Frequently Asked Questions

If your server is behind a firewall or router you will need to allow the relevant ports for the FTP server through. The ports that must be configured for firewalls and routers include port 21 (standard FTP port) and port 990 (for implicit SSL). If you have changed these default port values on your FTP server then you should forward your port values instead. When FTP clients are using PASV mode for files transfers, the FTP server needs to be able to open additional ports. Therefore you must also forward ports 1024 - 5000 through any firewalls and routers. If you have enabled and set a PASV port range for the FTP server (see the FTP page for more information), then you will need to forward those port values instead. If the FTP server is behind a router then it is always a good idea to enter the router's IP into the FTP server. This will ensure that PASV mode transfers are negotiated to the correct IP for 'over the Internet' transfers.

If you want to access your FTP server from any location using a web browser, there are several ways in which you can do this:

• Enter ftp://yourdomain.com. This will prompt for a user name and password if there is no anonymous account.
• Enter ftp://user@yourdomain.com. This will prompt for just the password.
• Enter ftp://user:password@yourdomain.com. This will give direct access to your account. However, this method shows your password in the browser title and may remain in your last visited links. This is not recommended for security reasons.

If a group enables the 'File Read' access right, this only means that all associated users are allowed to enable 'File Read'. If a user doesn't enable 'File Read' then any sessions of that user will not be able to download files. If a group doesn't enable 'File Read', then any user which attempts to enable 'File Read' will be ignored and sessions of that user will still not be able to download files. Only if both the user and group enable 'File Read' will downloading be permitted.

If you manage to login but are restricted from access to writing, creating folders or similar then you most likely have some access restrictions placed on either your user settings or group settings (if the user belongs to a group). Check these settings to make sure that you have enabled adequate access. The default setting for a user or group is for file and folder read access only. Be aware of the implications of how group access rights overrule user access rights as explained by How do group access rights affect all associated users?

The first and most obvious thing to check is that there are actually files in your account. If this is not the problem, you should also check that you have set a root folder for the user. However, the most common cause of this problem is a router or firewall. FTP connections use two individual connections; one for commands and the other for data (such as files and folder listings.) If the data connection is blocked by a router or firewall, then you will not be able to view the contents of any folder. Please see How do I configure my router and firewall for Ability FTP Server? for more details.

First double check that your client settings match your server user settings. Please see Setting Up Your FTP Client for more details on this. If your settings are fine then it is one of several possible setup problems:

• You may have incorrectly configured your Domain Name Server (DNS) settings. Check that your domain name correctly points to your server's IP address.
• You may have incorrectly configured your router or firewall. Please see How do I configure my router and firewall for Ability FTP Server? for more details.
• You may have Antivirus software running on your server which is disrupting your FTP connections. It is recommended not to use client type Antivirus software on a server for conflict reasons like this.

Most FTP servers (especially public servers) usually have an a account created called 'anonymous'. This allows a client to login into an FTP server without the need for a password (usually to access some free downloads). Ability FTP Server supports anonymous accountsd by simply allowing you to create a user like any other but by calling it 'anonymous'. All users that are created in Ability FTP Server must have a password set. However, in the case of the anonymous user, this is not required. However, it is still possible for you to set a password for the anonymous user (to prevent normal public access).

It can be achieved by specifying the shared folder in the same place where you would normally specify a local folder path. However, the shared folder cannot be accessed via a mapped drive and so you must use the full path name (e.g. \\pc1\shared). Sometimes it is important that you also setup the NT Service correctly. By default an NT Service runs under a default account which has no access permissions to shared folders on other computers. To gain this permission you will need to change the account which the NT Service runs under. This can be done by entering the Administration Tools and then opening the Services option dialog. Once opened, you can adjust the properties of the 'Ability FTP Server' service and set a different account. For the changes to take effect you must restart the Ability FTP Server NT Service.

Ability FTP Server supports Windows 2016, 2012, 2008, 2003, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista and XP.

You can uninstall Ability FTP Server by either using the Windows "Uninstall a program" feature or by executing the Ability FTP Server uninstaller located at "C:\Code Crafters\Ability FTP Server 3\unins000.exe" or whichever folder you chose to install your Ability FTP Server to. Note that this will uninstall the software but will leave some configuration and log folders in case you want to re-install again in the future. If you want to completely remove all Ability FTP Server files then please also delete the entire "C:\Code Crafters\Ability FTP Server 3" or other chosen installation folder after using the uninstaller.