Connecting to Mac FTP Server from a Windows XP PC

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Level 1

1 points

Connecting to Mac FTP Server from a Windows XP PC

I wish to access files on my Leopard Mac at home from my Windows XP PC at work.

So fare, I've done the following:-

1. Enabled 'Share files and folders using FTP' in System Preferences/Internet & Network/Sharing.
2. Set up an account with dyndns.com and created a host name
3. Downloaded and configured DynDNS Updater
4. Configured port forwarding and Dynamic DNS on my BT Home Hub
5. Installed Cyberduck and tested the FTP connection from my Mac and all seemed to work fine.
6. Installed Filezilla onto my PC but was unable to connect to the FTP server on my Mac.
7. Tried installing alternative FTP client software still could not connect

Please note I have not enabled SMB because I'm not sure what it is. I am new FTP - can anyone help?

iMac Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Mar 25, 2008 12:18 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Steve Macko

Level 2

150 points

Mar 25, 2008 12:46 PM in response to STEVO75

You may want to check with your ISP and see if the standard port for FTP (21) is blocked. Some ISPs don't like web servers, ftp servers, or any other kind of server... I have one of those!

An easy way to achieve what you are looking for is to use a graphical client that supports ssh (secure shell access). I made a "family" account on my machine, and enabled remote login. I load pictures and movies into it. My father logs into my machine with the family account using FUGU on his Mac from the other side of the country. I have relatives who use Putty on Windows to do the same. It presents a nice GUI for them, and it's over ssh which is more secure than ftp. They see all the files in the "family" account and can then just drag and drop. If you go this route, make incoming requests use a non-standard external port for security- such as 9288... or any high number port. The higher ports are also less likely to be blocked by overzealous ISPs. On the router... Forward external port 9288 to internal port 22 at the local IP address of the serving machine. Then just have your friends and family log in with the external IP or the DynDns name and the port of your choosing...

Also... SMB is the protocol that is used by Windows machines to share files, printers, etc over a local network. Macs speak SMB just fine, but on a Mac only network, I stick to AFP.

Steve

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Answer 2

STEVO75 Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 25, 2008 2:06 PM in response to Steve Macko

Thanks for your suggestions and I will look into SSH, but for the time being I would like to get my FTP connection working.

My ISP does support forwarding to Port 21 for FTP.

If SMB is a Windows protocol, does this need to be enabled on my Mac Server in order to connect from a Windows PC?

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