Permission denied / AccessDeniedException
When Minecraft logs 'java.nio.file.AccessDeniedException' or 'Permission denied', the JVM tried to write a file it doesn't own. On Linux servers (which is most of them) this is almost always a file-ownership mismatch — usually after a manual SFTP upload, a backup restore from the wrong account, or a Docker container running as a non-root user opening a file written by root.
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How to fix it
- 1
Find the file the JVM failed on
The error usually names the path. Common targets: config/something.toml after a manual edit, world/playerdata/UUID.dat after a restore, mods/SomeMod.jar after an SFTP drop. That file (or its parent dir) has the wrong owner.
- 2
Contact support to re-chown if you're on hosted
On a hosted server you usually don't have shell access to chown files. Open a support ticket: 'Permission denied on path X — please chown to the Minecraft user'. Most hosts (us included) re-chown for free, takes 5 minutes.
- 3
On self-hosted: chown -R the server dir to the MC user
If you control the box: 'sudo chown -R minecraft:minecraft /opt/minecraft-server' (substitute your user/group + path). One command fixes the whole tree. Then restart the server.
- 4
Audit how the wrong file landed there
Once fixed, find out which workflow created the wrong ownership. Manual SFTP as root? A backup tool running as a different user? A cronjob restoring from the wrong account? Patch the workflow so it doesn't happen again — re-chown every week is not a fix.
Alternative causes
These can produce the same error message — worth ruling out if the steps above don't resolve it.
Read-only filesystem (rare, but happens after kernel panic)
If the underlying VM's filesystem went read-only (kernel detected corruption, IO errors, etc.), every write fails with 'Permission denied'. df -h still shows space free but mount shows ro. Fix is host-side: fsck + remount.
SELinux / AppArmor blocking the write
On distributions with mandatory access control (RHEL, Ubuntu Pro), an SELinux context mismatch can produce the same symptom. Check 'audit2allow' output. Less common on standard hosting; if you got here, you already know.
Frequently asked
Can a player cause Permission denied?
Indirectly — a player command that triggers a mod to write a new file (worldedit save, custom scoreboard backup) may fail if the target dir has wrong ownership. But the root cause is still ownership; the player just exposes it.
Why does this happen after restoring a backup?
Backup tools often run as root or a different user. When they unpack, the restored files own as whatever ran the unpack — usually NOT the Minecraft user. Chown after restore is a mandatory step.
Will running Minecraft as root fix it?
It will hide the symptom, but it's a terrible idea. A modded server running as root can be exploited to root-level RCE through a single bad mod. Fix the ownership instead.
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Last reviewed 2026-06-05. If a step is wrong or out of date, tell us — we'll fix the article and the auto-pattern at the same time.