How to set up a Conan Exiles server: Windows install and a bloating database

This guide builds a working Conan Exiles server from scratch: preparing the Windows base, installing through SteamCMD, configuring ServerSettings.ini, opening ports, and the one real long-term problem in this game — a bloating database file. Two things separate Conan Exiles from other survival titles: the server officially runs on Windows, and the entire world lives in a single database file.

Before you start: what you need

• A Windows-based server. The official dedicated server ships for Windows, so you need to select a Windows template when ordering. Attempts to run it on Linux through a compatibility layer exist, but the supported and stable route is Windows. On a ready Windows server the install comes down to the SteamCMD step alone.
• RAM with the Windows base accounted for. Windows Server itself consumes 2-3 GB, and that is not memory available to the game. On a new world the game process starts at 4-6 GB, and 10-14 GB is normal on a heavily built long-lived server. 8 GB is the baseline up to 20 players and 16 GB is realistic up to 40. To pick resources with the Windows base's share added in: server configurator
• A firm decision on mods. Removing a mod can permanently delete the structures built with it, so decide before you install.

1. Operating system

Install with a Windows Server template. It is true that Linux extracts more from the same hardware, but there is no choice in this game: the official server package is for Windows, and running it through a compatibility layer makes the cause of any crash impossible to find. A general comparison of the two sides: Windows or Linux?

You will connect to the server over remote desktop. Do not leave that port open to everyone; the moment a remote desktop port faces the internet, automated login attempts begin. Secure connection steps: connecting to a Windows server over RDP

Run the server as a non-administrator user created only for the game, and define it as a Windows service — you do not want the server shutting down when the session closes.

2. Installing with SteamCMD

Server files are downloaded with an anonymous Steam session:

steamcmd.exe +force_install_dir C:\conan\server +login anonymous ^
  +app_update 443030 validate +quit

The download is large and slow. Use the validate parameter both on first install and after every update; it heads off most of the "the server starts but players cannot get in" cases caused by missing files.

3. Configuring ServerSettings.ini

Start the server once and stop it; the configuration files are only generated on first boot. The ServerSettings.ini created under Saved/Config in the install directory holds the server name, admin password, server password, player cap and game rates.

Always set the admin password. On a server left with an empty one, access to admin commands is unprotected.

The same file also carries the settings for automatic cleanup of ownerless structures. Configure those before the server opens: enabling retroactive cleanup on a long-running server can delete structures players still consider theirs, and there is no undoing it.

Decide the rates (harvesting speed, experience, thrall training time) up front as well. Changing rates after players have progressed leaves a gap that never closes.

4. Ports

All three are required. If one is missing the server runs but does not appear in the public list and players cannot find you, which is the most common configuration mistake in Conan Exiles. All three are UDP; opening TCP achieves nothing.

In the Windows firewall, remember to define the rule for both inbound and outbound traffic.

5. The database: the real long-term problem

Conan Exiles keeps every structure, chest, thrall and item in a single database file. As players build, that file grows; as it grows each save takes longer, and the server stalls while saving. What players feel is exactly this: the hardware is adequate and the server still hitches at regular intervals.

So maintaining a long-lived Conan Exiles server is not about growing hardware but about keeping the database small:

• Enable automatic cleanup of ownerless structures and announce the threshold in days to your players.
• Monitor the database file size regularly; the growth trend is the only early warning you get before a stall.
• Compact the database periodically, in a maintenance window with the server stopped.
• Back up the file before every maintenance operation, and test a restore once for real.

On storage, the database file and its backups grow together. NVMe noticeably shortens the pauses that happen while saving.

The most common first-boot mistakes

1. Leaving one of the three ports closed. The server runs and never appears in the list.
2. Ordering with a Linux template. The official server package is for Windows.
3. Leaving the admin password empty. Admin commands are left unprotected.
4. Looking for configuration files before starting the server. They are generated on first boot.
5. Not accounting for the Windows base's share of RAM. The OS takes 2-3 GB; the rest belongs to the game.
6. Changing the mod list after launch. A removed mod can delete the structures built with it.
7. Never monitoring the database. The problem looks like hardware when it is file size.

On DDoS

Conan Exiles carries game and query traffic over UDP. Because a UDP source address can be forged, floods cannot be blocked at the application layer, and an open query port is also a surface exposed to reflection attacks. Where the protection steps in: what is DDoS protection?

At Datafex, layered Fexwall DDoS protection runs free on every plan, Windows plans included.

Next step

We have put the recommended plans by player count and building density, the processor options and the Conan Exiles-specific questions on one page: Conan Exiles server plans.