# Players cannot join

> Your server is online, you can join, and a friend gets Failed to login: Invalid session or Failed to verify username and never gets in. The console shows...

Source: https://fadehost.com/docs/players-cannot-join/

Your server is online, you can join, and a friend gets **Failed to login: Invalid
session** or **Failed to verify username** and never gets in. The console shows
nothing useful: on new versions one line saying the account could not be
verified, on old versions only a lost connection.

## What is happening

A Minecraft server in **online mode** asks Mojang to verify every account at
login. A launcher without a Microsoft login (a "cracked" or offline launcher, or
a player who is not signed in) cannot pass that check, so the server drops the
login before the player ever loads the world.

FadeHost watches for those dropped logins. After a few of them in ten minutes
the server page shows a **Players could not log in** banner with the names it
saw, and the owner gets one alert a day if [alerts](/docs/alerts/) are set up.

## The two fixes

Both are one button on the banner and restart a running server:

- **[Login protection](/docs/login-protection/)** (every server): the door in front of your server lets
  those players register a password and log in with it, while everyone with a
  Microsoft login keeps logging in as usual and the server stays in online mode. Names stay safe from impersonation. This is the same
  switch as **Settings → Login protection**.
- **Switch to offline mode** (paid servers): switches the account check off
  entirely, so anyone can join under any name. Only do this on a whitelisted or
  private server. This is the same switch as **Settings → Game → Online mode**.

Free and trial servers stay in online mode, so they get the login protection
button only.

If that is not the problem, **Dismiss for a week** hides the banner; it comes back if new
dropped logins keep arriving after that.