Install a Minecraft modpack on your server

The Modpacks tab in your server panel installs a whole pack in one go: its mod loader, mods and configs, with the Minecraft version and Java set to match. It finds packs on Modrinth, CurseForge, Feed The Beast and Technic, and installs a pack file you upload yourself. An install reinstalls the server, so back up first.

Before you start

1. Take a backup. The install window ticks Take a backup first for you, and saves it in Backups as a protected Pre-switch backup. Only the newest install backup stays protected: the next one lifts the protection from the earlier ones, so installs in a row don't fill your slots. Backups you protected yourself keep their slot, and so does an install backup protected before 27 October 2026 until it is a week old, so once every slot holds one of those, unprotect one (then delete it if you don't need it) before the next install. How to create and restore backups covers restoring it.

   

2. Check the pack fits your plan. Big packs need far more RAM than a plain server: see each pack's page on modded Minecraft hosting, or How much RAM does my Minecraft server need? for other packs.

3. Warn your players. The server is offline while the pack installs.

Install a pack from the Modpacks tab

1. Open your server in the dashboard and go to Modpacks, under Content in the left rail.
2. Pick where the pack lives with the buttons above the search box: Modrinth, CurseForge, Feed The Beast or Technic.
3. Type the pack's name into Search modpacks…. On Modrinth, Add filter narrows by Game version, Loader and Category. Once your server runs a known version, the tab adds a Game version filter for it (and Loader on a modded server), so if a pack is missing, remove those filters.
4. Check the version and loader badges on the pack's card, then press Install.
5. In the window, pick a Pack version (it starts on Newest that fits your server) and the options you want:
   • Take a backup first, ticked to start with.
   • Keep my world, settings and player lists, to keep your world, server.properties, whitelist and operators. If the pack runs an older Minecraft version than your world, this option is missing: the window says the pack starts a fresh world and your current one goes into the backup.
   • Keep a copy of my current server to switch back to later, which saves the old server under Your packs.
   • Start the server when it's ready.
6. Press and hold Hold to Install and reinstall for three seconds, until it fills.
7. Wait while the Console shows Installing and the progress below it, which can take a few minutes. Start stays grayed out until it finishes.
8. Press Start (unless you ticked the start option). If Accept the Minecraft EULA appears, read the EULA and press Accept & start. Modpacks boot slowly: the server is ready when the Console shows Done (…s)! For help, type "help".

Which source to use

Each source has its own guide for the parts that differ.

• Modrinth. The only source with filters beside the search box. With our updated installer, its install window, like the CurseForge and Feed The Beast ones, has a release channel dropdown of Stable, Beta or Alpha.
• CurseForge. The tab installs a pack's server pack, or builds the server from the pack's mod list when the file you install has none. Newest that fits your server takes the newest file whether it has a server pack or not, and the window says when it has none. Some mods can only be downloaded from CurseForge's own site: the window lists them and you drop each download in. See Install a CurseForge modpack on your server and Modpack mods to download from CurseForge.
• Feed The Beast. Type at least three letters of the pack's name. See Install an FTB modpack on your server.
• Technic. See the next section.
• Your own pack. The Install your own pack card takes a .mrpack or a server-pack .zip. See Upload a custom modpack or server pack, and Turn a client modpack into a server pack if you only have the client files.

Technic packs

The Technic source lists Technic's own packs, such as Tekkit, Hexxit and Voltz, before you type, and searches the rest by name. It installs the server download the pack's author posts on Technic, so a pack without one shows No server download instead of Install. Technic packs have no Pack version list: the tab installs the build the author's server download carries.

Many Technic packs run old Minecraft versions, and each pack guide covers its quirks: Tekkit and Tekxit, Voltz, Big Dig, Blightfall and Attack of the B-Team.

After the install

If you didn't keep your world, settings and player lists, the install cleared your operators and whitelist. Re-add them with Minecraft whitelist: add players, set ops.

Update the modpack

On a Modrinth, CurseForge or Feed The Beast pack, the card for the installed pack at the top of the tab shows Update to and the newer version when one fits your server's Minecraft version, or Up to date. A CurseForge or Feed The Beast 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 build it took. A Technic pack or a pack you uploaded never shows either.

1. Take a backup. Keep Take a backup first ticked in the next step. A big update can break an older world.
2. Press Update to …. The window keeps your world, settings and player lists unless you untick that option. Press and hold Hold to Update and reinstall.
3. When the install finishes, start the server and check the Console.

For a CurseForge or Feed The Beast pack that shows neither, follow its guide: Install a CurseForge modpack on your server and Install an FTB modpack on your server each cover moving it to a newer pack version.

Go back to a normal server

1. Take a backup. A modded world doesn't load cleanly without its mods.
2. On the installed pack's card, press Remove modpack.
3. Pick the software and version to reinstall as. On a Modrinth pack, Remove the pack's own files removes its mods and config and keeps your world and anything you added.
4. Press and hold Hold to Remove and reinstall.

You can install the same pack again later. If you ticked Keep a copy when you installed, Your packs lists the old server: stop the server, then press Switch to it to go back.

How do players join a modpack server?

Each player needs Minecraft: Java Edition and the same pack at the same release.

1. Share the pack's name. On a Modrinth pack's card at the top of the tab, the name links to the pack's own page.
2. Players install it in a launcher for its source: the Modrinth App or Prism Launcher for Modrinth, the CurseForge app for CurseForge, the FTB App for Feed The Beast, and the Technic Launcher for Technic.
3. They pick the same version you chose in Pack version when you installed, for the Minecraft version on the card's badge, so note it and tell them.
4. They join with the address in the panel's left rail: Join your Minecraft server (and fix errors).

To send the mods directly, open the Mods tab, press Installed, then Export for players for a zip of the mods players need, with server-only mods left out. A mod mismatch error usually means a player's pack release, Minecraft version or mod list differs from the server's.

If something breaks

To get your old server back, press Remove modpack, pick the software and version it ran before, and press Hold to Remove and reinstall. If the modded server ever started, delete its world folder in the File Manager, since a restore keeps files the backup lacks. Then restore your backup: a protected Pre-switch backup shows Restore once you press Unprotect. Otherwise, match what you see:

• The last install didn't finish on the tab - press Show install log to read why, then Retry install or try another version.
• Your server is still installing (after pressing Install) - wait. The Install buttons unlock on their own when the current install finishes.
• Couldn't install this Modrinth modpack. in the install log - the pack has no server build for that loader and version, or Modrinth didn't answer. Try another version first.
• No CurseForge server pack available for this modpack, Couldn't download the server pack. or Couldn't unpack the server pack. - see Install a CurseForge modpack on your server. A pack too big for your plan's storage fails this way too: the Minecraft plans page lists each plan's storage.
• FTB's installer couldn't install this pack. - see Install an FTB modpack on your server.
• java.lang.OutOfMemoryError in the Console - the pack needs more RAM than your plan has. Size it with the Minecraft server RAM calculator, then Upgrade or downgrade your plan.
• No Modpacks tab - it only appears on Minecraft servers. On someone else's server, the owner has to give you the Startup & software permission in Team.