⚠️ Failed to log in: The authentication servers are currently down for maintenance on Java 8 (≤1.16.5)

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On 3 October 2025, 14:00 UTC the TLS certificate for sessionserver.mojang.com has been changed, causing the “The authentication servers are currently down for maintenance” error on all Minecraft versions up to 1.16.5 (Java 8).

The root cause is that Java 8 (before 8u91) default trust store lacks the DigiCert Global Root G2 that now anchors *.mojang.com (issued by Microsoft Azure RSA TLS Issuing CA 04).

Mojangs may fix this by switching back to a root bundled with Java 8.

As a temporary fix - users can tell the JVM to use trust store that includes DigiCert Global Root G2.

🔧 BUILD

If you'd like to build your own trust store, run the build.ps1 script. You'll find fresh trust store at build\mojang-trust.jks.

✅ FIX

1. Download this trust store that includes DigiCert Global Root G2

2. Add the following JVM arguments in whatever launcher you use:

-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore="C:\mojang-trust.jks" -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword=changeit -Djdk.tls.client.protocols=TLSv1.2

Simply save the file above on disk C:\ as I did and use exactly same JVM arguments or update the file path to where you saved it.