Why isn't my FTP Server working on Windows XP?

Question

I want to set up a FTP Server on my Windows XP SP2 Professional. I am using Cereberus FTP. Everything works fine on my local LAN and when I try to connect from localhost, but the connections that are coming from the internet (broadband) are being filtered.

I have unblocked the software from the windows firewall and also added ports 20 and 21 manually to the firewall exception list...

The broadband router gives me a dynamic IP which is unique for each connected computer.

My ISP does not block any ports, I've talked with them.

Answer 1

did you do port forwarding on your physical broadband router? I had the same problem and was a quick fix

you just tell your router when you get a request for port 20 and 21 you tell it to send the request to the ip address of your PC running the FTP server

other wise the router does not know what computer to send the request

Answer 2

Sanguas is giving you good advice. The basic steps are: 1. Install an FTP server on your windows box. Filezilla is fine. 2. Configure a port forward in your linksys router for FTP to your windows box. This is port 21 tcp unless you need to use a non standard port. Some ISPs block port 21 so you might have to use an alternate. 3. Find a way to know your public IP address. That's what dyndns is for. If you are on a static IP then you don't have to worry about this. otherwise, setup dyndns so when you are away from home you can know what IP your home connection is using. if you are "computer savvy", this should not be too hard, just go slow and make sure you understand each step. google is your friend, there are tons of how-to guides on this online.

Answer 3

Many ISPs block incoming ports for the standard services (http, ftp, etc.) And even if not blocked, it may be a violation of your user agreement to run a server if its a home connection.

Answer 4

You need to forward those two ports to your FTP serving computer.

Answer 5

Ditto on the port forwarding.