How to Transfer Your Valheim World to a Dedicated Server

You’ve been playing Valheim singleplayer or on a local server, your world has a great seed, your builds are coming together, and now you want to move it to a dedicated server so friends can join anytime. Good news: Valheim makes this straightforward. You need two files, one upload, and a config change.

This guide covers transferring from a local PC, from cloud saves, from another hosting provider, and the limitations for console and Game Pass worlds.

What You’re Transferring

On Valheim 1.0

Every world is a folder in worlds_local named after the world, for example a folder called MyViking. Everything the world needs is inside it. To transfer, move the whole folder. Skip any other folder with backup or old in the name, those are Valheim’s automatic backups.

On a world last saved before 1.0

The world is two files sharing your world’s name:

• WorldName.fwl - World metadata (seed, name, version info)
• WorldName.db - World data (terrain, builds, entities, everything you’ve done)

You need both to transfer successfully. The .fwl without the .db gives you a fresh world with the same seed but none of your progress. The .db without the .fwl won’t load at all. Files with backup or old in the name are automatic backups: you don’t need them for the transfer, but they’re worth keeping on your PC just in case.

The first time your server loads one of these, it converts the world to the 1.0 folder format and writes a backup before it does. That first load can sit for several minutes with nothing visible happening. Let it finish.

Transferring from Your PC (Local Saves)

Step 1: Find Your World Files

On Windows, your local world saves are at:

%AppData%\..\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\worlds_local

The quickest way to get there: press Win + R, paste that path, hit Enter.

If your client is on Valheim 1.0, you’ll see a folder per world. Find the one named after the world you want to transfer. On an older client you’ll see a .fwl and a .db file per world instead.

Step 2: Upload to Your Server

On WinterNode:

1. Go to Management > File Manager in the control panel
2. Navigate to /.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local
3. Upload your world: the whole folder on Valheim 1.0, or both the .fwl and .db files on an older world. Compress your selection into a .zip first for faster upload, then decompress on the server.

You can also upload via SFTP if you prefer a desktop client or if the zip file is over 100MB.

On a self-hosted server:

Copy the world folder (1.0) or both files (older world) to your server’s world directory:

• Linux: /.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local
• Windows: %AppData%\..\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\worlds_local

Step 3: Update the World Name Setting

The server needs to know which world to load. The world name must match exactly. It’s the folder name on Valheim 1.0, or the filename without the extension on an older world.

If your world folder is called MyViking, or your files are MyViking.fwl and MyViking.db, the world name is MyViking.

On WinterNode: Go to Configuration > Server Options and set World Name to your world’s name.

Self-hosted: Update the -world flag in your startup command:

valheim_server -nographics -batchmode -name "My Server" -port 2456 -world "MyViking" -password "secret"

Start the server. It should load your transferred world instead of creating a new one. If you transferred a pre-1.0 world, the first load converts it and may take a few minutes.

Transferring from Cloud Saves

Steam and the Xbox app on PC can store Valheim worlds in cloud storage. You need to move the save to local storage before you can access the files.

Moving a Cloud Save to Local

1. Launch Valheim
2. On the character select screen, click Manage saves
3. Go to the Worlds tab
4. Cloud saves show a cloud icon on the right. Local saves show a floppy disk icon.
5. Select the world you want to transfer
6. Click Move to local

Once moved, the world appears in %AppData%\..\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\worlds_local and you can follow the standard transfer steps above.

Transferring from Another Server

If you’re moving from another hosting provider:

1. Download the world from your current host. Use their file manager or SFTP to grab it from the worlds_local directory (path is usually /.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local on Linux). That is the folder named after the world if the host is on Valheim 1.0, or the .fwl and .db pair if it is still on an older build.
2. Upload to your new server using the same process as a local transfer.
3. Update the world name in the new server’s settings to match.

The world name on the old server might be “Dedicated” (the default). To rename it on a pre-1.0 world, rename both files before uploading: change Dedicated.fwl to YourNewName.fwl and Dedicated.db to YourNewName.db, then set the world name to YourNewName. On a 1.0 world, the simplest path is to keep the folder’s original name and set the World Name option to match it, rather than renaming the folder.

Console and Game Pass Limitations

This is the frustrating one: Xbox world saves cannot be exported.

Xbox saves are stored on Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure and there’s no way to download them as files. If you’ve been playing on Xbox and want to move your world to a dedicated server, there’s currently no path to do that.

Game Pass PC is in the same boat if you’ve been using cloud saves through the Xbox app. However, if you stored saves locally, they may be accessible in a similar location to Steam saves - check under your user profile’s LocalLow/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local folder.

This is a platform limitation, not a hosting limitation. No provider can work around it.

What About Character Progress?

Valheim stores characters and worlds separately. Your character (inventory, skills, appearance) lives on your game client, not in the world file. When you connect to any server, your character comes with you.

This means:

• Transferring a world doesn’t transfer anyone’s character - characters are already portable
• You can join your new server with the same character you’ve been playing with
• Other players connecting for the first time bring their own characters
• If someone loses a character locally, the world transfer doesn’t affect that

Character portability has a platform limit, though: a character is tied to the storefront account that created it. A Steam character can’t move to a PlayStation Network or Nintendo account, and vice versa, even on the same crossplay server. This applies across Xbox, PS5, and Switch 2 alike - only the world itself is shared across platforms, not individual characters.

Troubleshooting

Server creates a new world instead of loading mine: The world name doesn’t match. Check that the name in Server Options (or your -world flag) matches the folder name (1.0) or filenames (older world) exactly, including capitalization.

World loads but all progress is missing: On a pre-1.0 world, you uploaded the .fwl but not the .db. The .fwl contains the seed, so the world generates with the same terrain, but without the .db none of your builds or progress are there. Upload both files. On a 1.0 world, make sure the whole folder came across and nothing was left out of the archive.

First load takes several minutes or looks frozen: Expected when you import a pre-1.0 world. The server is converting it to the 1.0 folder format and writing a backup first. It only happens once.

“Incompatible version” when connecting: Your game client and the server are on different Valheim versions. Update both to the same version. If you’re transferring from an old world, the server handles the save conversion automatically when it loads the world.

Get Started

If you’re transferring a world to a new server, WinterNode makes it easy. Upload your world through the File Manager or SFTP, set the world name, and start playing.

All game servers are $1.99/GB of RAM with no extra charges. Get your Valheim server → Backed by a 48-hour refund policy. If you run into issues during the transfer, our help center guide has more detail, and support is available via ticket or Discord.