Setting Up an FTP Server Using Filezilla!

Intro: Setting Up an FTP Server Using Filezilla!

1. What is an FTP server?
2. Why would I want to make one?



1. File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a network protocol used to transfer data from one computer to another through a network, such as the Internet.

FTP is a file transfer protocol for exchanging and manipulating files over any TCP-based computer network. A FTP client may connect to a FTP server to manipulate files on that server. As there are many FTP client and server programs available for different operating systems, FTP is a popular choice for exchanging files independent of the operating systems involved.

2. Say your at a friends / work and you need a file / song / movie from your home computer. Using an FTP server you can access the files on your PC backhome (password / firewall / ports) permitting!

STEP 1: Download Filezilla!

1. Download FileZilla
Select the Server version and continue with installation.

STEP 2: Configure Ports FTP Server PC!

1. Configuring ports:
To access your router you will need to know the IP of your router. To find this, you can usually google your brand of router the normal IP is 192.168.1.1 or something along those lines.
In your internet explorer address bar, type the IP address and you will be prompted for a username / password.
To find the defaults for this if they havent be previously changed, you can use this tool: credentials tool
Many people would advise if you have never changed this password, to do so to keep anypeople from accessing your router and changing any settings.
Once in your router, look for a tab with the name of Applications and Gaming / Port Forwarding or something along those lines.

Here, you will need to configure your ports: Here I have included a picture of our routers port settings so you can get a better idea without me attempting to walk you through it!
The Ip address in the field I have included is the IP address of the computer hosting the FTP server.

STEP 3: Configure Firewall on FTP Server PC!

To configure your firewall exceptions for Filezilla:
1. Start
2. Settings
3. Control Panel
4. Windows Firewall
5. Click Exceptions Tab
6. Add Program
7. Choose Browse, and go to the FileZilla root directory.
8. Select the FileZilla.exe (NOT the FileZilla Server Interface)

STEP 4: Configuring Your Filezilla

Once in Filezilla, you will need to set it up with users who will be accessing files.
Within filezilla, click Edit->Users

1. Select Shared Folders
2. Setup users who will be accessing the FTP server, I recommend giving each user a password to limit access to the server from unwanted persons. You do this by going to (ADD) under the users section.
3. After adding users you MUST add a shared folder, which is right beside the users box. This part is simple, just search for what you want to share.. and share it. Make sure what you want to be shared is set as the home directory.
4. To setup the password, clickon the general tab to the left and setup the passwords per user account.

STEP 5: Accessing Your FTP Server!

1. Also withing your router settings you should find something along the lines of status
Within that tab, you will need to look for Internet IP ADDRESS
this is the IP given to you by your ISP.
to access your FTP server you will need to type
FTP://(IPADDRESS) in your address bar in either Internet Explorer or Firefox, both work for me.

STEP 6: Giving Your FTP a Name!!

I'm a big fan of not trying to memorize numbers.. and I dont like to pay money so I used the free tool within the following program:
so to defeat this problem, you can use a tool known as no-ip!
go to No-IP
1. From here you will need to set up an account and DL the No-IP client which can be found at the top downloads tab.

After setting up your account, go to Hosts / Redirects Tab:
Go to Add:
Select whatever hostname you like, make it easy to remember preferably, choose DNS host(A), whitin that IP address field enter the one you would use to access your FTP server (Your internet IP address), dont assign it to a group and then go to create host.

SO say if you made hostname as bob and you chose no-ip.biz in that dropdown, you would need to go to ftp://bob.no-ip.biz to access your FTP server!!

STEP 7: Help?

You should be up and running, if you have any problems feel free to email me!!
[e-mail]

Glad to hear from you

Kyle.

Comments

[virk786]

hi there i would like to know what server i can use to test upload a ftp fail thanks

[OrashgleP]

is it supposed to automatically connect to a server, because mine just says "Error, could not connect to server" what do i connect to

[hawkeye489]

I have setup filezilla and forwarded the port 14147, i have opened windows firewall and added inbound and outbound exceptions for 14147. I checked my port with an online checker.

I went out to try logging in but it would not login. I checked with the online port check and it was now closed. What is causing the port to close ?

[viksfan87]

My connection times out when I type my ftp://(IPADDRESS) any idea why?

[asarma1]

[Beast Wheat]

I have a problem. When I put my hostname from No-Ip.com , it says


"The server myserver.servegame.com/ needs a username and password."

Any help?

[Pulver]

I have a problem..

I can see in Filezilla Server that someone tries to connect but then it says:

"425 Can't open data connection"

[miiwii3]

question about the ftp address...

if i go to 127.0.0.1(which is the server i connected to in filezilla on port 14147) it takes me to the same site (index) as if i go to 192.168.1.68 my ip address. I have a 2wire router and i added an FTP server exception in my router and I also added an exception in all my antivirus's and firewall.

This doesn't seem right because many other people would have the same IP's for ftp as i have right now.

[joshblease]

A good thing to do is to use DynDns to create a link to your ip address. If your ip address keeps changing download their update client to your pc. create a host service and then to access the ftp put the port number at the end of the url staring with a : eg. www.ftpblease.selfip.com:21 this is all free but you must have an ending like i have .selfip.com on mine.

[Trainguyxx]

I've been wanting to start an ftp server just for my local network, but I seem to be having problems settign it up anyway. The offical how to says that I need to set the ip to 127.1.1.20 (or somethign very similar) and 14147 for the port. When I try to connect through filezilla on any computer, it just won't connect. What am I doing wrong?

[trickster208]

My router does not have an "Applications and Gaming / Port Forwarding" option, what do i do?

[fwjs28]

for a home installation, setup up a server, then install the filezilla program (not the server) on all of the others and you can connect that way...or you can put it on a flashdrive (portableapps) and do it that way...great instructable....

[Krazeecain]

Actually, I can't get this to work. I had it working for a little while and my friend managed to download a game from my computer, I had to turn off the firewall at that time. I turned it back on now, and it doesn't work anymore, even though I unblocked port 21 and 33333 (my random filezilla port) so I tried turning the firewall back off, BUT it STILL doesn't work!!! Why won't it work for me? (PS: I have a dynamic ip, but it didn't change after this whole fiasco)

[fwjs28]

you have to go into portforwarding on your router most likely...goto http://portforward.com and select port forwaring, select your router and such and it should give you a tutorial....

[Izokay]

I have it working, but I was wondering if I can get a free website out of this. I know that I can get a URL that I type into my FTP client, but can I get a website for free that operates from my server?

[oddlyk1]

1. That is not your actual password. It is only there to keep others from seeing how long your real password is.

[sherwinubaldo]

to the writer: wrote you an email. appreciate your trouble answering back and thanks in advance. kudos!

[Krazeecain]

filezilla automatically fills this in for you, the ip (should be by default 127.0.0.1) is an internal ip address that has to do with ftp, don't touch it! the port number is random, you can change it to whatever you want, as long as its forwarded by your router/firewall. the password should have been set by you during the installation (i think), so type in whatever you made the password.

[me is me]

why is my router ip address the same as the one listed? also, another way to find your ip address is to open command prompt and type "ipconfig" without the ""

[Abstract_Artist]

You have an internal and external IP address. Your internal may be the same as others, as it is inside your own private network. Common internal IP addresses are 192.168.1.1, and 192.168.0.1. Your external IP address is unique, and can be found with a quick google search.