Using FTP in Internet Explorer 7 Print

To start this article off, I'd like to first note that we DO NOT suggest using Internet Explorer or any web browser for connecting to FTP. Simply put, web browsers are for browsing the web. Your refrigerator would cool your house if you left the door open, but it's not intended for that purpose. Similarly, browsers are not intended to function as an FTP client and, while they do support some FTP-like features, they are very limited in their FTP functionality.

In fact, Internet Explorer itself doesn't handle any FTP functions. Back in IE6, you could connect to your FTP site using:

ftp://yourdomain.com

where "yourdomain.com" is the name of your domain name. Behind the scenes, Internet Explorer was simply passing control over to Windows Explorer which would then take care of the FTP functionality. In IE7, this functionality is no longer automatic and you must manually specify that you would like to open the site for FTP in Windows Explorer.

If you are using IE7, you now have to specify the following link to access your site via FTP:

ftp://[email protected]

where 'username' is your cPanel username and 'yourdomain.com' is your domain name. Upon visiting this link, you will be prompted with a login box. After authenticating, you will see a listing of your files, but no real FTP functionality. In fact, you cannot upload or download files. You are only presented with a listing of your file structure and can browse through your files.

However, you can still tell IE7 to open this site in Windows Explorer where you will get the FTP functionality you're used to in IE6. Simply click on Page in the upper right corner and select "Open FTP Site in Windows Explorer". After opening the site in Windows Explorer select "Login As..." from the File menu and you will be prompted again for login credentials. Once authenticated, you can drag and drop files as you did in IE6.

For full details on connecting to FTP with IE7, please view our video demo:

FTP using Internet Explorer 7

Our recommendations are to simply download an actual FTP client and use it for file transfers. A browser will do in a pinch, but if you want features such as FTP logging and resuming a partially completed file, an FTP client is the only way to go.

Feel free to browse our FTP video demos, we have demos showing how to setup and use some of the most popular FTP clients.

FTP Demos