FAQ

This is a list of frequently asked questions and corresponding answers. Please read this topic carefully before asking any questions.

General FAQ

1. How much does FileZilla cost?
   Is FileZilla free?
   Can FileZilla be used commercially?
   FileZilla is free open-source software distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License free of charge.
   Basically this means that everyone, including corporate entities, can use FileZilla, including but not limited to private, educational and commercial use.
2. What do the version numbers of FileZilla mean?
   The version numbers of FileZilla (client and server) are in the following format: n.n.n[c], where n is a number and c an alphabetical character. The first number is the major version number followed by two minor version numbers. The character at the end is optional and indicates maintenance releases, which mostly fix bugs; the "a" or "b" suffix does NOT imply the instabilities conventionally associated with an "alpha" or "beta" quality release.
   
   Example: 2.2.4 would be the original version, the first maintenance would then get 2.2.4a as version, the next 2.2.4b and so on.
   
   
3. I have a question, where can I get help?
   Most importantly, don't rush. Think before you ask. What are you trying to do? What is happening instead? What should have happened? You might find the following two guides of interest:
   How To Ask Questions The Smart Way by Eric S. Raymond
   How to Report Bugs Effectively by Simon Tatham
   Please also have a look at the known limitations of FileZilla
4. How to get in contact with with the FileZilla team?
   There are several ways to establish contact with the developers: the easiest way might be the use of our forum or, if a direct conversation is needed, IRC - #filezilla at freenode (chat.freenode.net or see the list of servers).

FileZilla Client FAQ

1. I can't list the contents of any directory on the server or I can't transfer any files
   I get "Critical transfer errors"
   I can't connect to my server
   Most likely incorrect configuration of either FileZilla, your firewall, your router or a combination of it. Please read the Network Configuration guide.
2. What are the command line options supported by FileZilla?
   See Command-line arguments (Client)
3. Where does FileZilla store all its sites and settings?
   The location of FileZilla's settings directory depends on your operating system. On most systems, sites and settings are stored in the ~/.config/filezilla directory. The odd exception is Windows, where the settings are stored in the %APPDATA%/FileZilla directory.
4. Why won't FileZilla start anymore?
   This could happen if for some reason your FileZilla installation or the settings get corrupted. First try to reinstall FileZilla, this won't change your settings. If that does not help, delete FileZilla's settings directory (see above). Notice that all your settings and sites are lost if you do this without taking a backup.
5. I can't start FileZilla under Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000 or XP, it terminates with a runtime error.
   The most recent versions of FileZilla no longer support Windows 9x/ME/NT4/2000/XP. Please consider upgrading your OS to Windows Vista or higher, especially since the older Windows versions are no longer supported by Microsoft. Using older versions of FileZilla is not recommended due to known security vulnerabilities.
6. I want to help, how can I translate the FileZilla client?
   Please see http://filezilla-project.org/translations.php for details.
7. FileZilla does not display or transfer files containing non-English characters
   Please see the Character Set entry.

FileZilla Server FAQ

1. I've just installed the server and after starting the interface, it asks for a server address.
   The administration interface can be used to configure local or remote servers. Most likely you want to configure your local server. In this case enter 127.0.0.1 as server address. For the server port, you have to enter the same port number you did specify during installation for the admin port. (default: 14148). If you set a password, enter it. If you want the administration interface to remember it, select the appropriate checkbox.
2. I'm behind a firewall and nobody can connect to my server or transfer files / directory listings
   You have to configure your firewall to allow incoming connections on the ftp/ftps port (default: 21/990), as well as allowing outgoing connections from the server. In FTP Active Mode, FileZilla Server tries to use a port whose value is equal to the ftp port for outgoing connections minus one. If that fails it tries to use a port number that is equal to the ftp port plus one, then it requests a port from the operating system. For that reason it might be easier to allow all outgoing connections from the server. Further you have to allow a port range for incoming connections for passive mode transfers. You can specify a port range on the "Passive mode" page in the settings dialog. In most cases, a range like 5000-5100 is sufficient. With certain firewalls, FileZilla Server might not be able to determine the external IP address. In this case you have to enter manually the IP address (or the host name) on the “Passive mode” page in the settings dialog.
3. I'm behind a router and nobody can connect to my server or transfer files / directory listings
   You have to configure your router to forward the ftp/ftps port (default: 21/990) to the server machine. Further you have to forward a port range for passive mode transfers. You can specify that port range on the "Passive mode" page in the settings dialog. In most cases, a range like 5000-5100 is sufficient. Most likely, FileZilla Server might not be able to determine the external IP address if it is behind a router. In this case you have to enter manually the IP address (or your host name) on the Passive mode page in the settings dialog.
4. I'm behind a router and a firewall and nobody can connect to my server or transfer files / directory listings
   Just follow both steps 2 and 3 in this case.
5. How can I enable anonymous logins?
   Just create an account with the name anonymous or any other name of your choice and select from the Credentials top-down menu the "Do not require a password to log in" option.
6. How can I test that my server can be reached from the internet?
   The easiest way to test the connection to your server is from an external machine. You can test the accessibility of your server using the free service from http://ftptest.net/. Note that connecting from inside the local network or localhost might not work as firewalls and/or routers could forward ports only for requests coming from outside the internal network.
7. How do mount points work? How can I share multiple mount points?
   Let's say you want to make your picture collection in D:\mypictures available as /pictures for a specific User or Group. Create the user/group and in the right panel click on the Add button and set the Virtual path to / and the Native path to D:\mypictures. Now the server will display the virtual directory pictures right in the root directory for that user or group and its content will be that of D:\mypictures. If you want to share multiple mount points just add more of them.
8. The Administration interface says that the virtual and/or native path is invalid, or that it must be absolute or not be empty, how do I fix that?
   Mount point paths, both the virtual and native ones, must be entered in a specific format. To learn more about that format, The native path is a local file path, the virtual path is the path that the FTP users will see and it is mapped to the native path by FileZilla Server. To add a mount point click on the Add button and enter a virtual path (eg. \) and a native path (eg, C:\ftproot\sample).
9. How can I share network drives?
   Generally sharing network drives is not recommended, as all data has to be transferred twice. Just install FileZilla Server on the other machine instead. If you still want to share a network drives with FileZilla Server, make sure the account FileZilla Server runs under has access to the network drive. By default, FileZilla Server runs using the SYSTEM account. You can change the account FileZilla Server uses on the service page in the management console of Windows: Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services -> FileZilla Server FTP server -> Log On. However, even then sharing mapped network drives might not work since Windows networking has some bugs.
10. Is it safe for all user and groups settings to upgrade from older Filezilla server?
    Upgrading to the newest version is always recommended, configurations are automatically migrated.
11. I have forgotten my password for connection to my server via administration interface. How can I reset it?
    The password is stored in the <filezilla><admin><password> section of the server settings file. You should completely remove the <password> section and restart the server. After that you can connect to the server without password. By default the settings file is stored in %appdata%\filezilla-server folder of the user who started the server. The windows service run as System user by default. The path of System user's appdata is %windir%\system32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\. Also you can find out the settings file path in logs. Just open <installation folder>\Logs\filezilla-server.log and find a line with "Settings written to " string.