There are many reasons why you may be unable to connect to your website via FTP.


Locked FTP Access


All our FTP accounts are locked by default for security reasons to counter viruses that steal passwords stored in FTP clients.

We can unlock your account permanenelty to your IP address of your office which means you are 100% safe.

We can also set a time limit for any IP address to use FTP services with our hosting for a maximum of 28 days.


Domain Issues


You can have issues connecting to your domain via FTP if the nameservers have only just been changed or it the domain has just been purchased.

It can take up to 48 hours for the connection between the nameservers and the domain name to fully propagate across the Internet, and this can cause difficulty when connecting via FTP.

If you need to access your domain name via FTP during this period, you can use the IP address for the server, which you can find in your eXtend Control Panel, under FTP Details. Use the same username and password as you would use for your domain’s FTP account.


FTP Program


Some FTP software programs make it very difficult to find the settings you need to change in order to access websites via FTP. 


We recommend using an FTP program such as FileZilla, CuteFTP, or SmartFTP.


FTP Settings


Check your FTP settings within your program, the FTP Details are usually: 

Server: ftp.your-domain.com

Username: your-domain.com (without the www.)

Password: Your eXtend Control Panel password for the domain

Ports: Default


Some FTP programs give you more options. Some of the options to check are:

SFTP – should be set to ‘Off’

Passive/Active Transfers – should be set to ‘Passive’

If you are able to connect to your Windows FTP server, but unable to retrieve a directory listing, then your FTP connection needs to switch from ‘Passive’ to ‘Active’.


In your FTP client:

Disconnect your current connection to your server

Switch from ‘Passive’ to ‘Active’ in your client’s settings

Reconnect to your server

You should be able to retrieve the directory and upload to your server now.


Firewalls and Internet Connection


Your Internet connection or your firewall (such as Norton, ZoneAlarm, AVG Internet Security, etc.) may not allow FTP access.


Try switching your firewall off, and attempt to connect using FTP. If it does work, then the issue lies with your firewall settings. Turn your firewall back on, and review the options within to see if there is a setting for FTP.


FTP Errors 


As a last resort, check the errors that appear when you attempt to connect. Errors are often descriptive, and a quick search online will often reveal the solution.

A common error is “530 – Login Incorrect”. This suggests that your username or password are incorrect.