32

I have setup FTP server in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.

Now when when I try to connect to FTP server from Windows 7 through command-line ftp.exe, I get successfully connected but I cannot get the list of directory. I get error 

200 PORT command successful. Consider using PASV.
425 Failed to establish connection.
Martin Prikryl
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CY5
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  • I tried `quote PASV` as suggested below, and got a response `227 Entering Passive Mode`, but this did not stop the `Consider using PASV` message from coming up. What did work was the single command `passive`, which generated the response `Passive mode on`. – M Juckes Jun 21 '22 at 13:13

6 Answers6

21

Try using the passive command before using ls.

From FTP client, to check if the FTP server supports passive mode, after login, type quote PASV.

Following are connection examples to a vsftpd server with passive mode on and off

vsftpd with pasv_enable=NO:

# ftp localhost
Connected to localhost.localdomain.
220 (vsFTPd 2.3.5)
Name (localhost:john): anonymous
331 Please specify the password.
Password:
230 Login successful.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> quote PASV
550 Permission denied.
ftp>

vsftpd with pasv_enable=YES:

# ftp localhost
Connected to localhost.localdomain.
220 (vsFTPd 2.3.5)
Name (localhost:john): anonymous
331 Please specify the password.
Password:
230 Login successful.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> quote PASV
227 Entering Passive Mode (127,0,0,1,173,104).
ftp>
Shannon
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    `quote PASV` won't help. It switches only the server to the passive mode. But not the client. See [How to use passive FTP mode in Windows command prompt?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/18643542/850848) – Martin Prikryl Nov 16 '16 at 09:07
  • @MartinPrikryl I am not sure you read my answer. Also, it appears people have been editing my answer. However, you're right about the Windows command prompt. – Shannon Nov 29 '16 at 00:05
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    Yes, I read your answer. This question is about the Windows `ftp.exe` (*I try to connect to FTP server from **Window 7 through command-line***). In Windows `ftp.exe`, there's no `passive` command, there's even no support for passive mode. So your answer is irrelevant to the question. – Martin Prikryl Nov 29 '16 at 07:12
  • True. I'm upvoting your answer. I just wanted to be clear that I wasn't suggesting that `quote PASV` would help. – Shannon Dec 02 '16 at 18:40
17

You are using the FTP in an active mode.

Setting up the FTP in the active mode can be cumbersome nowadays due to firewalls and NATs.

It's likely because of your local firewall or NAT that the server was not able to connect back to your client to establish data transfer connection.

Or your client is not aware of its external IP address and provides an internal address instead to the server (in PORT command), which the server is obviously not able to use. But it should not be the case, as vsftpd by default rejects data transfer address not identical to source address of FTP control connection (the port_promiscuous directive).

See my article Network Configuration for Active Mode.

If possible, you should use a passive mode as it typically requires no additional setup on a client-side. That's also what the server suggested you by "Consider using PASV". The PASV is an FTP command used to enter the passive mode.

Unfortunately Windows FTP command-line client (the ftp.exe) does not support passive mode at all. It makes it pretty useless nowadays.

Use any other 3rd party Windows FTP command-line client instead. Most other support the passive mode.

For example WinSCP FTP client defaults to the passive mode and there's a guide available for converting Windows FTP script to WinSCP script.

(I'm the author of WinSCP)

Martin Prikryl
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12

Actually your Windows firewall is blocking the connection. You need to enter these commands into cmd.exe from Administrator.

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="FTP" dir=in action=allow program=%SystemRoot%\System32\ftp.exe enable=yes protocol=tcp
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="FTP" dir=in action=allow program=%SystemRoot%\System32\ftp.exe enable=yes protocol=udp

In case something goes wrong then you can revert by this:

netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name="FTP" program=%SystemRoot%\System32\ftp.exe
Martin Prikryl
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Manoj Singh Bisht
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11

You need to use passive mode.

If you're using linux client, use pftp or ftp -p.

From man ftp:

-p    Use passive mode for data transfers. Allows use of ftp in environments where a firewall prevents connections from the outside world back to the client machine. Requires that the ftp server support the PASV command. This is the default if invoked as pftp.
Rusher
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0

What worked for me was just typing the command passive and ftp went into passive mode from active mode.

Tom
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    There's no `passive` command in Windows `ftp.exe`. You might be using Linux `ftp`. But that's not what this question is about. Also, the answer by @Shannon already suggests the same. – Martin Prikryl Jan 24 '21 at 19:40
-1

Disable Windows Firewall and after sometime again run ftp commands in cmd, It will work

Divyanshu Pawar
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