair is not nested inside an extra folder and that a 1.0 folder is directly under
worlds_local. - Verify that
-worldmatches the restored base name or folder name. - Check file and directory ownership on Linux so the server account can read and write the restored data.
The server starts a new world
This usually means the requested name does not match the restored save, the files are in a different save directory, or the restore contains an incomplete set of files. Stop the server, preserve the new files, and recheck the path and directory depth before trying again.
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The world loads but recent progress is missing
Confirm that the backup was made after the desired progress and while the server was stopped. A copy taken during active database writes can represent an incomplete state. Compare the archive date and contents with your backup notes rather than overwriting the quarantine copy.
A Linux restore reports permission errors
Inspect ownership and permissions on the restored folder and its parent directory. The account used to launch the server must be able to read the world and write new saves. Correct ownership using your host’s normal administrative procedure, then restart only after the directory is readable by the service account.
The converted world appears stuck
Allow the first conversion load several minutes with no visible progress. If it eventually fails, stop the server, retain the conversion output for diagnosis, and retry from the untouched legacy backup rather than repeatedly converting the same damaged copy.
Verify a backup before you need it
A successful download is not proof that the world can be restored. For each backup, check the structure appropriate to its format:
- Legacy: both same-named
.fwland.dbfiles are present and open as non-empty files. - Valheim 1.0: the archive contains the complete world folder and its nested data, not an empty parent directory.
- Configuration: the backup record identifies the active
-savedir, the-worldvalue, and whether the source was a legacy pair or a 1.0 folder. - Recovery test: a copy has been started on a separate instance or maintenance server and checked in-game.
Do not delete the old server-side world immediately after a restore. Leave it renamed and offline until you have confirmed that the restored world contains the expected map and player state.
Names, case, and other compatibility cautions
Third-party guides disagree about whether world-name capitalization is ignored or case-sensitive, especially on Linux. Treat names as case-sensitive: copy the spelling and capitalization shown by the existing folder or legacy filename, and use that exact text in -world. This avoids relying on behavior that may differ between operating systems or server builds.
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