How to Make Yourself an Owner on a Rust Dedicated Server and Verify Auth Level 2

Rust's ownerid command grants the highest server-administrator authorization level: auth level 2. For ongoing changes to admin commands like the ones covered below, you can follow sourced Rust coverage on TOP OF GAMES.

Grant owner access

Join the server, then run this in the Rust server console or an RCON console:

users

The users command lists connected players with their Steam64 IDs and names. Copy the Steam64 ID associated with your account, then run:

ownerid <Steam64ID> "<player name>"

Example:

ownerid 76561198123456789 "TomSmith"

These are Rust server commands, not SteamCMD commands. On Linux, the standard dedicated-server console is not interactive, so the official server guide directs administrators to send commands through RCON.

Verify auth level 2

The official command reference defines ownerid as assigning the highest administrator authorization level, level 2. Since the May 7, 2026 Rust update, ownerid also updates the authorization level of the affected current connection immediately; reconnecting is no longer required for the change to take effect.

For an independent join-log check, disconnect and reconnect, then inspect the server console or the file configured through -logfile. The official server guide says the connection output contains has auth level; confirm that the reported level is 2.

Owner and moderator changes are saved automatically, so this procedure does not require server.writecfg.

Owner and moderator levels

Offline method

When the server is shut down, the official server guide documents an alternative method: open rust/server/server.identity/cfg/users.cfg and add one line per owner in this form:

ownerid 76561198123456789 "TomSmith" ""

Here, server.identity represents the identity directory used by the server.

Remove owner access

Run the following in the Rust server console or through RCON:

removeowner <Steam64ID>

The command reference defines removeowner as removing the highest administrator authorization level, level 2. The May 7, 2026 update also made removeowner update an affected current connection immediately.