Any FTP wizards here?

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Running XP with SP2.
Earlier this week, a customer gave me a user name & password for their FTP
site so I could download some files. From a command prompt, I was able to
log in successfully, but the DIR & GET commands refused to function. I tried
WS-FTP and had similar problems. I finally tried using IE and was successful
in transferring files. At this point, it's just a matter of curiosity: Any
idea why the first two methods didn't work? I'm running ZoneAlarm Pro, but
saw no alerts in the program log.

 

[shawn]

I am not sure why, but I'm betting it's how that person setup the account
for you to login. I have a similar problem.

This company we deal with does modifications on our accounting software at
work. In order to do some of the modification they require the most recent
copy of our database. It's a 2GB file!

They set me up an FTP account, but it only works through IE. That is a real
pain in the butt because you can't see how much of the file has been
transfered. You just sit there and hope for the best. With a file that large
and us being on Verizon DSL it takes forever. I had calculated it would take
16 or 18 hours to upload, so I had to leave my work computer on overnight,
but atleast if I could have used my favorite FTP program I could know if the
transfer is even still transferring smoothly.

Eventually what I did was just burn it to DVD and snail mail it to them.

 

[JoeSpareBedroom]

That's odd. In IE6, I use Edit, Copy to Folder, and I see a progress dialog
box.

 

[John Wunderlich]

Running XP with SP2.
Earlier this week, a customer gave me a user name & password for
their FTP site so I could download some files. From a command
prompt, I was able to log in successfully, but the DIR & GET
commands refused to function. I tried WS-FTP and had similar
problems. I finally tried using IE and was successful in
transferring files. At this point, it's just a matter of
curiosity: Any idea why the first two methods didn't work? I'm
running ZoneAlarm Pro, but saw no alerts in the program log.

This sounds like an Active Mode FTP vs Passive Mode FTP issue. Both
are the same until you start to transfer data. (DIR or GET).

The Windows XP Command Prompt FTP only supports Active mode.

Check the settings in WS-FTP and see if it will support Passive mode
(it sounds like the default is Active).

IE will use passive mode if the box is checked in Advanced Settings (I
believe it's default).

In general, if you (the FTP client) are behind a NAT router, then only
Passive mode FTP will work although some FTP clients like Filezilla
have configuration workarounds.


HTH,
John

 

[JoeSpareBedroom]

This sounds like an Active Mode FTP vs Passive Mode FTP issue. Both
are the same until you start to transfer data. (DIR or GET).

The Windows XP Command Prompt FTP only supports Active mode.

Check the settings in WS-FTP and see if it will support Passive mode
(it sounds like the default is Active).

IE will use passive mode if the box is checked in Advanced Settings (I
believe it's default).

In general, if you (the FTP client) are behind a NAT router, then only
Passive mode FTP will work although some FTP clients like Filezilla
have configuration workarounds.


HTH,
John

Thank you, John. I'll check this out. I'd rather be using WS-FTP if I can
get around this problem.

 

[James Egan]

Thank you, John. I'll check this out. I'd rather be using WS-FTP if I can
get around this problem.

If you're interested why one mode sometimes works when the other mode
doesn't, this is a decent explanation.
http://slacksite.com/other/ftp.html


Jim.

 

[Jack [MVP-Networking]]

Hi
Do not be so "self-centered" j/k. Many times it would depend on how the
other side (the ftp server) is configured, and thus the End-User Flexibility
is reduced.
As an example if they are using Windows Authentication for Id and PW you
have to use FTP client that supports this type of Authentication and set it
accordingly.
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking).

 

[Martin C]

I certainly hope you encryted the database on the DVD!!