Setting Up a Whitelist on Your Minecraft Server
Restrict your server to approved players using the whitelist system.
Enabling the Whitelist
On GameGrid the list itself lives in Settings > Player Management > Whitelist, which writes whitelist.json for you. Add your players there first.
To switch it on, either use the console command or set white-list in the Settings tab. The command is easiest:
/whitelist on - Enables the whitelist. Only whitelisted players can join.
/whitelist off - Disables the whitelist. Anyone can join.
Alternatively set white-list to true in the Settings tab. That is written to server.properties and read at the next start, whereas /whitelist on takes effect immediately.
When the whitelist is on, non-whitelisted players see "You are not white-listed on this server!" and are disconnected.
Adding and Removing Players
/whitelist add [player] - Adds a player to the whitelist. The player doesn't need to be online - the server resolves their UUID from Mojang's servers.
/whitelist remove [player] - Removes a player from the whitelist.
/whitelist list - Shows all whitelisted players by name.
/whitelist reload - Reloads whitelist.json from disk. Use this if you manually edited the file.
The whitelist is stored in whitelist.json at the server root. Settings > Player Management > Whitelist edits it through the panel; you can also edit the file directly from the Files tab, then run /whitelist reload so the server picks it up.
Enforcing the Whitelist
By default, when you add a player to the whitelist while they're online, existing non-whitelisted players aren't kicked until they disconnect and try to rejoin.
To kick non-whitelisted players immediately when the whitelist changes, set enforce-whitelist to true in the Settings tab, or just run /whitelist on again after adding players.
On Java Edition, operators (OPs) can always connect even if they're not on the whitelist. This is by design - you don't want to lock yourself out of your own server.
When to Use a Whitelist
Private servers for friends: Add everyone you know to the whitelist and enable it. This prevents random players from finding and joining your server.
Community servers with applications: Use the whitelist to control who joins. Players apply (e.g., via Discord), and you add them after approval.
Preventing griefing: Even if your server is public, you can temporarily enable the whitelist during maintenance or after a griefing incident to lock things down while you investigate.
Whitelist vs password: Minecraft doesn't have a built-in server password. The whitelist is the primary access control mechanism.