Regardless, here’s how to start an FTP connection from Mac OS X to a remote server: This is an elaboration on a tip from Land of Daniel via TUAW, who goes on to explain how to get ftpd to launch automatically on reboot, so if you’re interested in that, don’t miss their post.If you want to test this by connecting to a real server, use and login as a Guest. Generally speaking, because SFTP is much more secure, that is what you should be using for remote file transfers and connections though, so keep that in mind if you plan on hosting any kind of server to the outside world, or even if you just want to have secured file transfers yourself to and from remote Macs. Nonetheless, FTP and FTPS servers are still around ( as are clients for that matter), so it’s simply a matter of using the terminal to enable the server side of things.

Though it’s not entirely clear why Apple pulled the easy frontend to FTP sharing, it’s possible they are simply choosing to favor SFTP because it’s a more secure protocol, and by enabling one you enable both. Previously, an FTP Server option was a toggle within the general sharing preference panels like this: If you’re wondering how any of this is different from prior versions of OS X, you would have to look to Snow Leopard (10.6) or before to find the difference.

Obviously you can only shut down and disable the FTP server if it was enabled to begin with.ĭisabling SFTP is just a matter of unchecking the “Remote Login” box that sits within the Sharing Preference Panel of OS X. Sudo -s launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plistĪs the command suggests, this unloads the ftp daemon and shuts down the server. SFTP is recommended because of the default encryption layer and secure transferring. Note: The FTP and SFTP servers are different, and enabling one does not enable the other. You can verify that SFTP is working by typing this at the command line: Update: Our much more detailed guide on Remote Login and SSH Server is here.

Click on the checkbox next to “Remote Login” to enable SSH and SFTP.

Launch System Preferences and go to “Sharing”.

Enabling SFTP is actually easier than FTP on the Mac these days: Enabling the SFTP Server in OS XĪs you probably know, FTP is unencrypted and as a result as fallen out of favor for security reasons. You can then FTP from other Macs via the same ftp command, or by using the “Connect to Server” option in the Finder. If you don’t see that, then the server either hasn’t finished starting yet or you didn’t enter the command properly.

Confirm the FTP server works by typing:Ģ20 ::1 FTP server (tnftpd 20100324+GSSAPI) ready.

Sudo -s launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist

Launch the Terminal (/Applications/Utilities) and enter the following command to start the FTP server:.

This will start a generic FTP and FTPS server on the Mac, but not an SFTP server:

Setup ftp server mac catalina