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Use active and passive FTP in IE for file transfers

The FTP protocol supports two modes: active and passive. With active mode, the client establishes a

connection to the server on port 21. Then the client sends a PORT command to the FTP server to

specify the port on which the client will receive the data. The server establishes a new connection

to the client and sends the data from port 20. Many firewalls don't accept new incoming connections

from an external interface, so even though the firewall allows ports 20 and 21, it drops the

incoming connection from the server and the FTP session fails.



For that reason, you might need to use passive mode for FTP. In this mode, the client issues a

PASV command to the server, which opens a port at 1024 or higher (the range depends on the

server). The server uses the new port as the source for the data, which eliminates the need to

establish a new connection to the client, and therefore, gets around the problem of the firewall

dropping the connection.



IE supports both active and passive FTP modes. When you use folder view for FTP in IE, it uses

active FTP. You can configure it for passive mode if necessary to make FTP work through your

firewall.



Open IE, go to Tools | Internet Options and click the Advanced tab.

Place a check beside the option Use Passive FTP.

Remove the check beside the option Enable Folder View For FTP Sites.

Click OK.



An important point to understand is that when you enable folder view, IE operates in active mode

regardless of the state of the Use Passive FTP option. You must turn off folder view to use passive

mode.

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