Passive ftp supported on Windows 2000

[RonVanCleave]

Hello,

Would anyone have any insight in using passive
ftp on the Windows platform, specific 2000?

We are working with 3rd parties through
firewalls and are familiar using passive
mode on HP-UX. We now have a new scenerio
where the 3rd party is using the Windows
platform.

Maybe there are add-on software products
for supporting passive ftp on Windows?

Regards, Ron.

[Jamie Hughes]

Hello,

Passive ftp with W2K should not be a problem. How are you using ftp, thru a browser or from the command line?

IE 5.5 has an option, which is not on by default, to allow IE to use passive ftp. From the IE 5.5 browser, click on Tools, Internet Options, then click the Advanced tab. Scroll down thru the advanced options, and under the Browsing section, you will see a check box to use passive ftp. Just check that and your browser should work. You can also find this setting at the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\FTP
Default: [STRING] Use PASV NO

There may be some other configuration tweaks you need to make, depending on exactly what you are doing. For example, if Microsoft IIS is involved, there was a bug with passive ftp in W2K so you will need to apply W2K sp1. There may also be a special note if Microsoft Proxy server is involved but I won't go into that since I don't know what you need.

Hopefully that is what you are looking for. If you still have questions, please post another message and be more specific about your configuration or any other Microsoft products that are involved in your case and I will do more research for you.

Best regards,
Jamie Hughes

[Mike McKinlay]

A couple of TechNet articles on passive mode FTP with Proxy Server:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q163/6/51.asp

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q177/3/10.ASP

Here are a couple or articles related to the bug (port theft) Jamie referred to:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q260/9/34.ASP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q247/1/32.ASP

[RonVanCleave]

Hi,

Thanks for the responses.

1.) We definitely need this from a command
line in that these are not http or proxy
processes. Ideally we would be using a
http/ftp process, but not in this phase
of the project, planned for next phase.

Some more investigation has validated that
the default Win2000 command line ftp client
does not support passive ftp. Seems ws_ftp
is a possible solution?

In general there seems to be a general
acceptance for ws_ftp both client and server
when passive ftp is required and using
command line or shell driven processes?

Any additional response would be appreciated.

Ron.