How to Install – Set Up – Access FileZilla FTP Server

If you want to upload and download files on your home/office PC from anywhere, just turn it into a personal FTP server. With a home/office FTP server, you can upload and download files on your home/office hard drive from the iPad, your friend’s house, or your laptop while you’re on the road using any FTP client.

Setting up an FTP server may sound complicated that only system administrators can handle, but it’s actually quite easy and free with FileZilla an open source software.

Today we’ll build an FTP server on your Windows PC with FileZilla for easy file transfers from any computer.

**Before you start you need to set Static IP Address on your Computer

Install the FileZilla FTP Server

The FileZilla server installation in a regular Windows “just press Next” wizard, and for most users, the suggested default settings will work.

1. Download the FileZilla server application. Even though the FileZilla FTP client is available for multiple operating systems, the server app is Windows-only (and works for Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7).
2. Run the Filezilla server. Choose “Start as service, started automatically (default)” By default it’s 14147, and you’re most likely safe leaving it at that.
3. Set the server administrative interface to launch automatically (or not). On the final installation dialog, choose whether you want the server admin window to launch automatically when the current Windows user logs on, when any user logs on, or if it should be started manually.
4. Run the admin interface. The first time you run the admin interface, it will ask you for the server’s address and port. Since the server is running on your PC—the same one the admin interface is running on—its address is localhost, or 127.0.0.1. The default port is 14147  If this is the only FTP server you’ll be administering (most likely it is), check off the “Always connect to this server” box to bypass this dialog in the future.

Create the FTP Server Users

1. To set up a server user, in the Edit menu choose Users. In the Users dialog on the right hand side, hit the Add button to create a new user and assign a password. Then, on the left side, select “Shared Folders” to set what folders that user will have access to on your server. Here I’ve created a user named Miguel and granted read,Write, Delete and create Permission to the C:/Documents and Settings/Miguel/Desktop/FTP files directory.
2. Notice you can create file access permissions for each user: grant read-only rights (download only), write rights (to upload files), and whether or not the user can delete files or create directories, too.
3. If you want to grant several users access to your server all with the same rights and directory access, instead of creating each one individually, set up a user group. For example, if you’re sharing your Personal Videos directory with friends, make a user group called “my fans” with access to the correct directory and add users to that group, which automatically gives them those rights. Then, if you move your music directory you only have to edit the group, not each user in it. To manage user groups, from the Edit menu, choose Groups.

Log into the FTP Server

Now that the server’s up and running with users, it’s time to log in and try uploading and downloading. Using any FTP client (like the FileZilla client or FireFTP for Firefox) enter the server address, user name and password.

1. On the computer running the FTP server Click on Start, Search for run, Type CMD, click OK In the command line that appears Type ipconfig. look for your IPv4 of just IP Address  it should look something like 192.168.xx.xx.
2. Now type the local IP address in the search bar like this ftp://192.168.xx.xx from a computer inside the network and you should be able to log in using the user name and password we configure in previous steps.
3. If you want to log into your FTP server over the internet (Extenally),you need to know the external IP address you can get it by typing what is my IP in google search. It should look something like 78.125.32.68
4. User name and passwordThis is one of the users you set up in FileZilla’s admin interface. If friends, family, and co-workers will be logging into your FTP server, give them each a their specific username and password to log in (along with the server address.

NOTE: FTP is not a secure protocol; all the file transfers happen in the clear, which makes them vulnerable for sniffing. FileZilla does support encrypted FTP access.

To shut down or restart your FileZilla server

From Control Panel, Administrative Tools, launch Services. Right-click on the FileZilla FTP Server item on the list to stop it,or restart it.

Video Tutorial: