Palworld: attach your co-op character, or unlink it again
PalworldGuideWhen you upload a co-op or single-player world, your host character arrives saved under a placeholder ID instead of your account, so the server hands you a…
When you upload a co-op or single-player world, your host character arrives saved under a placeholder ID instead of your account, so the server hands you a brand new character. Attaching links that saved character to your account, and everything comes back with it: level, gear, pals, storage, and your place in the guild. The prompt lives in the notices tray on your server's card on My Servers, and the same attach sits in the Backups card. We take a snapshot first, and Undo attach restores it.
Why your new character is locked out of everything
In co-op, Palworld saves the host's character under one fixed internal ID, not under your Steam, Xbox, or PlayStation identity. Friends are saved under their real accounts, so they usually carry over on their own. When you join, the server does not recognise you and creates a fresh character. That character is a new player, not in your guild, so the Palbox and your bases stay locked to the old one. Nothing is lost, and your character is still in the world files.
Where the attach lives
The attach appears once a world carrying a co-op host character is on the server. You put one there with Upload World in the Backups card, to the right of New Backup and with the server powered down, or with Upload Existing World while you create the server. Neither the upload nor the attach is under your world or general settings.
On the server card. Open My Servers. After a world upload the card shows a small pill that reads 1 notice. Open it to find Your host character isn't attached yet. with two choices: Attach my character and I'll start fresh.
In the Backups card. Click Detail view on the card, open the Backups card, then click the backup with the Uploaded badge: its details carry an Attach my character button. This is also the way back after I'll start fresh.
No prompt on the card? Start the server once. The check runs at every boot, so the prompt comes back on its own while your host character file is still in the world, including after you restore a backup from before an attach. The exception is I'll start fresh: after that, use the Backups card.
How to attach your character
Choose Attach my character. The Attach your character window opens.
Under Is this you? pick your Steam account from the list, or use I know my Steam ID, let me enter it, paste your SteamID64 or profile URL, and click Look up.
On Xbox, Game Pass, PlayStation, or Mac? Start the server and join once, then pick yourself under We saw these players join. No IDs needed.
Click Attach character. The card then says Your character is attached on the next start.
Start or restart the server with its normal power control. The attach runs during startup, and your character is waiting when you join.
What comes back with the character
The attach re-keys your character file and every reference to it inside the world, so your level, gear, the pals in your Palbox and party, your fast travel unlocks, and your guild membership all come back together, and the Palbox and bases unlock.
Map exploration lives on each player's own PC, not in the world, so the map can look dark. See the black map article below.
How to undo an attach
Right after the attach, the card's notices show Character attached with Wrong character? and Looks right. Wrong character? opens the undo, and that notice stays for seven days.
Later on, open Detail view, expand the Backups card, and use Undo attach in the Attached character section at the top. The snapshot in the list carries a Pre-attach snapshot badge, and restoring it does the same thing.
The dialog is called Undo the character attach. If the server is running, the button reads Stop server and undo and stops it first.
One honest catch: undo rewinds the whole world to the moment of the attach, including anything other players did since.
Things that will NOT fix it
Re-uploading the world. It replaces everything and offers the same prompt again, and attaches nobody.
Creating a character with your old name. Names are not identities in Palworld, so you are still a new player outside the guild.
Renaming, copying or deleting
Playersfiles by hand. A re-keyed file loads for nobody, the server puts it back under its own ID on the next start, and deleting a living character's file makes the server crash on start.Detaching while keeping the world as it is. Undo always means rewinding to the pre-attach snapshot.
Need help?
Ping us on Discord or send a ticket from your dashboard. Include your server name and roughly when you attached.
