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Setting Up AuthMe for Offline-Mode Authentication

ZCraft Studios

Running offline-mode opens a server to anyone claiming any username — AuthMe is the long-standing plugin for adding a login/register layer back.

Setting Up AuthMe for Offline-Mode Authentication

Offline-mode skips Mojang's authentication entirely — AuthMe is what plugs that gap back in with its own login system.

Running a server in offline mode (online-mode=false) — common for cracked servers, certain proxy setups, or testing — removes Mojang's built-in authentication. Without a replacement, anyone can join using any username they type, including impersonating another player. AuthMe adds a register/login system to cover that gap.

Install AuthMe

Drop AuthMeReloaded.jar into plugins/ and restart. It generates a default config and its own database (SQLite by default) for storing accounts.

How Registration Works for Players

On first join, a player is typically frozen or restricted until they register:

/register <password> <confirmpassword>

Subsequent joins require logging in:

/login <password>

Both commands' exact names are configurable in config.yml if different wording is preferred.

Restricting Players Before Login

AuthMe's config controls what an unauthenticated player can do before logging in — by default, movement, chat, and interaction are typically blocked or heavily restricted until /login succeeds, preventing an unauthenticated session from doing anything meaningful.

Setting a Session Timeout

settings:
  sessions:
    enabled: true
    timeout: 10

allows a returning player within the timeout window (in minutes) to skip re-entering their password — balancing security against the annoyance of logging in every single join.

Changing or Resetting a Password

/changepassword <old> <new>

for a player changing their own password. For admin-forced resets:

/authme setpassword <player> <newpassword>

Unregistering an Account

/unregister <player>

removes a player's registration entirely, requiring them to register again on next join — useful if an account is compromised or abandoned.

Using AuthMe on a Proxy Network

AuthMe needs to either run on the proxy itself (if a compatible version exists for Velocity/BungeeCord) or be configured consistently across every backend server with shared MySQL storage — authenticating on one backend but not the others defeats the purpose, the same issue that affects any plugin managing per-player state on a multi-server network.

A Note on Security

AuthMe adds a login layer, but offline-mode itself still carries tradeoffs beyond authentication — skin/cosmetic systems tied to a real Mojang account, for instance, won't function the same way. Whether offline-mode plus a login plugin or staying on online-mode entirely is the better fit depends on what the server actually needs from player identity.

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