Install a CurseForge modpack on a Minecraft server

The Modpacks tab can search CurseForge, fetch the pack's server files and install them on your server, so nothing has to pass through your own computer. The install reinstalls the server, and your current world is replaced unless you choose to keep it.

Checked against SkyFactory 5 5.0.8 (Minecraft 1.20.1, Forge) on CurseForge and our installer, October 2026.

How the tab installs a CurseForge pack

CurseForge asks pack authors to attach a server pack to the main file as an "Additional File". The installer looks for that first. Newest that fits your server takes the newest file on the channel picked beside it, Stable to start with, whether it has a server pack or not. When the file has none, the install window says "This version has no server pack, so the server is built from the pack's mod list. Mods that only run on players' computers are turned off."

• A file with a server pack: the installer downloads that file and unpacks it onto the server.
• A file without one: the installer takes the pack's client export, reads its mod list and downloads each mod from CurseForge, or the identical file from Modrinth. It leaves out resource packs and shaders, and downloads client-only mods too, then turns them off as below.
• Mods that only run on players' computers: after either route, the install turns them off by adding .disabled to their file names, unless a mod that stays on needs them. It goes by Modrinth's record of each mod, CurseForge's own client-only tag on a mod in the pack's list, a Fabric or Quilt mod's own setting and a list of known client mods such as Sodium and Iris, and when it turns any off, the console says how many. Modrinth's record or CurseForge's tag alone never turns off a mod that ships server content such as recipes or world generation. Mods > Installed lists them with a Disabled badge and an Enable button. On Forge packs for Minecraft 1.8 to 1.12.2, Forge skips most client mods by itself, and the install turns off only the ones on a short known list: on MC Eternal (1.12.2), PackModeMenu.
• Mods that only CurseForge's own site may hand out: where our updated Minecraft installer is enabled, the install window lists them and asks you to drop the files in. Without it, the missing-mods panel on the tab lists them after the install. Modpack mods to download from CurseForge covers that step.

Install a pack

Steps marked "(updated installer only)" appear only where our updated Minecraft installer is enabled. Without it, the window has no version dropdown and no Keep my world, settings and player lists box. The newest file that fits your server is installed and the pack's world replaces yours. If the chips above the search box show only Modrinth and CurseForge, with no Feed The Beast, the installer is not enabled for your account yet and you can contact support to ask.

1. Open your server and choose Modpacks under Content in the left rail.
2. Choose the CurseForge chip above the search box.
3. Search for the pack by name. Results come back most popular first. The filters beside the search box belong to Modrinth, so they do not narrow a CurseForge search.
4. Press Install on the pack. A window titled "Install" followed by the pack's name opens.
5. (Updated installer only.) Leave the version dropdown on "Newest that fits your server", or pick another file. A second dropdown, which starts on Stable, picks the release channel: Stable lists release files only, Beta adds beta files and Alpha lists every file. When the pack has files for more than one Minecraft version, another dropdown, which starts on Every Minecraft version, narrows the list to one of them.
6. (Updated installer only.) Choose what happens to your world. Ticked, Keep my world, settings and player lists keeps them. Unticked, the pack's world replaces yours.
7. Leave Take a backup first ticked, which is the default. If the backup can't start, nothing is changed: the window stays open with "The backup didn't start, so nothing was changed" and the reason, such as every backup slot holding a protected backup or the game panel's limit on backups in 10 minutes. Delete a backup or remove protection from one on the Backups tab, wait as long as it says, or untick the box.
8. Tick Start the server when it's ready if you want it to boot by itself. With the updated installer, ticking it also shows I agree to the Minecraft EULA if this server has not accepted it yet. Without the installer, leave it unticked and press Start on the Console afterwards, where the panel asks.
9. Hold the Hold to Install and reinstall button until it completes.

The install writes the pack's Minecraft version and loader (those of the file you picked, if you chose one) to the server and picks the matching Java, so you do not need to visit JAR Manager first. Follow it in the Console, then press Start.

Disk space and RAM

The installer downloads the pack onto your plan's disk next to your current files, then unpacks it. A pack that does not fit stops with "Couldn't download the server pack" and a note about free disk, and your files stay as they were. The Disk card on the Console shows how much you have used.

Check what RAM the pack's author recommends before you install. Your plan's RAM is fixed, so compare the two first. How much RAM does my Minecraft server need? explains the sizing, and the Minecraft plans page lists each plan.

When it says there is no server pack

The console prints "No CurseForge server pack available for this modpack" when CurseForge has no file for the version the install asked for. With the updated installer, try a different version in the dropdown. Otherwise install the author's own server files instead. Upload a custom modpack or server pack shows how.

With the updated installer, a stopped install shows "The last install didn't finish" with Show install log and Retry install. Without it there is no alert, so check the Console.

Moving to a newer pack version

With the updated installer, the pack's card on the Modpacks tab shows Update to with the version when the author publishes a newer file for your server's Minecraft version. It only offers a file newer than the one installed, on the same Minecraft version and loader. Press it: the window that opens has that file already picked in its version dropdown, Keep my world, settings and player lists ticked, and holding Update and reinstall installs the new version. Leave Take a backup first ticked. With nothing newer out, the card reads Up to date.

A pack installed before the panel update of 27 October 2026 with "Newest that fits your server" shows neither, because the panel did not record which file it took, and its button in the search results reads Installed and is grayed out. For one of those, take a backup, press Remove modpack, then install the newer version from the dropdown with Keep my world, settings and player lists ticked.