add ftp server service to windows xp/2k/2k3

This is the same process for w2k professional/xp or w2k/w2k3 server, just that xp and w2k pro can only accept 10 simultaneous connections.

1. Open control panel

2. Click Add/Remove programs

3. Click Add/Remove Windows Components

4. Highlight Internet Information Services (IIS)

5. Hit the Details button

6. Click File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Server

7. Hit Ok

8. Click Next - insert the operating system cd if requested

9. Click Finish

10. Click Programs, Administrative Tools, Internet Services Manager

11. Drill down to Default FTP Site, right-click and view the properties

12. Within ISM you can set the directory, account used, permissions, etc. By default you can login using anonymous and the directory is c:\inetpub\ftproot

13. Remember to make sure your router or firewall allows port 21 from wherever your clients are located

14. If your machine is on a public facing address I'd recommend not allowing write access, using hard to guess usernames and passwords or implementing ip address restrictions. You can't overestimate the appeal of free disk space to people in the wider world who might notice your additional service in their port scans. This is in addition to the other security recommendations from our other page, which are well worth a look if you're connected to the net, especially via broadband.

Remember that there are plenty of other ftp server programs out there other than iis and some of them have interesting features such as statistics, different levels of authentication and security and being able to throttle the bandwidth used by each client. They're well worth a look if you find your needs become more sophisticated. Some that I've used myself successfully:- CuteFTP and Serv-U, although I'm sure there are countless more good ftp servers out there.

deadmonkey