I'm trying to setup a server and I first have to start the serverstart.bat file. However it remains stuck on the downloading forge screen for 10 minutes. I've tried allocating 8 gb of ram and still no dice. Help appreciated!

Solution download forge installer put it into server files catalog where you got your serverStart/bat/ssh with version you yot in cfg file and it will work from there
Example for forge you need file 1.12.2-14.23.1.2587 forge-1.12.2-14.23.1.2587-installer.jar

Currently not reproducible.

Please try to download the correct files direct from Forge and put in to the same folder as the serverstart.bat

This was reproducible when running from a network mapped drive for me.