diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c0aa8b39..31644d7c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -790,10 +790,11 @@ To whitelist players for your Minecraft server, pass the Minecraft usernames sep
 
 If the `WHITELIST` environment variable is not used, any user can join your Minecraft server if it's publicly accessible.
 
-> NOTE: When `WHITELIST` is used the server property `white-list` will automatically get set to `true`.
+> NOTE: When `WHITELIST` is used the server properties `white-list` and `whitelist` will automatically get set to `true`.
 
 > By default, the players in `WHITELIST` are **added** to the final `whitelist.json` file by the Minecraft server. If you set `OVERRIDE_WHITELIST` to "true" then the `whitelist.json` file will be recreated on each server startup.
 
+Alternatively, you can set `ENABLE_WHITELIST=true` to only set the server properties `white-list` and `whitelist` without modifying the whitelist file. In this case the whitelist is solely managed using the `whitelist add` and `whitelist remove` commands.
 ### Op/Administrator Players
 
 To add more "op" (aka adminstrator) users to your Minecraft server, pass the Minecraft usernames separated by commas via the `OPS` environment variable, such as
@@ -1048,6 +1049,7 @@ Allows users to use flight on your server while in Survival mode, if they have a
 | PREVENT_PROXY_CONNECTIONS         | prevent-proxy-connections         |
 | USE_NATIVE_TRANSPORT              | use-native-transport              |
 | ENFORCE_WHITELIST                 | enforce-whitelist                 |
+| ENABLE_WHITELIST                  | white-list and whitelist          |
 
 ## Miscellaneous Options
 
diff --git a/start-finalSetupServerProperties b/start-finalSetupServerProperties
index 382ff5bd..1f8fe822 100644
--- a/start-finalSetupServerProperties
+++ b/start-finalSetupServerProperties
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ function setServerProp {
 }
 
 function customizeServerProps {
-  if [ -n "$WHITELIST" ]; then
+  if [ -n "$WHITELIST" ] || isTrue ${ENABLE_WHITELIST:-false}; then
     log "Creating whitelist"
     setServerProp "whitelist" "true"
     setServerProp "white-list" "true"