diff --git a/commands/server.go b/commands/server.go
index a1605e97cf1..ff8fe4cd294 100644
--- a/commands/server.go
+++ b/commands/server.go
@@ -168,6 +168,14 @@ func (sc *serverCmd) server(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 			c.Set("watch", true)
 		}
 
+		// TODO(bep) see issue 9901
+		// cfgInit is called twice, before and after the languages have been initialized.
+		// The servers (below) can not be initialized before we
+		// know if we're configured in a multihost setup.
+		if len(c.languages) == 0 {
+			return nil
+		}
+
 		// We can only do this once.
 		serverCfgInit.Do(func() {
 			c.serverPorts = make([]serverPortListener, 1)
diff --git a/commands/server_test.go b/commands/server_test.go
index c2aa0dfd5d7..0e4c855da95 100644
--- a/commands/server_test.go
+++ b/commands/server_test.go
@@ -96,29 +96,47 @@ func TestServerBugs(t *testing.T) {
 
 	for _, test := range []struct {
 		name   string
+		config string
 		flag   string
 		assert func(c *qt.C, r serverTestResult)
 	}{
 		// Issue 9788
-		{"PostProcess, memory", "", func(c *qt.C, r serverTestResult) {
+		{"PostProcess, memory", "", "", func(c *qt.C, r serverTestResult) {
 			c.Assert(r.err, qt.IsNil)
 			c.Assert(r.homeContent, qt.Contains, "PostProcess: /foo.min.css")
 		}},
-		{"PostProcess, disk", "--renderToDisk", func(c *qt.C, r serverTestResult) {
+		{"PostProcess, disk", "", "--renderToDisk", func(c *qt.C, r serverTestResult) {
 			c.Assert(r.err, qt.IsNil)
 			c.Assert(r.homeContent, qt.Contains, "PostProcess: /foo.min.css")
 		}},
+		// Isue 9901
+		{"Multihost", `
+defaultContentLanguage = 'en'
+[languages]
+[languages.en]
+baseURL = 'https://example.com'
+title = 'My blog'
+weight = 1
+[languages.fr]
+baseURL = 'https://example.fr'
+title = 'Mon blogue'
+weight = 2
+`, "", func(c *qt.C, r serverTestResult) {
+			c.Assert(r.err, qt.IsNil)
+		}},
 	} {
 		c.Run(test.name, func(c *qt.C) {
-			config := `
+			if test.config == "" {
+				test.config = `
 baseURL="https://example.org"
 `
+			}
 
 			var args []string
 			if test.flag != "" {
 				args = strings.Split(test.flag, "=")
 			}
-			r := runServerTest(c, true, config, args...)
+			r := runServerTest(c, true, test.config, args...)
 			test.assert(c, r)
 
 		})