Setting Up Your FTP Access

Transferring files using Internet Explorer

For quick, one-off file transfers Internet Explorer is the ideal option. It has built-in FTP functionality, allowing you to easily exchange files over the Internet.

Check you have the following setting enabled in Internet Explorer:

1. Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Enable folder view for FTP sites

2. Launch Internet Explorer.
   
3. Type ftp://www.yourdomain into the address bar (replacing 'yourdomain'
   with your own domain name. Hit 'Enter'.
   
4. Enter your FTP username and password and click 'Login'.
   
5. If you've logged in correctly, you'll now be presented with a screen resembling a 'Windows Explorer' type directory. Simply locate the files you wish to upload on your desktop and drag them over to your webspace. (Depending on the number and size of the files you are uploading this may take a little time).
   
6. That's it! Your uploaded files should now be present in your FTP webspace directory.
   

Troubleshooting
If you are using Internet Explorer 6.0, Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP Service Pack 2, you may experience problems connecting via FTP if you are running a firewall. This is because the firewall thinks these are unauthorised connection attempts and therefore drops them.

It is worthwhile configuring Internet Explorer to use passive ftp if using and running a firewall. Configure as follows:

1. Launch Internet Explorer.
   
2. Click on 'Tools'.
   
3. Click on 'Internet options'.
   
4. Click on 'Advanced tab'.
   
5. Tick 'Use Passive FTP'.
   
6. Tick 'Enable Folder View of FTP sites'.
   

Download Cute FTP from Globalscape's website. Note that CuteFTP can be used for free for 30 days.

Setting up your site with Cute FTP

1. Start Cute FTP Home, the main screen will open, which is used for transferring files to and from remote servers.
2. Before you can connect to an FTP site, you must be connected to the Internet.
3. Launch the 'Site Manager' by clicking on the Site Manager icon or by clicking Tools> Site Manager > Display Site Manager from the main navigation menu.
4. Click the 'New' button and select either 'FTP Site' or 'FTP / SSL Site' (only select this option if your host requires an SSL connection).
5. Enter a name for your site in the Label For Site field.
6. Enter ftp.gcwweb.com in the FTP Host Address field.
7. Select or create a folder for the new site to reside in. To create a new folder, right-click and select New Folder from the menu.
8. Enter your regular username in the FTP site User ID field.
9. Enter your regular password in the FTP site Password field.
10. Connect to your new site by highlighting it in the left window and clicking the Connect button.

Opening DOS FTP
Go to the Start menu - Programs - MS-DOS Prompt , and at the C:\WINDOWS prompt type:
ftp ftp.gcwweb.com

You should then receive the message similar to this:

Connected to ftp.gcwweb.com 220 Thu Aug 3 15:46:53 MEST 1998) ready. User (ftp.gcwweb.com :(none)):

Enter your username as the domain. Press return, and you should see :

331 Password required for domain. Password:

Enter your password here, and you should then see:
230 User domain logged in. Access restrictions apply.

Using DOS FTP

You can now perform file transfers. For instance, typing the command:
send c:\website\index.html

would transfer the file 'index.html' (Which is the first page a browser will look at), which is in the 'website' directory on your C drive, to the server.

You may also need the following commands.
get file.ext - download 'file.ext' from the server to your local machine
dir - directory listing
rmdir dirname - remove a directory called 'dirname' from the server
mkdir dirname - make a directory called 'dirname' on the server
delete file.ext - delete 'file.ext' from the server
cd dirname - change directory on server
lcd dirname - change local directory

  
WS FTP
Start WS FTP for the first time and you will be shown the Site setup box.

1. The Site Name box is simply a title for the connection that you are creating - it can be anything that you like.

2.Host Name/Address is the server to which you are uploading: this should be ftp.gcwweb.com

3.The User ID should be the same as your login name, and the password is the same as your password.

The rest of the entry fields can be left blank.

The Remote Site Folder should be left blank or set to "htdocs".

All of the rest of the settings can be left at their defaults. Then click OK.

The Remote Site Folder should be left blank or set to "htdocs" - the directory where all your HTML documents and images should go.

All of the rest of the settings can be left at their defaults. Once all of this has been done, then you can click OK to connect to your web space.

When you are connected, select any files that you want to transfer in the local system window and then click the right pointing arrow to transfer them to the web space side.

You can also transfer directories and their contents in this manner.

The other way is to drag files from another location and drop them onto the right hand window. The disadvantage of this method is that it doesn't transfer directories.

When you have finished transferring files, you can terminate the connection with the close button.