Sea of Thieves beard errors (Lavenderbeard, Marblebeard, Baldbeard, Rhinobeard…): what each code means and Rare’s official fixes on PC and Xbox

Video: “Cosmetic Plans and Portal Hopping | Sea of Thieves Developer Update: September 3rd 2026”, official Sea of Thieves YouTube channel, published September 3, 2026 (3:00 PM Paris time, 9 min 05). It is a developer update about the game’s plans, not a troubleshooting video: the fixes below come from the official Sea of Thieves Support site. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-kvHduJcqk

In Sea of Thieves, Rare’s pirate adventure published by Xbox Game Studios, connection, licence and server problems show up as a “beard” error: Lavenderbeard, Marblebeard, Baldbeard, Rhinobeard and dozens more. Each name points to a different cause, and some simply mean you have to wait. Rare keeps an official list on Sea of Thieves Support; here is what each error means and what Rare tells you to do, grouped by type, with the PC steps detailed. Everything below comes from the Sea of Thieves Support pages and the Steam store page, read on November 12, 2026. Some of these pages are old (2023 to 2025): TricknFix has not tested the steps itself, and menu names are given as written by Rare.

• Write down the full name shown on screen (for example Lavenderbeard or Marblebeard): Rare’s “Beard Errors” page gives a cause and a fix for each one, and several names share the same explanation.

• Errors that are not on the list, or that persist after these steps, should go to Sea of Thieves Support through “Raise a support request” at the bottom of each support page.

• Sea of Thieves is sold on Steam, the Microsoft Store/Xbox app and Battle.net on PC, as well as on Xbox and PS5 (Rare has separate PS5 pages for some errors). This guide focuses on the steps Rare documents for PC and Xbox.

• Bluebeard: the servers are under maintenance; try again once the maintenance window is over.

• Coralbeard: a temporary server issue or maintenance; check for game updates and try again later.

• Daffodilbeard and Lapisbeard: “something has happened on our side”; check the game’s service status page, status.seaofthieves.com.

• Fishbeard and Greybeard: a server issue that Rare is working on; there is nothing to fix on your side.

• Fluffybeard: servers taken down for an update, or no playtest session running in your time zone.

• According to Rare, Lavenderbeard is mainly caused by server maintenance, but it can also come from firewall or antivirus updates blocking the game, ISP connection issues, or a game client that is out of sync with the server after a new version was deployed. Strawberrybeard has the same causes, plus external network issues.

• Out-of-date client: on Xbox, Rare suggests a hard reset of the console and re-downloading the game; on PC (Microsoft Store), download the latest updates from the Store.

• Steam version: open Windows Credential Manager (type Credential Manager in the Start menu), go to Windows Credentials, find the entries labelled Xbl_Ticket and remove those with 1717113201 in the name (804980065 for the Insider build), then sign back in to Sea of Thieves.

• Still blocked on Steam: unlink and relink your Xbox account to Steam, following Rare’s “Steam - How to link / unlink an Xbox Live account” article linked from the Lavenderbeard page.

• Microsoft Store and Steam: allow the Sea of Thieves executable through your firewall. The Lavenderbeard page (2024) also suggests unticking SSL 3.0 and making sure TLS 1.2 is ticked in the Advanced tab of Internet Options; it was written with Internet Explorer in mind, and TricknFix has not checked this step on Windows 11.

• Marblebeard: the game cannot talk to the server it is trying to join. Check your home network, including firewall and antivirus settings and your NAT type.

• Hazelnutbeard: something prevents your system from reaching the Sea of Thieves servers; check your internet connection and home network.

• Daisybeard and Lettucebeard: problems connecting to Rare’s services; relaunch the game and try again.

• Obsidianbeard: the connection to the game servers dropped; re-enter the lobby, and if it persists, create a new crew.

• Alabasterbeard, Allmondbeard and Cyanbeard: the connection to Xbox network and/or Sea of Thieves services was lost; on console, check Settings > Network.

• Baldbeard, Otterbeard and Ferretbeard: the game cannot find an active licence. This can happen if Steam is in offline mode, if your Xbox Game Pass subscription has recently ended, or if you are not signed in to the Microsoft Store with the account that owns the game. Rare suggests opening the Xbox app, which may show an error with your Store account and offer to fix it, and points to Xbox Support help (Gaming Services Repair Tool for PC, gaming issues with the Xbox app).

