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You need to agree to the EULA

Every Minecraft server must accept Mojang's End User License Agreement before it will run. On first boot the server writes eula.txt with eula=false and exits. Nothing is broken — the server is asking for a legal acknowledgement you can only give deliberately.

Fastest path: paste your crash report into the Crash Doctor — it identifies this pattern and 40+ others automatically. No signup.

How to fix it

  1. 1

    Accept the EULA

    On CoalHosting the Settings page has the toggle. Manually: open eula.txt in the server root, change eula=false to eula=true, save. This constitutes accepting Mojang's EULA — read it if you haven't.

  2. 2

    Restart

    The next boot proceeds normally. EULA acceptance is one-time per server directory.

  3. 3

    If eula=true keeps reverting

    Something is rewriting the file: a provisioning script re-running, a read-only mount, or file-permission damage. Fix the writer, not the file — set it once more and watch.

Alternative causes

These can produce the same error message — worth ruling out if the steps above don't resolve it.

Migrated server, fresh directory

Copying worlds and mods but not the hidden eula.txt means the new directory asks again. Accept once and you're done — worlds don't carry EULA state.

Frequently asked

Is accepting the EULA required?

Yes — it is the legal condition for running Minecraft server software, whether free or paid hosting. There is no technical or legitimate way around it.

Why does my server write eula.txt by itself?

First boot generates it with eula=false as the acknowledgement prompt. It is the server's design, not an error.

Want this auto-fixed on your server?

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Last reviewed 2026-09-06. If a step is wrong or out of date, tell us — we'll fix the article and the auto-pattern at the same time.