diff --git a/overlay.d/05core/usr/lib/systemd/system.conf.d/10-coreos-nocolor.conf b/overlay.d/05core/usr/lib/systemd/system.conf.d/10-coreos-nocolor.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e750ac813c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/overlay.d/05core/usr/lib/systemd/system.conf.d/10-coreos-nocolor.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# We deploy on servers.  The ANSI colors codes in the console
+# output often end up in e.g. log files where they both
+# make the logs hard to read *and* they make log files
+# invalid UTF-8.
+[Manager]
+LogColor=false