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How do I enable FTP for my server and users

Charles Webb
  • Updated

Introduction

Due to its age and general vulnerability to various attacks, spoofing, and sniffing measures; we have disabled the FTP service by default in new installations of cPanel after version 86. Removing the protocol from the product provides a more secure default cPanel & WHM setup and allows further server customization.

For more information about this and possible alternatives, please refer this article:

FTP Disabled by Default in Version 86

If you would still like to enable FTP access, you can do so by following this guide.

 

Procedure

First, enable an FTP Service

  1. Log into WHM
  2. Navigate to "WHM / Service Configuration / FTP Server Selection."
  3. In the FTP Server column, select "ProFTPD" or "Pure-FTPD."
    • Select "Disabled" to disable FTP services.
  4. Click "Save."

Second, add FTP Access to your Feature Lists

  1. Log into WHM
  2. Navigate to "WHM / Packages / Feature Manager."
  3. Under "Manage feature list," use the dropdown to select a Feature List for which you'd like to enable FTP access; then click "Edit."
  4. Ensure "FTP Account Manager" and "FTP Settings" are checked.
  5. Click "Save"
  6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 for each additional Feature List you'd like to modify.
  7. Ensure the "disabled" Feature List does NOT have these features checked.

Third, ensure your user packages have FTP access

  1. Navigate to "WHM / Packages / Edit a Package."
  2. Ensure the Package uses a Feature List with the FTP features enabled from the previous section.
  3. Set the "Max FTP Accounts" value according to your preferences.
  4. Click "Save."

Finally, add an FTP user to a cPanel account

  1. Log into cPanel.
  2. Access "cPanel / Files / FTP Accounts."
  3. Enter the desired username in the "Log In" field.
  4. Select the desired domain from the "Domain" menu.
  5. Enter and confirm the new password in the "Password" and "Password (Again)" text boxes.
  6. Enter the FTP account’s home directory, relative to the cPanel user's home directory.
  7. Enter the disk space quota, or select "Unlimited."
    • Quotas are only supported by the PureFTPd service, not Pro-FTPd.
  8. Click "Create FTP Account."

For more information about the cPanel "FTP Accounts" interface, please review our documentation:

FTP Accounts | cPanel Docs

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