TeamSpeak 6 server: claim admin with the privilege key

A new TeamSpeak server has no owner. Whoever uses the privilege key it prints on its very first start becomes Server Admin, and that is the moment this guide is about: getting the key, claiming it with the TeamSpeak 6 client, setting up the basics, and what is left to try if the key is gone.

Before the first start

Torchlite installs the official TeamSpeak 6 server for Linux, downloaded from TeamSpeak's GitHub releases. The TS6 server is still in beta. TeamSpeak ships it with a 32-slot beta license, which it renews every two months during the beta.

The server will not run until its license has been accepted. On Torchlite that is already done: the License Accepted variable on the Startup page was set to accept when your server was created. If you want to read the license first, set it to view and the server prints it in the console; deny stops the server from starting at all.

Two other things on Startup are worth knowing. Server Version says which release the install downloads, latest by default, and it is used again whenever you reinstall. The three port variables are read-only, so you cannot change them; the ports section below explains what each one is for.

Remember that a free server only runs while you renew it, so this is not a voice server that stays up for days on its own. The renewal guide explains how often your plan asks.

Copy the privilege key

Press Start and keep the Console open. On the very first start, the server creates its database and prints a block of text announcing the ServerAdmin privilege key. The key is the long string of letters and numbers in that block.

Copy it straight away and keep it somewhere safe until you have used it. Three reasons not to wait:

• The key is printed once, on the first start, and never again on later starts.
• The panel's console only shows the current run. After the server stops or restarts, the line is gone from it.
• A key works exactly once, for whoever uses it first. If the console was on screen while someone else watched, use it before they do.

If the same block shows other login details, save those as well, even though you will not need them for the steps below.

Connect and claim Server Admin

Install the TeamSpeak 6 client from TeamSpeak's website. Then find your server's address on the Network page: the IP and the port marked Primary, which is the voice port.

In the client, connect to the IP and port together, written as IP:port. Pick the nickname you want people to see. You land in the server's default channel, and at this point you are a normal visitor like anyone else.

Now right-click the server's name at the top of the channel tree and choose Use Privilege Key. That is where TeamSpeak's own forum points TS6 users; in TeamSpeak 3 the same option sat under the Permissions menu, so look there if your client version differs. Paste the key and confirm. You are now in the Server Admin group.

Admin rights belong to your client identity, not to your nickname. If you reinstall the client or connect from another computer with a fresh identity, the server sees a stranger. Back up your identity from the client before you change machines, and you keep your rights.

Set up channels and groups

With Server Admin you can shape the server from the client. A simple layout that works for most groups:

• A lobby that everyone lands in, set as the default channel.
• A few topic channels, one per game or squad, with a password on any you want to keep private.
• An AFK channel for people who step away.

Check that channels you mean to keep are permanent ones, not temporary channels that disappear when the last person leaves. A new server also has no password, so anyone with the address can join; set a server password in the server's settings if you want to keep it to your friends.

For permissions, keep Server Admin to one or two people. Visitors start in the server's default group. If friends need to move or kick people, create a separate group with only those rights and add them to it, instead of handing out Server Admin. Change one permission at a time and test it with a second client, so you know what each change did.

Ports

The panel attaches three ports to every TeamSpeak server when it is created, and you cannot add more. They are on the Network page:

The Query SSH Port shown on Startup is not one of your server's ports, and the egg does not switch ServerQuery on. In practice you manage everything from the client.

If the privilege key is lost

First, check whether you really lost admin. If you used the key once, you are still Server Admin as long as you connect with the same identity.

If the key was never used, it still works, and you may find it again:

1. Open Files and look in the logs folder, where the TS6 server writes its log files by default.
2. Open the oldest log file and search for privilege key. The first start's output should be there.

If someone else already holds Server Admin, ask them to add you to the group, which is quicker than any key.

Two things will not help here. Reinstalling only replaces the program files and keeps the database, so it does not print a new key. And the usual ServerQuery recipe from TeamSpeak's forums, which creates a new key over SSH, needs the query interface that is off and the SSH query port that your server does not have. The only option left is resetting the server's database, which deletes every channel, group and permission. Ask on our Discord before you go that far.

Common problems

The server stops right away and mentions the license

License Accepted on Startup is not set to accept. Change it back and press Start.

There is no privilege key in the console

The key only appears on the very first start. If the server has been restarted since, check the logs folder in Files as described above.

The client says the key is invalid

Each key works once. Make sure you copied all of it, with no space at either end. If it was already used, check whether you or someone else became Server Admin with it.

I lost admin after reinstalling the client

Your identity changed, not the server. Restore the identity you backed up, or ask another admin to put your new identity in Server Admin.

Friends cannot connect

Make sure they use the TeamSpeak 6 client and type the voice port after the IP. If the server is stopped because a renewal was missed, press Start and send them the address again.