Cannot connect to ftp through FileZilla

June 29, 2013 42.5k views
george.semaan
By:
george.semaan
I just followed the instruction of this link to install a vsftpd: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-set-up-vsftpd-on-ubuntu-12-04 I then: chown root:root /home/reddit because /reddit/ is the folder I want to have access to through ftp When I connect through putty, it says Connected to 37.139.5.242. 220 (vsFTPd 2.3.5) Name (37.139.5.242:root): But when I do it through filezilla I get that the password is incorrect. I'm using my root account. PS: sorry for posting too many topics but I'm new to this and I'm trying to set up my project.
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15 Answers
george.semaan June 29, 2013
I added a new user with a new password but I'm still getting the same error.
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george.semaan June 30, 2013
It won't work.

I installed vsftpd correctly. I added a new user, I changed /usr/sbin/visudo and I added the new user with root privileges inside. I gave the new user access to its own folder under /home/username

even though I wanna access /home/reddit/ and not /home/username/

But it would still not connect in FileZilla
Reply
postbox June 11, 2015

doesnt work for me

judts cant connect with filezilla.

Reply
amjithps June 11, 2015

Even I cant connect through SFTP also

Reply
george.semaan June 29, 2013
EDIT: this is the error I get on FileZilla

Response: 530 Login incorrect.
Error: Critical error
Error: Could not connect to server
Reply
kamaln7 MOD June 29, 2013
You can't login as root. You have to create a new user:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-add-and-delete-users-on-ubuntu-12-04-and-centos-6
How To Add and Delete Users on Ubuntu 12.04 and CentOS 6
by Etel Sverdlov
This tutorial covers the basic commands to add, grant permissions to, and delete users. It is written for both CentOS and Ubuntu.
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george.semaan June 29, 2013
This is the error I'm getting

Response: 500 OOPS: vsftpd: refusing to run with writable root inside chroot()
Reply
kamaln7 MOD June 30, 2013
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-set-up-vsftpd-on-ubuntu-12-04

Follow what it says in the last bit of the second section (where it starts with "Because of a recent vsftpd upgrade").
How To Set Up vsftpd on Ubuntu 12.04
by Etel Sverdlov
Vsftpd is a fast and secure FTP server. Installing an FTP server can assist you with uploading files to your droplet. This tutorial describes how to install and set up vsftpd on Ubuntu 12.04.
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george.semaan June 30, 2013
I think it worked. I am now being able to enter /files/ inside /home/username/files via FileZilla to upload/download files.

But I originally wanted access to /home/reddit/ so I can upload files to my site.
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george.semaan June 30, 2013
EDIT: I fixed it. Turns out all I needed to do was create a new user with the name 'reddit' and it was done.
Reply
smd February 27, 2015

The solution for this case is really simple.
After install and configure the vsftpd (https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-vsftpd-on-ubuntu-12-04), follow the steps bellow:

1 - Create an user:

sudo adduser youruser

It will create an folder inside the root /home folder.
2 - Own its folder for root:

sudo chown root:root /home/youruser

3 - Create at least one folder inside its root folder:

sudo mkdir /home/youruser/www

4 - Own the folder to user:

sudo chown -R youruser:youruser /home/youruser/www

5 - Ready! Now you can try to connect via FileZilla or other similar application and transfer files.

Maybe the step 2 is not necessary. Try it. ;)

Regards.

Reply
amjithps June 11, 2015

To me also the same problem.

I cannot connect through FTP, 3 days ago i bought and added droplet on digitalocean. Now still waiting for solution how to connect through FTP. I have posted this on support, but for 2 days there is no response even.

I feels!!

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  • Aprexer June 11, 2015

    Unless you actually install a ftp server onto the droplet you won't be able to connect, only sftp.

juagir December 2, 2015

Finally after some hours:

I created users using useradd, and those doesn't work.. i delete it and create again with adduser.. it works!!!

Reply
AlvaroM July 1, 2016

run sudo nano /etc/vsftpd.conf

add the following line

pamservicename=ftp

restart ftp

sudo service vsftpd restart

Reply
lifesound May 16, 2017

Is sftp instal ed by default with digital ocean !?? For any droplet ??

So why it doesn't work??

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