How to Set Up an MTA:SA Server on a Windows VPS from Scratch

Connect to the VPS via RDP using the credentials from provisioning. Open PowerShell as administrator and create the folder structure:

New-Item -Path "C:\MTAServer" -ItemType Directory
Set-Location "C:\MTAServer"

Keeping the server out of C:\Program Files\ avoids UAC permission issues when the process tries to write logs and script caches.

Download the stable 1.6 package straight from the official site using PowerShell:

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://linux.mtasa.com/dl/multitheftauto_linux_x64.tar.gz" -OutFile "mta.tar.gz"

For Windows, the official installer is at https://mtasa.com/. Download it via browser on the VPS itself and extract the contents into C:\MTAServer. The Windows installer adjusts environment variables and creates the server/, mods/deathmatch/, and MTA Server.exe layout.

Verify the expected final structure:

C:\MTAServer\
  ├── MTA Server.exe
  ├── server\
  │   └── mods\
  │       └── deathmatch\
  │           ├── mtaserver.conf
  │           ├── acl.xml
  │           └── resources\
  └── x64\

If the resources folder is missing, the server boots but loads no gamemode — clients connect and stare at an empty map.

Open C:\MTAServer\server\mods\deathmatch\mtaserver.conf in Notepad++ (do not use plain Notepad — it mangles encoding on files with non-ASCII characters). Adjust the essential blocks:

<servername>My Hostini Server</servername>
<serverip>auto</serverip>
<serverport>22003</serverport>
<httpport>22005</httpport>
<maxplayers>32</maxplayers>
<ase>1</ase>
<donotbroadcastlan>0</donotbroadcastlan>

<ase>1</ase> is what registers your server on the public list via UDP 22126. Without it, no one finds you even with everything else configured correctly.

Configure the resources that start at boot. Find the <resource ... /> block and adjust it for the standard freeroam setup:

<resource src="freeroam" startup="1" protected="0" />
<resource src="admin" startup="1" protected="0" />
<resource src="parachute" startup="1" protected="0" />

These three cover the minimum functional setup: player spawn, the admin web panel on the HTTP port, and a parachute item. You can evolve later to race, official deathmatch, or a custom gamemode.

Open PowerShell as administrator and create the firewall rules:

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "MTA Server Game" -Direction Inbound `
  -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 22003 -Action Allow

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "MTA Server ASE" -Direction Inbound `
  -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 22126 -Action Allow

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "MTA Server HTTP" -Direction Inbound `
  -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 22005 -Action Allow

Port 22003 carries gameplay traffic (position sync, RPC calls between client and server). Port 22126 is the ASE — Anti-cheat Stats Exchange, used by the MTA master server to ping yours and list it publicly. Port 22005 TCP is the internal HTTP server that delivers downloadable client-side scripts during the handshake.

Confirm the rules are active:

Get-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "MTA Server*" | Format-Table DisplayName, Enabled, Direction, Action

Expected output: three rows with Enabled True and Action Allow. If any show False, run Set-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "MTA Server Game" -Enabled True.

Run the server for the first time directly through the binary:

Set-Location "C:\MTAServer"
.\"MTA Server.exe"

You will see the console open with the boot log. The critical lines are Resource 'freeroam' loaded, Networking started on port 22003, and ASE service started. If you see WARNING: Resource failed to load, note the name — a file is corrupt or missing.

Create the admin account directly in the server console. Type:

addaccount admin StrongPassHere123
aclrequest list admin

The first command creates the user; the second binds it to the Admin group defined in acl.xml. Without this, even after logging in you cannot run privileged in-game commands.

From your local machine, open the MTA:SA client and try connecting directly by IP. In the main menu, go to Quick Connect and enter:

your-vps-ip:22003

If you connect and spawn, the server is operational. In parallel, wait 5–10 minutes and look for the server name under the Internet tab — that’s the typical lag for the master server to propagate.