Fix for FTP issue for users of Windows XP with SP2 installed

Question

I'm hoping my struggles to find an answer to this issue helps others.  I recently purchased a Dell 4700 Desktop with Windows XP installed.   Apparently there is an FTP issue with anyone who has Windows XP that has the SP2 update installed, making it impossible to connect to a server via any FTP program.   To get around this, you need to do the following: Click Start - Click My Network Places - Click View Network Connections - Click on Change Windows Firewall Settings.  A screen pops open that should by default have Windows Firewall turned ON.  You need to turn it OFF prior to trying to connect to your server via FTP in Dreamweaver or any other FTP Client.   Then in Dreamweaver, I just made sure I had my settings to Connect using Passive FTP.   And low and behold I am now able to get into the servers that have eluded me for the last two days on this machine.  Once you turn the Windows Firewall off, you may get a message that you have to reboot your machine to have the new settings take effect.  So if you still can't log in after turning your Windows Firewall off, reboot and try again.    Please note, you do not have to disable any of your other anti-virus/firewall software programs (like McAfee or Norton), this is strictly a Windows XP with SP2 issue.  Hopefully, at some point they will come up with a fix for it, but at this point in time there is none.   Once you are done loading things onto the server, it was recommended that Windows Firewall be turned back on for normal use of your computer to make sure you are fully protected.

jmwills · Answer

I use WS-FTP with no problems.

creativegrl · Answer

From what I've been informed by Dell the problem lies with Windows XP that has Service Pack 2 upgrade installed to it.  It doesn't allow FTP to communicate with servers.  Perhaps you have don't have the SP2 installed or you have that Windows firewall already disabled, if not - consider yourself lucky!  I'm not sure, but I wanted to post because in researching this issue, I have found that there are a lot of people out there who are experiencing this problem and wanted to let them know how to work around it without having to pay for software support to fix the problem as I did.

msgale · Answer

Actually it is not necessary to turn off the firewall to FTP, at least using the WIndows XP FTP Client.  All that you need to do is have it ON with exceptions and make sure file transfer is checked.  I tested this from my home to 'LaSalle.edu' both an upload and a download were successful.

creativegrl · Answer

I'm sure that probably works because it is a Windows product.  I was encountering the problems with Dreamweaver MX 2004 and Cute FTP client.  I could not connect via FTP in those programs.

msgale · Answer

I have to go with jmwills for another reason.  FTP whether Cute, Ugly or anything inbetween  must implement the protocol as described in RPC 959, no more and no less.  Therefore if one works all must work.  Question, did you try the command line FTP?

jmwills · Answer

I have (and have had for some time) SP2 installed.  Maybe your problem lies within the configuration of your firewall.  The XP firewall only stops inbound traffic.

msgale · Answer

I was going to test CUTE FTP, until I discovered that it costs money.  I still do not understand why people go out and good pay for something that they already have.  Windows XP comes with two fully functional FTP clients, the command line version and Internet Explorer which, if you were to type in ftp://someftpaddress in the address would do an ftp transfer.

oldtraveler · Answer

I don't seem to be able to access my server via ftp://someftpaddress which is password protected. I get instead a FTP folder error that states unable to set up secure anonymous ftp. Of course not, it's password protected.

Using an ftp client I can't successfully access the server because it is not anonymous.

Message Edited by oldtraveler on 04-10-2005 10:01 PM

jwatt · Answer

Phil, There's a special syntax associated with FTP URLs that allows the user name and password to be included. It's described here. Jim

oldtraveler · Answer

Thank you, Jim. That does indeed work. And I discovered that one can then drag and drop files to transfer them. It does seem quite a bit more cumbersome than using a client such as WS_FTPLE, however.

jwatt · Answer

Phil, I agree. I've been using Winsock FTP since well before its author, John Junod, joined Ipswitch. In fact, I see from his biosketch that he's no longer there! :) Jim

creativegrl · Answer

Thanks for all your replies. I'm really not sure what to make of all this. I had made sure with my Windows XP firewall settings that both the programs I wanted to use (either CuteFTP or Dreamweaver MX) were both enabled under the Exceptions tag and I was not able to connect that way either. I cannot log in using IE by doing ftp.njstemcell.org either or any of my other sites. The only thing that is working is to turn off that windows firewall.

I'm open to hear any other suggestions people may have. Because it seems really puzzling that some of us would have this problem and others have no problems at all.

I know it's not my ISP either because I'm able to connect on another computer using the same ISP service, with Windows 98 SE.

Thanks!

jwatt · Answer

creativegrl,

You've probably already seen this long article from Macromedia about Dreamweaver FTP problems. There are a number of troubleshooting steps described there. Searching Google for sp2 outbound ftp problem, I also found this thread. There's a bit of confusion in the thread about FTP server versus FTP client issues, but the thread nevertheless contains many good suggestions. One that's odd is that someone cleared up this problem by setting the SP2 firewall back to its default settings!

Another possibility, described in this thread at VanDyke Software's forum, is that the problem arises from the changes in the way SP2 handles the "ident" protocol. Previously it was allowed, and resulted in an immediate "connection refused" message being sent to the FTP server. With SP2, the packets are silently dropped. That should eventually result in a timeout. The fix described is to enable inbound traffic to port 113 (ident). That restores the pre-SP2 behavior, and the FTP server will receive the "connection refused" error and continue on, since "ident" is optional.

You'll find lots more articles using the Google search expression I did. Hopefully one of them will point you toward the fix.

Jim

Windows General

Fix for FTP issue for users of Windows XP with SP2 installed

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