• Llamabeard and Pepperbeard: make sure you are logged in to the Steam account that owns the game (contact Steam support to confirm ownership). For Llamabeard, Rare adds that you must launch the game from your Steam library, not from the .exe.

• Vicuñabeard: the game cannot communicate with the Steam API; check whether Steam is under maintenance.

• Weaselbeard: the game cannot reach the Microsoft Store to verify your purchase; wait five minutes and try again, then contact support if it persists.

• Erminebeard, Stoatbeard, Muskratbeard and Foxbeard: a problem with the Microsoft Store licence on your account; contact Sea of Thieves support.

• Beigebeard and Lightbeigebeard: you do not have the latest version of the game; check for updates.

• Rhinobeard: a corruption issue with your installation files. Rare links to its guide for the “missing or corrupt data file” error.

• If the error always names the same file (Rare’s example: Core_9ef849ee), on Steam: right-click Sea of Thieves > Properties > Local Files > Browse Local Files, go to Athena > Content > Paks, delete that file, then run “Verify Integrity of Local Game Files” and restart the game.

• Antivirus: whitelist the game. For the Microsoft Store version, Rare explains how to find the install folder with the PowerShell command Get-AppxPackage *SeaOfThieves*, then whitelist SotGame.exe in Binaries > UWP64; this has to be redone after each game update if your antivirus conflicts with the game.

• Rare also lists other causes of corruption: an unstable overclock (go back to stock CPU and memory settings, then do a full reinstall), an out-of-date Windows, buggy drivers (update them, or roll back if the problem started recently), software that injects itself into every process, and failing hard drives or SSDs.

• Minkbeard: your PC clock is too far out of sync with the servers. Type “date” in the Start menu, open Date & Time settings and click “Sync now” under Additional settings.

• Passionfruitbeard: restart Windows and disable third-party applications running in the background.

• Ashbeard: you must be signed in to the Xbox network; check that your status is connected, sign in and try again.

• Avocadobeard: on Xbox One, playing online requires an Xbox Game Pass Core membership.

• Kiwibeard: either no play session is running, or more than one gamertag is signed in on the console; sign out all other accounts.

• Cinnamonbeard and Bronzebeard (Xbox): quit the game from the Guide menu (Menu button > Quit), relaunch it and join a game again.

• Lazybeard: you were removed from the session for inactivity. Denimbeard: you are not signed up to the Insider programme, or were removed from it.

• Yellowbeard: a temporary suspension for a breach of the Code of Conduct or Terms of Service, normally lasting a few days depending on the offence.

• Redbeard: a permanent ban for a serious breach of the Code of Conduct or Terms of Service. No technical fix applies to either error.

• 64-bit Windows 10 version 18362.0 or later, Intel i3 4170 @ 3.7 GHz or AMD FX-6300 @ 3.5 GHz, 8 GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon R9 270, DirectX 11, broadband internet connection and 100 GB of free space.

• The Steam page lists Windows 10; Windows 11 is not mentioned separately.

• Sea of Thieves Support (Rare), “Beard Errors” (last updated May 22, 2025): https://support.seaofthieves.com/articles/115005299167-Beard-Errors

• Sea of Thieves Support, official French version of the same page, “Erreurs de barbes” (last updated May 22, 2025): https://support.seaofthieves.com/fr/articles/115005299167-Beard-Errors

• Sea of Thieves Support, “Lavenderbeard error” (last updated July 24, 2024): https://support.seaofthieves.com/articles/360000792028

• Sea of Thieves Support, “Troubleshooting error: ‘There is a missing or corrupt data file that is required for the game to run’” (linked for Rhinobeard via aka.ms/SotDataCorruption, last updated June 23, 2023): https://support.seaofthieves.com/articles/360016232274-Troubleshooting-error-There-is-a-missing-or-corrupt-data-file-that-is-required-for-the-game-to-run-

• Sea of Thieves service status page (linked from the Beard Errors page): https://status.seaofthieves.com/

• Steam store page, Sea of Thieves (app 1172620: Rare Ltd / Xbox Game Studios, on Steam since June 3, 2020, minimum PC specs): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1172620/