diff --git a/doc/admin-guide/tools/converting-records-to-yaml.en.rst b/doc/admin-guide/tools/converting-records-to-yaml.en.rst
index 629db4551e0..14e5fb89e25 100644
--- a/doc/admin-guide/tools/converting-records-to-yaml.en.rst
+++ b/doc/admin-guide/tools/converting-records-to-yaml.en.rst
@@ -242,16 +242,14 @@ Now the records parser knows the type of the non core records.
 Final Notes
 ===========
 
-Internally ATS still uses the record style names, querying any record can still
+Internally ATS still uses variables with record style names, querying any record can still
 be done as usual. Either by using the ATS API or by using :program:`traffic_ctl`.
 
 
-This implementation will only accept a ``records.yaml`` config file, if not found the
-defaults will be used. If a ``record.config`` file is found in the config directory
-a warning will be shown, the legacy file should be removed.
-This is done to avoid someone having the legacy file thinking it is the current one.
+ATS only accepts a :file:`records.yaml` config file, if a legacy file ``records.config`` is found
+then ATS will fail to start.
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
-   traffic_server WARNING: Found a legacy config file. /home/to/ats/config/records.config
+   traffic_server WARNING: **** Found a legacy config file (/your/ats/records.config). Please remove it and migrate to the new YAML format before continuing. ****
 
diff --git a/src/records/RecCore.cc b/src/records/RecCore.cc
index 3b1609a64f6..a62e2560c63 100644
--- a/src/records/RecCore.cc
+++ b/src/records/RecCore.cc
@@ -223,12 +223,13 @@ RecCoreInit(RecModeT mode_type, Diags *_diags)
 
     g_rec_config_fpath = ats_stringdup(RecConfigReadConfigPath(nullptr, ts::filename::RECORDS));
 
-    // Make sure there is no legacy file, if so we fail. This is to avoid issues with someone not knowing
-    // that we now are using records.yaml
+    // Make sure there is no legacy file, if so we drop a BIG WARNING and fail.
+    // This is to avoid issues with someone ignoring that we now use records.yaml
     ts::file::path old_config{RecConfigReadConfigPath(nullptr, "records.config")};
     if (ts::file::exists(old_config)) {
-      RecLog(DL_Warning, "Found a legacy config file. %s", old_config.c_str());
-      return REC_ERR_FAIL;
+      RecLog(DL_Fatal,
+             "**** Found a legacy config file (%s). Please remove it and migrate to the new YAML format before continuing. ****",
+             old_config.c_str());
     }
 
     if (RecFileExists(g_rec_config_fpath) == REC_ERR_FAIL) {
diff --git a/tests/gold_tests/records/old_config_fail.test.py b/tests/gold_tests/records/old_config_fail.test.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 66ffa6a188d..00000000000
--- a/tests/gold_tests/records/old_config_fail.test.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-'''
-'''
-#  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
-#  or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
-#  distributed with this work for additional information
-#  regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
-#  to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
-#  "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
-#  with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-#  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-#  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-#  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-#  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-#  limitations under the License.
-
-Test.Summary = 'Test old config ATS startup'
-
-ts = Test.MakeATSProcess("ts")
-ts.Disk.MakeConfigFile('records.config').AddLine('dummy file!')
-
-
-tr = Test.AddTestRun("Start ATS with both, new(yaml) and legacy records config")
-tr.Processes.Default.Command = 'echo 1'
-tr.Processes.Default.ReturnCode = 0
-tr.Processes.Default.StartBefore(ts)
-
-ts.Disk.traffic_out.Content = Testers.ContainsExpression(
-    "WARNING: Found a legacy config file",
-    "It should fail when legacy config is found.")