This tutorial will guide you through all the steps of setting up a FTP server on your Windows Home Server (WHS), so as to allow users to access specific folders of your WHS from anywhere in the world with only a FTP Client.

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Instead of using the pre-installed Microsoft IIS FTP server component, I have chosen to replace it with the open-source Filezilla FTP Server, which is easy to install and configure, yet very powerful (it’s in my humble opinion the best FTP server out there too )

1. Prerequisites

This part of the tutorial is for users who have never installed any special program on their WHS box, such as the uTorrent client with WebUI for example. if you have already done so, jump to the next chapter!

2. We need to install a very handful add-in on your WHS: WHS Advanced Admin Console. It will give us more control on your box, and most of all, show you what’s behind the WHS Console!
   Download the .msi file, then install it onto your WHS following the normal procedure as described on your WHS user manual.
3. Once installed, click on the tab “Advanced Admin Console” en click on “Minimize” link at bottom right corner.

 
4. You will see the WHS Desktop which looks like an empty XP/Vista Desktop. Open the “Start menu“
5. Select “All Programs” > “Administrative Tools” > “Computer Management”
6. On the Computer Management dialog, expand “Local Users and Groups” and select “Users“.

 
7. In the toolbar menu, select “Action” then click on “New Users…“.

 
8. Fill in the details in the New User dialog, making certain to un-tick the first checkbox and tick the second and third checkboxes, then hit the “Create button“.
9. Close the “New User” window dialog.
10. Right-click on the newly created user and select “Properties“.
11. Select the “Member Of” tab and click the “Add…” button.
12. In the “Select Groups” dialog type “Administrators” into the available textarea and hit the “OK” button.

 
13. Click the “OK” button in the “User Properties” window dialog.
14. Close the “Computer Management” window.
15. Click on the “Start” menu and select “Log Off“.

2. Installation

1. Download the latest version of Filezilla FTP Server and put the executable in one of your shared folders of your WHS box.
2. Open a “Windows Remote Desktop” from another home computer and connect to your WHS server with your newly created user login details (or reuse the ones of your uTorrent or other service already installed)
3. Once logged in, locate the Filezilla Server setup executable, and open it

 
4. Click on “I agree“, leave the “Standard” default setting for the installation type and hit “Next“.

 
5. Choose your destination folder. I recommend not changing the “C:\Program Files\Filezilla Server\“. Click on “Next“.

 
6. Change no settings on the next install screen and click on “Next“.

 
7. Again, leave the default settings on this installation screen and click on “Next“

 
8. Wait for installation to finish and click on “Close“.

 

3. Filezilla FTP Server configuration

1. The “Filezilla Server Administration” window should open once installation complete.

 
2. Click on the “Edit” menu and select “Settings“.

 
3. Select “Passive mode settings” in the left listbox, and force “Retrieve external IP address from” option. This is because your WHS server is most probably behind a NAT.
   
   You can eventually also tick the option “Don’t use external IP for local connections” (for faster DNS resolution when accessing your FTP on LAN) and use a “Custom Port Range” (I put 5000-5100 for I can easily open this port range in my routeur)

 
4. Then select the “Admin Interface settings“, and eventually change the port and set the IPs allowed to administrate the FTP server in “IP Adresses which are allowed to connect to the admin interface” (I put only the LAN IP in my case, for security reasons)

 
5. Click on “OK” and close the Admin Interface (be sure the FTP server is still active)
6. Do not forget to configure the “Users” and “Groups” settings. You need to create at least one user to access your content by FTP. To do so, select the “Edit” menu and click on “Users“. I won’t go through the whole user creation process, but the important info you need to know is if you want to setup the same home directory as your WHS shared folders, you should input “D:\shares“.

4. Windows Firewall configuration

We are at the final step, but this is required, else your FTP server won’t be accessible by your LAN.

1. Click on the “Start” menu, then “Control Panel” and click on the “Windows Firewall” item.

 
2. Click on the “Exceptions” tab then on “Add Program” button.

 
3. Do not select “FileZilla Server Interface” in the dialog, but click on the “Browse…” button.

 
4. In the dialog, go to “C:\Program Files\FileZilla Server folder (or the folder where you installed the program) and select “FileZilla Server.exe” then click on “Open“.

 
5. Check the “FileZilla Server” was well added, and click on “OK” button. You can now close the “Windows Firewall“.

And voilà! That’s it, you have your FTP server running and reachable
Try connecting by FTP from another computer of your home LAN, and check that it all works. If not, verify the FTP server is well running, and no other Firewall or routeur configuration could troubleshoot you! You can refer to the official FAQ for help too.

Feel free to ask questions, post comments and feedbacks on this tutorial in the comments section