How do I change the spawn protection on my Minecraft server?

Spawn protection is a built-in square around the world spawn in which only operators can place or break blocks. It exists to keep a fresh server's spawn from being griefed in the first hour, but it is also the number one reason new server owners think their server is broken: I can't build anything! The size is one number in server.properties.

Changing the size

1. Go to the game panel and click your server.
2. Open the Properties page and change SPAWN-PROTECTION, or edit spawn-protection=16 in server.properties through File Manager.
3. Save and restart the server.

The number is the radius in blocks from the spawn point: 16 gives a protected square of 33 by 33 blocks. Set it to 0 to turn it off completely. The protection covers the full height of the world in that square.

Why nobody can build

As long as no operator has been set, spawn protection is inactive; the moment you make yourself OP, it switches on for everyone who is not OP. That is why a server "suddenly" stops letting friends build right after you OP yourself. Players outside the radius can build normally; inside it they get no message at all, the block simply comes back.

Moving the spawn

The protection follows the world spawn point. Move it with setworldspawn while standing at the new location (or setworldspawn 100 64 -200 with coordinates). Player spawn after death is governed by beds and respawn anchors, not by this point.

Better protection with a plugin

Spawn protection is crude: a square, all or nothing, only about blocks. For a real spawn area you want WorldGuard: define a region around your spawn build and set flags such as build deny, pvp deny, mob-spawning deny and invincible allow. Then set spawn-protection=0 so the two systems do not get in each other's way. For player-owned land, claim plugins such as GriefPrevention or Lands do the same per player.

Common problems

• Changed the value but nothing happened: the server was not restarted; this value is only read at start-up.
• Operators can build, staff with a rank cannot: spawn protection only checks OP, not permissions. Set it to 0 and use WorldGuard, which does understand permissions.
• Players cannot build anywhere: the radius is very large (someone set 1000, for example), or the world is in adventure mode. Check gamemode in server.properties as well.
• Protection does nothing: no operator has been set yet, so it is inactive by design.

Related: disabling PvP and disabling TNT for a peaceful spawn. Stuck? Open a ticket.