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. How to get in contact with us?
   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?
   Commandline arguments have not been implemented in FileZilla 3 yet.
3. Where does FileZilla store all its sites and setings?
   The location of FileZilla's settings directory depends on your operating system. On most systems, sites and settings are stored in the ~/.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 or 2000, it terminates with a runtime error.
   The most recent versions of FileZilla no longer support Windows 9x/ME/NT4/2000. Please consider upgrading your OS to Windows XP 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 Client version 2.x FAQ

Note: This section only covers the outdated and unmaintained 2.x branch of FileZilla.

1. What are the command line options supported by FileZilla?
   You can append ftp server addresses to the command line of FileZilla. Valid addresses would be from the form [([s]ftp|ftps)://][user[:pass]@]host[:port][/path] Example: ftp://root:secretpw@filezilla.sourceforge.net/htdocs/ You can also use the "-s siteName" switch to connect to a site in your Site Manager at startup. Some more less useful command line options can be found here: Command-line arguments
2. Why can't I save my passwords in the Site Manager?
   FileZilla can be installed in a special secure mode. In this mode, FileZilla does not remember any password. This is especially useful if you share your PC or if it's a public machine. To disable secure mode, just reinstall FileZilla and choose not to enable secure mode during setup.
3. 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 didn't work, try to delete the filezilla.xml and the registry keys under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\FileZilla and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\FileZilla. Notice that all your settings and sites are lost if you do this without taking a backup.
4. How can I export and import my settings and sites?
   If you've chosen to use the .xml file instead of the registry, all your settings and sites are located in the filezilla.xml file which is in the same directory as FileZilla. Note: If installed on Windows Vista: The FileZilla.xml file is no longer located in the same directory as the install. Instead Windows Vista places it in C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\FileZilla. Please take note of that to avoid frustration in restoring sites from another or previous computer. You could just backup that file to export and copy it back to the FileZilla folder to import(overwriting all previous settings and sites). If you've chosen to use the registry or you would like to export/import only settings or sites, you could go "Edit -> Export settings" to export your settings, and then in Site Manager go "File -> Export" to export your sites. Notice there's also import functions here so use them to import the settings back.

FileZilla Server FAQ

1. I've just installed the server and after starting the interface, it asks for a server address.
   Despite administrating the server on the local machine, the interface can also be used to administrate remote servers. But you will most likely want to administrate 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: 14147)
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 port (default: 21), as well as allowing outgoing connections from the server. In FTP Active Mode, FileZilla Server tries to use a port one less than the ftp port for outgoing connections. If that fails it tries to use a port one larger than the ftp port and after that it requests a port from windows. It may be best 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 this port range on the "passive mode settings" page in the settings dialog in the server interface. In most cases, a range like 5000-5100 is sufficient. With certain firewalls, it may be possible that FileZilla can't determine the external IP address. In this case you have to enter the IP address (or your host name) on the passive mode page in the settings dialog. In case you've a dynamic IP (most dial-up users), you can also choose to retrieve the ip address from a website.
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 port (default: 21) to the server machine. Further you have to forward a port range for passive mode transfers. You can specify this port range on the "passive mode settings" page in the settings dialog in the server interface. In most cases, a range like 5000-5100 is sufficient. Most likely, FileZilla can't determine the external IP address if behind a router. In this case you have to enter the IP address (or your host name) on the passive mode page in the settings dialog. In case you've a dynamic IP (most dial-up users), you can also choose to retrieve the ip address from a website.
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 and make sure the password box isn't checked on that account.
6. How can I test that my server can be reached from the internet?
   It's not possible to check the accessibility of the server by connecting from inside the local network (or even localhost) by entering the external IP in a client. Reason is that most firewalls and/or routers only forward ports for requests coming from outside the internal network. So you would have to connect to your server from an external machine. You can test the accessibility of your server using the free service from http://www.web2ftp.com Note: as of 10/16/2006, web2ftp.com is deactivated because they were having trouble with malicious users. You can use the service provided by Gene6 FTP at http://www.g6ftpserver.com/en/ftptest . SurFTP is a second viable alternative.
7. How do aliases work?
   How can I share multiple drives?
   Let's assume you have two shared folders: c:\ftproot is your homedir and d:\myfiles is the second one. In order to display an alias to d:\myfiles in your homedir, add /myalias as alias in the second column to the right of d:\myfiles. A new folder with the name myalias will appear in your homedir with the contents of d:\myfiles
8. 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.
9. Command line options for FileZilla Server
   -start -stop -install -uninstall -compat -reload-config -compat is used for Win9x compatibility, so FZS does not start as service and has to be the first switch.

"FileZilla server.exe" -reload-config

10. Is it safe for all user and groups settings to upgrade from older Filezilla server?
    Yes, installing a new version over an older version does not change any settings.