Hello There,

Before I assume that everyone reading this knows about CuteFTP  I will share it again. Cute FTP is a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client used to transfer files between your computer and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers.

We recently started a series of Tutorials on using CuteFTP.  But today we will tackle one of the most common support questions received from CuteFTP users.

It is usually encountered by CuteFTP users when they upgrade to Windows XP SP2 and then try to connect to the server, it fails! This happens because right after the installation, the Windows Firewall automatically blocks unsolicited connections to your computer and vice versa and also the ports needed to be able to connect to the FTP server.

There’s only one solution to this, and that is to configure the Windows Firewall settings and add the port necessary to connect to any FTP server. Here’s the work-around on how to allow incoming connections through port 21:

* NOTE: Port 21 – a reserved port in TCP/IP networking utilized by the FTP. CuteFTP starts a session to be able to connect to this port on FTP server, in the same way that the server responds via the port 21 with messages prompting the client for a username and password.

1.  Open Control Panel > Security Center

2.  Click Windows Firewall -  a dialog box will pop up.

3.  Click on Exceptions tab > Add Port, a dialog box appears.

4.  On the Add a Port dialog box, key in “FTP” on the Name field and “21” on the Port field. Make sure that TCP button is ticked.

5.  Click OK.

Before trying to see if you can now connect to your FTP server, make sure that CuteFTP is set to Port mode.

If you are using  CuteFTP Home:

1.  Open Site Manager > click on the site with problems.

2.  On the Type tab, under Data Connection change the setting to Use PORT.

If using CuteFTP Professional and Lite:

1. Open Site Manager > right-click on the site with problems > click Properties.

2.  On the Type tab, under Data Connection change the setting to Use PORT.

I hope that this has been helpful to you.

Until Next Tim, Enjoy your CuteFTP!

Peter – Your CuteFTP Guide

Related posts:

1. CuteFTP’s Connection Utilities