Resxt thank you for your response, you’re right about me over complicating it. Haven’t done anything like this before.
Thanks again, I’ll give this a go tonight!

Hi,

I'm trying to set up a Plutonium IW5 (Modern Warfare 3) dedicated server on Windows 11 to play Bot Warfare locally, ideally with persistent XP, weapon levels and unlocks.

Every time I launch the dedicated server, I receive this error almost immediately:

Could not authenticate to Plutonium: non-success status code: 401

My setup:

Plutonium Core: r5369

Launcher: 3.0.0

Server directory: E:\gameserver\IW5

Server port: 27017

Server configuration: admin/server.cfg

Normal Plutonium IW5 multiplayer works and I'm signed into my account.

Troubleshooting already completed:

Generated a new server key registered for iw5mp.

Confirmed the key matches the one in my batch file.

Confirmed the MW3 game files and executable are present.

Checked Windows Firewall.

Tested with TotalAV WebShield temporarily disabled.

Tried launching with -dedicated -lan, both without a key and with +set key "Notneeded".

Confirmed the dedicated server and normal Plutonium client both use Core r5369.

All configurations produce the same 401 error.

My current LAN launch command is:

bin\plutonium-bootstrapper-win32.exe iw5mp "%gamepath%" -dedicated -lan +set key "Notneeded" +set fs_game %mod% +set sv_config %cfg% +net_port %port% +start_map_rotate

Is there a known authentication issue with IW5 dedicated servers on r5369, or something incorrect in my setup?

I'd also appreciate clarification on whether a LAN dedicated server can save player XP and unlock progression between sessions.

Thanks!