Passive ftp on Server 2008

Question

I have a new Windows 2008 server with IIS7. When I connect to the ftp in active mode, it works fine. In passive mode, it connects, but then times out trying to get the directory listing. I tried disabling both firewalls, but it didn't help. I've tried this with difference client machines and different ftp client software, with no change. Any ideas?

Answer 1

In the command prompt of the server, enter these two commands to open the firewall:

First command:

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="FTP (non-SSL)" action=allow protocol=TCP dir=in localport=21

Second command:

netsh advfirewall set global StatefulFtp enable

In Amazon EC2, you also have to set up a security group to open the passive ports, such as 1025 to 7000.

Answer 2

I had the same issue using filezilla ftp server. Active connections worked but passive didn't... I solved it by adding FileZilla server.exe ( in the program files folder ) to the "exceptions list" of windows firewall. Then everything worked. Just goes to show you ... RTFM.

Answer 3

You can actually try following the article Out Of Band FTP 7 shows "Operation timed out".

Answer 4

I'd disable the IIS FTP Server and switch to single-port SFTP instead using "NULL FTP Server" . It's more secure and only requires a single port to be opened unlike the old style FTP protocol.