How to install Forge Minecraft mods on Windows - The always up-to-date guide (with screenshots)

This tutorial will help you install most any mod in Minecraft. There are some mods that will require additional steps but this guide should work with pretty much any mod. This guide assumes that you already have Minecraft and Java installed on your computer.

You may want to watch our video tutorial:

Part 1 - Installing Forge Mod Loader

1. Download the most appropriate version of Minecraft Forge from here.



Note that Forge takes a while to support new updates to Minecraft sometimes. Forge currently supports Minecraft 1.8. If you are running a newer version than 1.8 or want to run a Forge mod which is not updated for the latest version of Minecraft which is supported by Forge you should read our tutorial on changing your Minecraft version.



2. Open the downloaded file and if you are asked to give it administrative privileges press "Yes". Something that looks like the screenshot below should appear.

3. Make sure that you select "Install client"


4. Press OK and wait for it to install.


5. A new profile called "Forge" will now appear in the launcher. Select that profile and launch it.


6. Minecraft should launch up looking like the screenshot below. Note that yours will look different as you won't have any mods except Forge installed.

 

Part 2 - Installing the Mods

Now that you have Forge installed you can start installing mods in Minecraft.

1. Navigate to the directory where the Minecraft files are stored.

You can do this by going to the start menu and entering %appdata%.

Alternatively, you can get to it by entering %appdata% in the navigation bar in Explorer.

2. Once you have navigated to your appdata folder go to the folder named ".minecraft"


3. Now navigate to the folder called "mods"


4. Copy the mod file of your desired mod into the mods folder.




Tips:

• Some older mods are coremods and should go in the "coremods" folder rather than the "mods" folder. If a mod is a coremod, it will be specified on our site. You will only need to do this with old mods and old versions of Forge.
• Mods are typically either a .jar file or a .zip file. These mods can be copied into the "mods" folder unless they are a coremod (in which case, you follow the previous tip). Sometime a mod file is stored within a .zip file. In this case, you will have to extract the mod file from the .zip. We will specify when a mod file is stored in a .zip file. If you are not certain, you can always open up the .zip in your favorite archive manager and check.

5. Launch Minecraft with the Forge profile again.

6. When it launches o the menu, click on the mods button.

7. Your mod should now appear in the mod list.