Install a CurseForge modpack on your server
Install a CurseForge modpack from the Modpacks tab: how server packs and client exports are handled, which options to pick and what to check first.
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.
- A pack with a server pack: the installer downloads that file and unpacks it onto the server.
- A pack 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. On Forge and NeoForge it also leaves out any mod whose identical file Modrinth lists as client only.
- 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.
- Open your server and choose Modpacks under Content in the left rail.
- Choose the CurseForge chip above the search box.
- 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.
- Press Install on the pack. A window titled "Install" followed by the pack's name opens.
- (Updated installer only.) Leave the version dropdown on "Newest that fits your server", or pick an older release file. The list holds release files only.
- (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.
- Leave Take a backup first ticked, which is the default. If every backup slot is already protected, the Backups tab says so and the install stops with an error, so delete a backup or remove protection from one to make room first.
- 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.
- 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 tab updates a pack in place only for Modrinth packs, through an Update to button. A CurseForge pack's button reads Installed and is greyed out, so you cannot press it again for a newer version. One route is to take a backup, press Remove modpack, then install the newer version from the dropdown with Keep my world, settings and player lists ticked.
Remove modpack reinstalls the server, and its window warns that your modded world is replaced. Take the backup it offers, and restore it from the Backups tab if the world is missing afterwards.
Your players need the same mods as the server. Note the pack version you installed so they can match it, then follow Join a modded server from your launcher.
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