diff --git a/api/routes/serverRoutes.js b/api/routes/serverRoutes.js
index 809b0a7..b85d01c 100644
--- a/api/routes/serverRoutes.js
+++ b/api/routes/serverRoutes.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ const express = require('express');
 const router = express.Router();
 const serverUtils = require('../utils/serverUtils');
 const { Sema } = require('async-sema');
+const configUtils = require('../utils/configUtils');
 
 const consoleSema = new Sema(1);
 
@@ -81,8 +82,13 @@ router.put('/start', async (req, res) => {
         } 
         serverUtils.serverStatus = 2;
 
-        await serverUtils.startServerWithScript();
+        if( configUtils.getConfigAttribute("start_with_script") ){
+            await serverUtils.startServerWithScript();
+        }else{
+            await serverUtils.startServer();
+        }
         res.send('Server started.');
+        
     } catch (error) {
         serverUtils.serverStatus = 0;
         res.status(500).send(`Error starting server: ${error}`);
diff --git a/api/utils/configUtils.js b/api/utils/configUtils.js
index 2d31df0..3731897 100644
--- a/api/utils/configUtils.js
+++ b/api/utils/configUtils.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ const defaultConfig =  {
     "memory": "1024M",
     "platform": "vanilla",
     "version": "1.21.4",
+    "start_with_script": false,
     "mc_port": 25565,
     "api_port": 3001,
     "debug": false
@@ -55,6 +56,7 @@ function generateConfigFile(OS=os.type(),
                             memory="1024M",
                             platform="vanilla",
                             version="1.21.4",
+                            start_with_script=false,
                             mc_port=25565,
                             api_port=3001,
                             debug=false,
@@ -64,6 +66,7 @@ function generateConfigFile(OS=os.type(),
         memory: defaultConfig.memory,
         platform: defaultConfig.platform,
         version: defaultConfig.version,
+        start_with_script: defaultConfig.start_with_script,
         mc_port: defaultConfig.mc_port,
         api_port: defaultConfig.api_port,
         debug: defaultConfig.debug
diff --git a/api/utils/serverUtils.js b/api/utils/serverUtils.js
index 3f556d1..fc3647a 100644
--- a/api/utils/serverUtils.js
+++ b/api/utils/serverUtils.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ const fs = require('fs');
 const consts = require("../consts");
 const {freemem} = require('os');
 const {getConfigAttribute} = require("./configUtils");
+const path = require('path');
 
 let serverProcess = null;
 let serverStatus = 0;
@@ -306,7 +307,11 @@ async function startServerWithScript() {
     if(!validateMemory()){
         throw new Error("Not enough memory for server to run");
     }
-
+    try{
+        if (!fs.existsSync(path.join(consts.serverDirectory, 'start.sh'))) {
+                throw new Error("start.sh script not found in server directory\n If you don't intend on using a script, set start_server_with_script to false in server-config.json");
+        }
+    
     serverProcess = spawn('sh', ['start.sh'], {
         cwd: consts.serverDirectory,
         stdio: ['pipe', 'pipe', 'pipe'],
@@ -325,6 +330,11 @@ async function startServerWithScript() {
     serverProcess.on('close', (code) => {
         console.log(`Server process exited with code ${code}`);
     });
+
+
+    }catch(error){
+        throw new Error(error);
+    }
 }