FiveM license key: where to get it and where to put it

🔑 FiveM license key: where to get it and where to put it

A FiveM server license key is generated for free on the Cfx.re Portal, portal.cfx.re, with your Cfx.re account. It goes in server.cfg on the sv_licenseKey line or, on ZentexNode, in the panel's Startup tab. Without it the server won't start.

If you came looking for the old Keymaster (keymaster.fivem.net): the official documentation now only points to the portal, where the key is called a "server registration key".

🧾 1. Generate the key on the Cfx.re Portal

Go to portal.cfx.re and sign in with your Cfx.re account, the same one you use on the forum. If you don't have one, it's free to create.
Open the server keys page: portal.cfx.re/servers/registration-keys.
Click the button to create a new key, type a name that helps you recognise it and confirm with Generate.
The key shows up in your list. Copy all of it: it starts with cfxk_.

Three things worth knowing:

The form only asks for that name, and it's for you: it tells your keys apart in the list.
Each account can have up to three active keys.
Treat it like a password. If it leaks, for example when you share your server.cfg, go back to the same page, select that key and choose Regenerate. Then you have to change it on the server too.

⚙️ 2. Put the key on your server

On ZentexNode there is no file to edit. In the panel, open the Startup tab, find the FIVEM_LICENSE variable and paste the key there before you start the server. If you change it later, restart for it to apply.

If you run the server yourself, the key goes in server.cfg:

sv_licenseKey "cfxk_your_key"

And if you deploy a template from txAdmin, the wizard asks for it in one of its steps.

🖥️ 3. Log in to txAdmin

txAdmin is FiveM's admin panel and it comes included with your server. Your server has five ports: the main one is the game port, the one players join through, and txAdmin uses one of the additional ones, the one shown in the TXADMIN_PORT variable on the Startup tab.

Start the server from the Console tab. You'll see a txAdmin box with a 4-digit PIN.
Open http://YOUR-ADDRESS:TXADMIN-PORT in your browser. It's http, not https.
Enter the PIN, link your Cfx.re account and create the backup password.

The full walkthrough, with the most common snags, is in how to install FiveM with txAdmin on ZentexNode.

📋 4. Basic setup

The txAdmin wizard asks for the server name and how you want to set it up:

Popular Recipes: a ready-made base, from the basic FiveM server to a full roleplay framework such as ESX or QBCore. Frameworks need a MySQL database: it's included, and you create it from the panel's Databases tab.
Existing Server Data: if you already have your server built and have uploaded it.

Before you start it, check the endpoint_add_tcp and endpoint_add_udp lines in server.cfg: templates ship with port 30120 and you need to put your main port there, or nobody will be able to join.

Once the server is running, txAdmin is where you handle scheduled restarts, admins and the live console. If you still don't know which framework to pick or how much RAM you need, we cover it in how to make a FiveM server from scratch.

🌐 5. Connect

Open FiveM, press F8 and type connect YOUR-ADDRESS:YOUR-MAIN-PORT. That's the address to give your players.

🚨 If the server rejects the key

Check that the whole key is pasted in FIVEM_LICENSE, with no spaces before or after it, and restart.
If you regenerated it on the portal, paste the new one: the server's configuration doesn't update by itself.
If the portal won't let you create another one, check whether you already have three active.

💡 Next steps

With the server up, the next thing is adding scripts, maps, vehicles and jobs. That's in how to install resources and scripts on FiveM.

Getting Started with FiveM: License and Basic Setup