You might have already heard about FileZilla, a free FTP software. In this tutorial, I will tell you how to install the server and client editions of this free software and install networking between two Windows PCs using FileZilla.
The Client edition will help if you want to transfer files. If you want to make files available for others, you have to get the Server edition of FileZilla.
Install FileZilla Server on a Windows PC
Let us begin this tutorial by learning how to install the FileZilla Server on to a Windows PC.
Download the setup of FileZilla Server from here and open the executable file.
Agree to all and click “Next”. You will see the “Choose Components” window.
Select the “Standard” from the drop-down menu and click “Next”.
In the “Startup Settings” options select “Install as service, started with Windows (Default)” from the drop-down menu, and in the port text box write “14147”. Click “Next”.
In the next “Startup settings” window, select “Start if the user logs on, apply to all users” from the drop-down menu and click “Next”.
Now the program will install and when it shows that the setup is completed you may click “Close”.
This was how to install FileZilla Server and now we will show you how to configure your FTP server properly:
Configure FTP server
Open the installed application.
Click on “File” and then click on “Connect to server”.
A new window will open. Check whether the settings are the same as in the image below and after that click on “OK”.
Now click on the “Edit” menu and click on “Settings”; a new window will appear.
Make the settings the same as the image below.
You may click on the images to see their larger versions.
Now click on “Passive mode settings” and then click on “Use the following IP:” radio button and in the text box, enter your own IP address.
You can find out your IP from whatismyip.com or by using Google or even natively in Windows OS.
Now click on “OK” in the settings.
You can enable the auto-ban feature if you are making a public FTP server.
You have successfully configured your server, now it is time to add users and groups to that server.
Add users and groups to FTP server
In the FileZilla server user interface, click on the “Edit” menu and then click on “Groups”.
Click on “Add” and name the group for e.g., I’ve added two groups.
On the left side under the page select “Shared Folder” and add folders to the list and you can select different permissions for different groups. You may see the image for proper understanding.
Your groups are ready, click on “OK” and it will save your settings.
Now under the “Edit” menu click on “Users”.
Add users by the same method you did so for adding groups, for e.g. I’ve made three users.
Now you are all done with the server of FileZilla. Now it is time to install that on a FileZilla client.
Watch the video tutorial
Install FileZilla Client on to Windows PC
Download FileZilla Client from here. Install it on your client’s PC. Its installation is very easy.
Now go to the “File” menu and click on “Site Manager”.
In the host text box enter the IP address of the server PC. And in the port text box enter “21”. Rest, all setting should be as same as in the image below.
The username and password should be one of them that you entered in the users in the server interface. Click on Connect.
It would connect successfully. But if it doesn’t, then go through the tutorial once again.
Now on the left side, you can see the local site and on the right side, you can see the remote sites.
You can upload or download any file from the server by right-clicking the file.
That’s it.
I hope you found the tutorial easy to understand.
