Install a Hytale Server on Debian or Ubuntu

Want to run your own Hytale server on a Linux operating system with Debian or Ubuntu? Then you are in the right place.

In this guide we use the official Hytale downloader, install the server step by step and complete the initial authentication. All commands are written for Debian 13, Debian 12 and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

Requirements for your own Hytale server

• A root server or VPS running Debian 13, Debian 12 or Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
• Root access over SSH
• At least 4 GB of RAM for the server alone, the example below uses 8 GB
• Java 25, see the next section

Update the package list and install pending updates

Before we start, refresh the package list of your operating system and install all available updates:

apt update && apt upgrade -y

Install Java 25

The official Hytale Server Manual requires Java 25. The server will not start with older Java releases. Install Java 25 together with unzip and screen:

apt install openjdk-25-jre-headless unzip screen -y

Then verify the installation with the following command. The output should contain "openjdk 25":

java -version

Java 25 is not available in every distribution. Status as of July 2026:

On Debian 12 you install Java 25 from the Adoptium package source. The signing key belongs in /etc/apt/keyrings/, because the former route via apt-key no longer exists:

apt install -y wget gpg apt-transport-https
mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
wget -qO- https://packages.adoptium.net/artifactory/api/gpg/key/public | gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/adoptium.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/adoptium.gpg] https://packages.adoptium.net/artifactory/deb $(awk -F= '/^VERSION_CODENAME/{print$2}' /etc/os-release) main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/adoptium.list
apt update
apt install -y temurin-25-jre unzip screen

You can check which Java versions are available on your system at any time with:

apt-cache policy openjdk-25-jre-headless

Create a dedicated user for the Hytale server

For security reasons, do not run the server as root, but under a user of its own:

adduser --disabled-login hytale

Simply press Enter to skip the prompts for name, address or phone number. Then switch to the new user and into its home directory:

su hytale && cd

Download the Hytale downloader and fetch the server files

Download the official Hytale downloader directly:

wget https://downloader.hytale.com/hytale-downloader.zip

Unpack the archive. Since it already contains a folder called Server/, we move a separately supplied Assets.zip into it, change into the directory and make the downloader executable:

unzip hytale-downloader.zip
mv Assets.zip Server/
cd Server/
chmod +x hytale-downloader-linux-amd64

Now we run the downloader to fetch or update the actual server files:

./hytale-downloader-linux-amd64

Note: The downloader always pulls the current version of HytaleServer.jar and Assets.zip. Run it again for later updates as well.

Create a start script with AOT cache

Create a file called "start.sh":

nano start.sh

Paste the following content. We use the AOT cache recommended in the manual, which noticeably shortens the startup time:

#!/bin/bash
# CONFIGURATION
SCREEN_NAME="hytale"
SERVER_FILE="HytaleServer.jar"
ASSETS_FILE="Assets.zip" # Standard name
MEM="8G" # Adjust RAM to your needs (Min. 4GB)

# START LOOP
while true; do
    echo "Starting Hytale Server..."
    # Start command with AOT cache optimization according to the manual
    java -Xms$MEM -Xmx$MEM -XX:AOTCache=HytaleServer.aot -jar $SERVER_FILE --assets $ASSETS_FILE

    echo "Restarting in 5 seconds... Press CTRL+C to cancel"
    sleep 5
done

Save the file with "CTRL + X", then "Y" and "Enter". The loop in the script makes sure the server comes back up automatically after a crash.

Make the script executable:

chmod +x start.sh

Start the Hytale server and work with the console

Start the server inside a screen session so it keeps running after you close your SSH connection:

screen -dmS hytale ./start.sh

You open the console with:

screen -r hytale

Press "CTRL + A + D" to leave the console again without stopping the server.

Authenticate the server (device login)

On the first start you have to authenticate the server once. To do so, enter the following command in the server console:

/auth login device

Open the link that is displayed (for example https://accounts.hytale.com/device) on your PC and enter the code shown in the console. As soon as "Authentication successful!" appears, your server is ready to use.

Next steps: autostart and protection against attacks

• Automatic start: To make the Hytale server come up on its own after a reboot of the operating system, set up an autostart. Our guide Run programs automatically at server startup walks you through it.
• Protection against DDoS attacks: Game servers are a popular target for attacks from the internet. Our article Hytale servers and DDoS protection explains what to watch out for.