Windrose Server Won't Start - Troubleshooting

Check the Server Status

In the GameGrid dashboard, check the status of your Windrose server. If it shows "Failed" or is stuck on "Starting", there is a startup issue.

Click "Manage" to open the server panel, then go to the Console tab. The console output shows the server startup log, which usually indicates why the server failed to start.

Corrupted ServerDescription.json

The most common cause of startup failure is a corrupted ServerDescription.json file. This happens if the file was edited manually with invalid JSON syntax.

Symptoms: The server starts, immediately crashes, and the console shows a JSON parse error.

Do not rename or delete the file so that Windrose writes a new one. A new file gives your server a new identity and a new, empty world. Your own world stays on disk under R5/Saved, but it is no longer the one that loads. The direct-connection port in the new file is -1 instead of your server's port, and your players may need new connection details.

Solution: with the server stopped, open R5/ServerDescription.json from the Files tab, find the syntax error and fix it in the editor, save, and then start the server. The usual mistakes are a missing comma, a trailing comma and a text value without double quotes; the Windrose ServerDescription.json Config Guide shows each one. Fix the file before the next start: if Windrose starts while it cannot read the file, it replaces the file with a default one itself.

If you cannot find the error, put back a copy of the file from before your change: a copy you kept, or one from a backup taken before you edited it (the Backups tab). A restore puts back everything in that backup, your worlds included, so anything you did in the game since is lost; GameGrid takes a safety copy of your current save first. If you do not want to lose what you did in the game since that backup, open a support ticket, say which backup was good, and support can put the old values back into the file by hand.

If the server has already started and the file was replaced, you will see settings you did not choose, and a new empty world folder under R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB_v2/0.10.0/Worlds. Do not start playing on it. Put your previous ServerDescription.json back in the same way, so that your old world loads again. Your old world folder is still there.

Missing Game Files

If the server was recently provisioned or the game files were corrupted, the server executable may be missing.

Symptoms: The console shows "file not found" or "executable not found" errors.

Solution: try "Check & Repair" on the Admin tab first. It reports whether every game file your server should have is present, whether they all come from one build, whether that install finished and whether the game’s own start-up check passes — and it puts missing files back. If it cannot, use "Reinstall Server Files" on the Maintenance card on the Overview tab, which replaces every game file from the host’s own copy. Both need the server stopped.

Neither touches your world, your settings or your mods, and a reinstall lists what it left alone. Nothing is downloaded from Steam either: a game’s files live once per host and a reinstall re-lays your server’s copy from that one. Take a backup first anyway if the world matters to you.

Port Conflict

On GameGrid, port conflicts are rare because each instance gets a unique port block. However, if the server was recently moved or the host was restarted, a port conflict can occur.

Symptoms: The console shows "port already in use" or "address already in use" errors.

Solution: ports are allocated by the platform and are not reassigned by a restart. Run "Check & Repair" on the Admin tab, which checks the platform-assigned port against the server’s own configuration, then open a support ticket with the console output if the error persists — a real port clash needs someone to look at the host.

Windrose Plus

GameGrid installs Windrose Plus on every Windrose server, and it is built so that it can never be what keeps your server down:

• A failed or unfinished Windrose Plus install never stops a start: the server starts without it and GameGrid retries the install on its own.
• If part of Windrose Plus's loader (UE4SS) is missing, GameGrid sets the loader aside before the start so the game boots normally, and reinstalls it.
• If the game stops while loading Windrose Plus two starts in a row — possible for a while after a Windrose game update, until a compatible Windrose Plus release lands — GameGrid starts the server without Windrose Plus. The Live Map then says "Windrose Plus was set aside so your server could start", and Windrose Plus is tried again automatically after the next game update or Windrose Plus release.

Symptoms that point here: the server crashed once or twice straight after starting, and then came up with no dashboard and no live map. You do not have to switch anything; if you want it looked at sooner, contact support.

When to Contact Support

If none of the above solutions fix the startup issue, contact support with the following information:

Your Service ID, at the bottom of the Connect card on the Overview tab.

The console output from the Console tab (copy and paste the last 20 to 30 lines).

When the issue started (after an update, after a config change, etc.).

Any recent changes you made to the server settings or files.

Our support team can check the host agent logs and server logs to diagnose the issue.