Symptoms: The Steve/Alex skin shows up, skins do not load, custom skins are invisible

Possible Causes

  • The Mojang skin API does not work on online-mode=false servers
  • SkinsRestorer or a similar skin plugin is not installed
  • Mojang API servers are temporarily unreachable
  • A firewall is blocking access to the Mojang API

Step-by-Step Fix

Step 1

If you run online-mode=false, install the SkinsRestorer plugin

bash
/plugins

Step 2

Download SkinsRestorer from SpigotMC, put it in the plugins folder and restart the server

Step 3

Set the player's skin manually

bash
/skin set <player> <skin_name>

Step 4

Test access to the Mojang API

bash
curl -s https://sessionserver.mojang.com/session/minecraft/profile/test

Step 5

If you use BungeeCord/Velocity, install SkinsRestorer on the proxy side as well