Back up and restore an Enshrouded world

An Enshrouded world is a save folder the server writes to while it runs, so the backup you can actually trust is one taken with the server stopped, and restoring it puts your world back exactly as it was.

6 min read · Updated Oct 21, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team

What is actually in an Enshrouded save

Enshrouded keeps the world in its own save folder, not in a single file. Where that folder is comes from saveDirectory in enshrouded_server.json, which points at a savegame folder in your server's main directory unless somebody changed it. You can see both on the Files tab of your server.

Inside it is the world: the terrain your group has dug and reshaped, every base and chest, and the progress of each character who has played. Because the terrain in Enshrouded is fully editable (the ground is made of small voxels you can mine and build with), a world that has been played for months is a lot of data, and all of it has to travel together for a restore to make sense.

Two more things are worth keeping with the save:

• enshrouded_server.json, which holds your server name, slot count, role passwords and every difficulty factor. Rebuilding that from memory after a bad day is miserable. Editing enshrouded_server.json explains what each part of it does.
• Any log files you want to look back at, written to the folder named by logDirectory.

A snapshot taken from the Backups page covers the whole server, so all of this is included without you having to pick folders. That is the main reason to prefer it over copying files by hand.

Stop the server first

Enshrouded holds a lot of world state in memory and writes it out on its own timer and at shutdown. A copy taken while the server is live can catch the save mid-write, which gives you a folder that loads with the last few minutes missing or, occasionally, does not load at all.

For a scheduled nightly snapshot that is an acceptable risk, and running it live is normal. For a backup you are about to lean on, before an update or a big settings change, do it properly:

1. Sign in at customer.guavahost.com, open My servers and click Manage on your Enshrouded server.
2. Tell anyone online that you are about to restart, and give them a minute to get somewhere safe.
3. Press Stop at the top of the server page and wait for the Console to show the server fully offline.
4. Open the Backups page in the server menu and click Create backup.
5. Name it something you will recognise in three weeks, such as "before patch" or "before difficulty change", and start it.
6. Wait for it to show as Ready, then press Start.

The stop also flushes the save, so a backup taken this way matches what was on screen rather than what was on screen at the last autosave.

Put it on a schedule

Manual backups are for risky moments. The everyday safety net belongs on a timer.

1. Open Scheduled tasks in the server menu.
2. The Back up every week starter gives you a weekly backup in one click. For a nightly one, click New schedule, name it "Nightly backup", choose Daily under How often and pick a quiet hour.
3. Leave Skip if the server is offline unticked, so a backup still happens on a night the server was off.
4. Under What should it do?, choose Take a backup, then click Create schedule.

If you already run a nightly restart, and you should, put the backup a few minutes before it so the two do not overlap.

Your plan has a set number of Backup slots, shown on the Backups page. When they are full, a scheduled backup replaces the oldest unlocked one. Use Lock on any backup you never want replaced, for example the one you took the night before a patch everybody is still arguing about. Backups: creating, restoring and scheduling covers the page in full.

Keep a copy that is not on the server

Panel snapshots live on the same machine as your server. That makes them perfect for undoing a change you made five minutes ago, and the wrong thing to rely on as your only copy. Add one of these:

• Click Download next to a finished backup on the Backups page and keep dated copies on your own PC.
• Connect over SFTP with the details under Connection details on the Settings tab and copy the save folder and enshrouded_server.json across. Uploading files with SFTP walks through FileZilla and WinSCP.
• Turn on Daily Off-site Backups, which copy the whole server to separate cloud storage every day and keep the last seven.

Restore a backup

1. Press Stop and wait for the server to go fully offline.
2. Take a fresh backup of the current state first. A restore overwrites what is there, and this is your way back if you restore the wrong one.
3. Open the Backups page, find the backup you want and click Restore.
4. Choose what happens to files added since that backup: Keep them is the safe default, and the option to also delete newer files is for when you want the server exactly as it was and nothing else.
5. The server restarts as part of the restore. Watch the Console until it reports ready, then load in and check the world yourself before telling anyone else to join.

Everything between the backup and now is gone: bases built, levels earned, Shroud runs survived. That is the point of a restore, but it is worth saying out loud before you press the button.

Restoring the save folder by hand

If you want only the world back and not the config, stop the server, rename the existing save folder rather than deleting it, and upload your copy in its place with Upload files on the Files tab or over SFTP. Keep the folder name exactly as saveDirectory expects it, because a server pointed at a folder that is not there starts a brand new world instead of telling you off.

Check enshrouded_server.json before you start it again. A save from an older world restored under a config with a different slot count or difficulty preset will load, but it will not play the way you remember.

Good moments for a manual backup

• Before an Enshrouded patch, since updating the server replaces game files.
• Before editing enshrouded_server.json by hand, especially the userGroups section.
• Before changing a difficulty preset or any of the gameSettings factors.
• After a session where your group built something they would be upset to lose.
• Before a reinstall, every single time.

Common questions

Do I have to stop my Enshrouded server to take a backup?

For a scheduled nightly snapshot, no, running it live is fine and is what most owners do. For a backup you are about to rely on, stop the server first, because the save is written while the server runs and a copy caught mid-write may be missing the last few minutes.

Does restoring a backup wipe my characters?

No, but it rewinds them. Character progress is part of the save, so everyone comes back exactly as they were at the moment of the backup, including levels and inventories. Anyone who first joined after that backup has no character in it and starts fresh.

Can I restore one base or one player instead of the whole world?

Not really. Enshrouded stores the world as one save, so there is no supported way to lift a single base or character out of a backup and drop it into the current world. If something has been griefed, restoring to a snapshot from just before it is the practical fix.

How long are my backups kept?

They stay until they are replaced or you delete them. Your plan has a number of Backup slots, and once they are full a scheduled backup takes the oldest unlocked slot, so locking the ones that matter and clearing out the rest keeps the useful history available.

Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.

• enshrouded
• backup
• restore
• savegame
• world

Host an Enshrouded server From $5.99/mo, with instant setup and DDoS protection.

Still need help? Our team is online 24/7 to answer questions.

Contact support