SubJeff on 29/12/2009 at 11:48

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I just got Win 7 and it seems to be going fine.

Until now.

I cannot access any of my sites through FTP. I've used SmartFTP and the command line and I've called the host company. They can access the sites with either an FTP program or through the command line.

I'm baffled.

I've checked and re-checked the addresses and username, copied and pasted them from the ftp details page of my host so I'm sure I'm not just making some simple error. I've set up a special rule in Windows Firewall allowing connections through port 21 and now I'm just getting fucked off by the whole thing.

The error I'm getting, in SmartFTP, is the following.



Where **** is my website name. And also what my mind is screaming right now.

Any help guys?

Al_B on 29/12/2009 at 15:22

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You're more likely to get connection problems in Active mode as that requires the server to initiate a connection to your computer through the incoming firewall. In Passive mode both connections should be initiated by your computer to the server. You can also run into additional problems with your router if you're using NAT (normally the case these days) and it doesn't know how to translate FTP traffic correctly.

However, Active / Passive mode shouldn't really affect anything until you actually initiate a data transfer - including a directory listing. You should be able to log in regardless of the setting. If SmartFTP is attempting to perform a directory listing before reporting success then (http://www.smartftp.com/support/kb/how-to-switch-between-active-passive-mode-f1.html) follow the instructions here to switch to passive mode.

Alternatively, can you connect to an anonymous FTP server? e.g. ftp.funet.fi? You should be able to connect from the command prompt as well as SmartFTP - just use the username "anonymous" and any password.

Don't worry about opening an incoming connection to ports 21 (or 20) on your firewall - unless you're trying to host a FTP server on your own computer, of course. Your computer will choose a random port to use when connecting to the remote server - you don't need to worry about that. As long as your FTP program is allowed to make connections (which, as you're able to get to the login stage it must be) you should be ok.

Al_B on 29/12/2009 at 16:25

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What happens if you deliberately try an incorrect username and password? For example, using (http://filezilla-project.org/) FileZilla I get the following messages when connecting to your server:
If that does the same thing then I'd suspect there's something wrong with your account on the server (but that shouldn't be a Windows 7 specific problem).

Al_B on 29/12/2009 at 16:36

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OK - I suspect it's an ident problem. Your server is probably connecting back to your computer to see which user is associated with the FTP connection. It's pretty much archaic these days - do you have port 113 redirected somewhere on your firewall?

Al_B on 29/12/2009 at 18:45

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Sorry - scrub that. I have seen that issue before but I don't think it's occurring in your case. I've done a packet dump (using tcpdump) of communication between a ftp client and the server you're using and although there's a couple of seconds delay between sending the password and it being rejected there's no apparent attempt for it to connect to the ident port.

I'm afraid I'm a bit baffled. The fact that you can connect to other FTP sites is a good indication that the overall protocol / firewall / programs you're using are fine. I could see there being a problem with your account on the server but that shouldn't be specific to Windows 7.

Just as one last thing I can think of. Try to connect again (using FileZilla for example) but connect to the IP address (194.154.164.101) instead of the domain name, and use a completely wrong username and password. For my tests I used "wrong" for both and that was rejected almost immediately without timing out.