Connecting to an FTP Server with an FTP Client

The first thing to do if you want to use an FTP client (software) is to connect it to the FTP server of your web hosting account. If you don't know what an FTP client is, please visit What's the Best Way to Upload Files to a Server. Here are the instructions how to connect to an FTP server and the FTP client that I'm using is FileZilla Client:

• Make sure you have an Internet and run a web browser to check the Manual Settings or the details of your FTP account. For cPanel user, follow these instructions to find the Manual Settings. But even a different web hosting control panel that's quite similar to cPanel can follow this but maybe with a different action as just example:
  1. Go to and login to your cPanel.
  2. Click on “FTP Accounts” which is located in the Files (heading) section.
  3. There may configurations that you can use for your FTP client and these are the better two:

     In the FTP Accounts section, look for the row with the exact PATH of the Document Root of your Addon Domain or Subdomain and click the “Configure FTP Client” action on that row. And if there's no exact FTP Path, you can just Add FTP Account with the Directory of your domain's root and “Configure...” that new FTP account.

     Or in the Special FTP Accounts section, you can seek the row with the PATH of the parent directory of the Document Root of your domain. For example if your domain's root is "/home/USER/public_html", the parent of that root is "/home/USER". And after that, click the “Configure FTP Client” action on that row.

  4. These are the two specific results for those 2 specific actions on the previous step:

     And now, you will see the Manual Settings with the path of your domain or subdomain name for your FTP client.

     The Manual Settings that you'll see in the second configuration have a PATH of the parent folder of your domain's document root.

  Here is another way to find the details of your FTP user for other kind of control panel, or if this isn't the exact way to find those details in your c-panel, just use a logic, at least to get some tips:
  1. Go to and login to your web hosting control panel.
  2. If you didn't redirect to the Home of your control panel but to the other page such Special Offers after logging in your web hosting account, just find a way to the control panel's home, you can try to click on "Home".
  3. In the Website Manager (heading) section of the Home of your c-panel, click on “FTP Manager”.
  4. Then find a compatible user on the FTP users in your account for your domain or subdomain:

     Check the details of the row with the exact FTP Path as the Path of your Domain Name or Subdomain Name. If there's no exact path, you can first “Create FTP Account” with the FTP Path as your domain's path, then check the row of that new FTP account.

     Or check the details of the row with the FTP Path of the folder that contains the folder with the Path of your Domain Name or Subdomain Name. For example if your domain's path is "/home/www/example.com", the FTP Path that contains the folder with your domain's path is "/home/www".

  And don't close this web browser with the specific web page 'cause it will guide you on the next steps.

• Open another program FTP client, which in this tutorial is FileZilla Client. Just make sure that there's no other thing on the front of the application interface such welcome note, you can just do a specific action to remove it. If you don't have an FTP client yet, here are the 9 Steps to Install an FTP Client on Windows.
• Next, do the following on the quick connect bar (1 to 4) of your FTP client (software) to connect it on your hosting server with the help of the Manual Settings or the details of your FTP account:
  1. Write your FTP Server or FTP hostname in the Host field (1).
  2. Write your FTP Username in the Username field (2).
  3. Write your secret password of that FTP Account in the Password field (3).
  4. You may leave the Port field (A) empty unless your Manual Settings or FTP account's details specifies a certain FTP Server Port to use.
  And then, click on "Quickconnect" (4) to start connecting your FTP client.
• Your FTP client is now connecting to your web hosting server. And when the message log (5) displays a message such Response: 530 Login incorrect., the incorrect detail that you've inputted maybe the password. You can change some Manual Settings or FTP details on the FTP Accounts or FTP Manager in your control panel. And when the message log (5) displays such Status: Directory listing successful, your FTP client is successfully connected.

In FileZilla, once you've been connected to your FTP server, when you open the FTP client again, there is the connection history that will appear after clicking the “down arrow” button on the side of the "Quickconnect" button (4). It can be use to connect to the history, just click on “down arrow” (4) and click on [your username]@[your host] to connect to your server without typing some details of your FTP account again.