If you’ve been administrating IIS for any amount of time and had a need for FTP service you know that Windows Server has been lacking in that arena for years. With the release of Server 2008 and IIS 7 I was hoping to see some improvements, but alas it wasn’t to be. As I started to once again consider 3rd party alternatives for FTP, Microsoft released FTP Publishing Service for IIS 7.0, as a separate download.
Completely rewritten from the ground up the FTP service incorporates new features, security, & deployment options for FTP on Server 2008. The following are some of the improvements you will find in this release:
- Integration with IIS 7.0 – If you have used the FTP service that ships with Server 2008, you know that it was the same as the one that shipped with Server 2003, and you were even forced to install the management console for IIS 6 to manage it. With this release it has an updated administrative interface; it removes the use of the IIS 6 metabase and replaces it with a configuration store based on .NET XML-based *.config format.
- Secure FTP Service – Now you can use SSL to secure your FTP service.
- IPv6 Support – Forward looking for support when the conversion to IPv6 takes place
- Improved FTP Logging – Enhanced to include unique tracking for FTP tracking and includes all FTP related traffic with detailed FTP messages in the logs.
- Authentication for Non-Windows Accounts – Added support for Web Manager authentication and ASP .NET Membership authentication, allowing webmasters to use non-windows accounts to authenticate FTP users.
- Support for Virtual Hosts – Now FTP is available for virtual sites hosted on same IP
FTP Publishing for IIS 7 Requirements
The following requirements need to be met before you install the new FTP service:
- Must be using Windows Server 2008
- IIS 7 must be installed – See installing IIS 7 if you need help
- Must install the FTP service as an administrator
- IIS 7 administration tool installed to manage the service using the IIS 7 interface
- The FTP service that shipped with Server 2008 MUST be UNINSTALLED.
Download Microsoft FTP Publishing Service for IIS 7.0
Download the correct version depending on the server version you are using:
How to Install FTP for IIS 7
Ok, we got that all out of the way let’s go ahead and get our hands dirty with the actual installation of the service and take it for a test spin.
1. After download go ahead and navigate to the directory and double click the MSI file. After a second you will get the following Welcome window, click Next to move on
2. The License terms are up next, go ahead and place a check next to I accept the terms in the License Agreement and click Next
3. No typical setup for the power users of FTP! Custom setup is the only option and this screen shows you your options for install.
The only one I can really see as being option is the Managed Code Support, if you would be using any kind of code to work with the FTP service. In this instance we will install everything, by clicking Next.
If you are worried about disk space you can check what you have available by clicking Disk Usage. The total space required by the full install of this service is 4387KB.
4. The moment of truth! Click on the Install button to start the installation of the FTP service.
5. The install process will start and check that your server has all the requirements.
If one of the requirements is not met you will get a window that tells what service is missing and where to go to install it.
6. At the end of the setup routine you will see the following screen, which also has access to the release notes. Click on Finish, to complete the install.
That completes the install instructions for FTP Publishing Service for IIS 7. Let’s take a quick look at what it takes to configure a new FTP site.
How to Create an Anonymous FTP Site
Anonymous FTP sites are useful when you have files that you want to distribute to the public via FTP and do not require any kind of login or security.
1. Start Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager
2. Right click on Sites, and left click on Add FTP Site. You can also click on Add FTP Site in the Actions pane.
3. Now add a FTP site name and a file location for the public files. In this case I will use TSTPublicFTP.com and created the directory publicftp under C:/inetpub, but you can place the files in any directory.
4. Choose an IP address or the default All Unassigned, leave the virtual host space blank, you can leave the Start FTP site automatically checked, SSL Certificate can be set at Not Selected, and the radio button set to Allow SSL, click Next to continue.
5. The next window lets you set the access rights through the FTP service. In our instance we are going to check the box next to Anonymous in the Authentication box.
Set the dropdown to Anonymous users and check the box next to Read rights. These settings will allow all anonymous users to connect to this site with Read-only rights.
Click Finish to continue.
6. After a short pause you will be able to see that the FTP site was added to the IIS Manager console, and can be managed from there.
In this article we have installed Microsoft FTP Publishing Service for IIS 7.0 and configured a public anonymous access FTP site for users to connect to.
Hello,
I implemented the above steps exactly however I still cannot view the ftp contents.
I am using IE 7 to FTP, and the Windows 2008 Server is on the DMZ.
This is what i get…
-The logon screen comes on. If i select Log on Anonymously, then it fills in Anonymous for username and E-mail of ieuser@microsoft.com but still doesn’t show the content of the publicftp folder, and it comes back with the logon screen again.
I do not get errors.
Then I removed Anonymous on the ftp site and added Gomer and an ftpuser. Then enabled user authentication and IIS Manager Credentials.
Still no go. And same thing. Doesn’t show anything, and simply comes back with the logon screen again.
I figured FTP should be simple, so whatever is stopping me should not be a big thing. But I cannot find it.
Please advise.
Thank you.
I can’t use the FTP service for my website I’ve hosted. I can’t find the FTP publishing service anywhere.
Please do help
How do I connect to my ftp through web browser?
I typed ftp://xx.xxx.xx.xx/ where ”..xx..” is my IP address but the page was not found.
I can connect by total commander without problems, it’s just the web browser that doesn’t list anything.
tanks for the help!!!
Hello All;
I found out how to make to work FTP on server 2008.
1. Click on the Allow a program through windows Firewall.
2. Go to the Exceptions from the firewall and add the port for your FTP. (Default is 21)
Hope this will work for you, it start working for me
Paul
Interesting info, I’ve tried to used it, but ended op needing to uninstall IIS/FTP on my SBS 2008.
Can’t find related info.
can you provide this?
regrds
Ben
Hi Ben,
Try using servermanagercmd – remove Web-Ftp-Publishing
Best Regards,
DR
Must be using Windows Server 2008
IIS 7 must be installed – See Installing IIS 7 if you need help
Must install the FTP service as an administrator
IIS 7 administration tool installed to manage the service using the IIS 7 interface
The FTP service that shipped with Server 2008 MUST be UNINSTALLED.
So you install IIS 7 which I assume installs the FTP Service. Then before you install the new FTP service, you uninstall the FTP service that shipped with Server 2008? How do you do that?
Thanks,
I echo Gary… how do you uninstall FTP service that shipped with SBS 2008?
Thanks.
@ David/Gary
the FTP service is an option you can check when installing the web server role. If you accidentally added this with the role you need to go into roles and remove that service under the web server role. Hope this helps
Sean
Dave,
Your article was excellent and worked wonderfully. However, there is an unexpected consequence.
This installation causes any connections to Microsoft Entourage to quit working. Apparently Entourage uses the default ftp setup from IIS6 to connect to the server Exchange mailbox. I’ve been all ovef the web and others have experienced similar problems, but no one has found a fix.
My one Mac user on the network now hates me.
Any thoughts?
David
The FTP service download links are incorrect. They are for IIS 7.5
64-bit
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=22045
32-bit
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=14045
Thanks for the heads up Chad! The content on those download pages has apparently been updated since this article was published in 2008.