Failed to verify username, Invalid session and Bad login errors

When a player is kicked with Failed to verify username!, Failed to log in: Invalid session (Try restarting your game and the launcher) or Bad login, the server could not confirm their Minecraft account with Mojang's login servers. Your server is working; the problem is the player's login or how your server's login mode is set up.

Why it happens

• The player's login session expired. Launchers keep a login token that can go stale, especially after the game has been open for a long time or the player switched accounts.

• The player uses a non-premium (cracked) launcher. Your server has online-mode=true, which only lets in players who own Minecraft Java Edition and are logged in to a real account.

• A proxy network is set up wrong. On Velocity or BungeeCord, the proxy does the login check, and the servers behind it must be set up for that.

• Mojang's login service is having a problem. Then everyone gets the error at once, often with "Authentication servers are down".

How to fix it

1. If only one player gets the error

1. Fully close Minecraft and the launcher, then open them again.

2. If that doesn't help, log out of the account in the official launcher and log back in.

3. Make sure they are using the official launcher or a launcher that logs in with a real Microsoft account.

2. If the player doesn't own Minecraft

With online-mode=true they cannot join. That is the safe default. You can switch the server to offline mode, but then anyone can join with any name, including yours, so you must add a login plugin. Read How to enable offline (cracked) mode and SkinsRestorer and login plugins first.

3. If you run a proxy (Velocity or BungeeCord)

• The proxy should have online mode on.

• The servers behind the proxy need online-mode=false in server.properties, plus player forwarding switched on. On Paper with Velocity that is the proxies.velocity section in config/paper-global.yml with the same secret as the proxy. With BungeeCord it is bungeecord: true in spigot.yml.

• Players must join through the proxy's address, not the backend servers directly.

Full setup: Velocity and BungeeCord proxy network.

4. If every player gets it at once

Mojang's login servers may be down. Wait a while and try again. Don't switch to offline mode just for this, because it opens your server to anyone.

A different kick: "You are not whitelisted on this server"

This is not a login failure. New Endercloud Minecraft servers start with the whitelist turned on (white-list=true in server.properties), so only listed players can join. Add each player with whitelist add PlayerName in the Console, or from the Players tab, and they can join straight away. If you want anyone to join, run whitelist off. See Whitelist, OP and ban players.

Frequently asked questions