Playing Enshrouded with friends is an extremely rewarding experience. Keen Games provides both a Hosting and a Joining option. Hosting requires that original world must be run from the same host. Whereas, joining a server allows players to come and go as they desire. Or in my case, if my computer crashes, it doesn't take everyone down with me. This is why I will suggest in the getting started section using a separate computer.

Appreciate everyone’s feedback and support as you use this guide for setting up and running a server. I’ve pulled resources from many sources to aid in this process, and can’t say if it’ll work for you as it did for me. I’m creating this community guide as none exist at the moment. Best of luck!

1. Grab your extra computer. Can be an older laptop or desktop. Official recommended Server Specifications [enshrouded.zendesk.com].
   
2. Install Linux. Recommend Ubuntu [ubuntu.com] or PopOS [pop.system76.com]. If you’d like to learn more about these distros
   
3. Install Docker. Follow the dockerdocs setup guide [docs.docker.com]. I believe having an account is optional. The advantage of using Docker is that a majority of setup and special configuration are already done.
   
4. Enable Sharing for remote desktop management. Under Setting > Sharing > Remote Desktop > Enable both Remote Desktop and Remote Control, then update or copy the password. You can then use Windows Remote Desktop Connections app on your gaming computer to start, stop, or monitor the server.
   
5. Open Enshrouded Steam game ports on linux to prevent “Login Failure: No Connection.” In the Linux terminal, enter as outlined from the SteamCMD Valve Developers website.
   iptables -A INPUT -p udp -m udp --sport 15637:15637 --dport 1025:65355 -j ACCEPT
   
6. Open the same 15637 Port Forwarding on your router for the server computer.
   
7. Set a static public IP address on your modem. Note this for later. Honestly, I believe I did this years ago and don’t recall exactly what was required by the process but want to mention it.

• Run the container in docker by entering the following commands in the Linux Terminal. Please update both the SERVER_NAME and the SERVER_PASSWORD before hitting enter. You cannot change this later and will have to delete the container and image on docker.desktop before starting over. These commands are taken directly from GitHub/jsknnr/enshrouded-server [github.com] This author and their contributors have created an efficient Linux server that runs Glorious Eggroll (GE) Proton windows compatibility, because for now, only Windows is supported. Hopefully, Keen Games brings native Linux support soon.
  docker volume create enshrouded-persistent-data
  docker run \
  --detach \
  --name enshrouded-server \
  --mount type=volume,source=enshrouded-persistent-data,target=/home/steam/enshrouded/savegame \
  --publish 15637:15637/udp \
  --env=SERVER_NAME='Enshrouded Containerized Server' \
  --env=SERVER_SLOTS=16 \
  --env=SERVER_PASSWORD='ChangeThisPlease' \
  --env=PORT=15637 \
  sknnr/enshrouded-dedicated-server:latest
  
• Find your server. On Steam app > View > Game Servers > Favorites > “Plus Button” Enter your public (IP address):15637 Or in game Join then search for your new server name.
  
  
  That’s it! You now have a new playable world to explore with your friends!
  
  
  OR

1. Find the previous game files. Save Game Management [enshrouded.zendesk.com]
   
2. Rename the desired files to be 3ad85aea, 3ad85aea-1, 3ad85eae-2, …, 3ad85aea-index, if you have multiple worlds.
   
3. Transfer these files to the Linux Computer by placing them in their own folder “Enshrouded-Backup” in your Documents folder.
   
4. Navigate to this folder in the Linux terminal: cd /home/(username)/Documents/Enshrouded-Backup
   
5. Create a tar.gz archive file of the saved game files. Here’s the code I used: tar -czf saves.tar.gz *
   
6. Import the saves.tar.gz file into docker desktop > volumes > enshrouded_enshrouded-persistent-data > Import. Please shutdown the container or server before doing so.
   
7. Start up the container or server to ensure they loaded. You can also export the saved game files from here in the future for backup or transfer.

Of course, if all this sounds like too much. Follow Keen Games Installation from the Steam App [enshrouded.zendesk.com] on a Windows computer. You will still need to open the connection ports on the computer and router.