I have two machines behind the same firewall/router - one is a Windows 7 workstation and the other is a Windows 2003 server. The problem is with outgoing FTP access using a FileZilla FTP client (note: not FileZilla server) on the Windows 2003 server. Using FileZilla client on the Win7 workstation I am able to connect to a specific external FTP site using passive mode without issue. However, when I try the same thing from FileZilla client on the Windows 2003 server it hangs when attempting to retrieve the directory list. The log output is as follows: Status: Resolving address of xxxxx.com Status: Connecting to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:21... Status: Connection established, waiting for welcome message... Response: 220---------- Welcome to ... Command: USER ... Response: 331 User ... OK. Password required Command: PASS ************* Response: 230 OK. Current directory is / Command: SYST Response: 215 UNIX Type: L8 Command: FEAT Response: 211-Extensions supported: Response: EPRT Response: IDLE Response: MDTM Response: SIZE Response: REST STREAM Response: MLST type*;size*;sizd*;modify*;UNIX.mode*;UNIX.uid*;UNIX.gid*;unique*; Response: MLSD Response: ESTP Response: PASV Response: EPSV Response: SPSV Response: 211 End. Status: Connected Status: Retrieving directory listing... Command: PWD Response: 257 "/" is your current location Command: TYPE I Response: 200 TYPE is now 8-bit binary Command: PASV Response: 227 Entering Passive Mode (xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx,164,24) Command: MLSD Error: Connection timed out Error: Failed to retrieve directory listing As you can see, a connection over port 21 is established and a request to enter passive mode results in port 42008 being established. But the attempt to retrieve data over that port fails. This works flawlessly on the Win7 machine which indicates the firewall they share is not the problem. I have also discovered that this is specific to one FTP site that I use, mostly because the passive port returned from that server is over 42000. For two other site that I connect to from the Win2003 box the passive ports are under 5000 and FileZilla connects without issue. It appears in this case that Windows Server 2003 is blocking traffic on certain ports. The Windows Firewall service isn't running on this device so I can eliminate that as the culprit. I ran across and tried this KB article (support.microsoft.com/kb/196271) that outlined the a problem using outbound ports > 5000 on Win2003. I added the registry key, but it doesn't appear to correct the issue. Still, this would appears to be exactly the cause of the problem. Strange. I've tried WireShark and it shows the packet trying to get to the FTP server over the specified port, but no response is received. All suggestions welcome. Bob Mc.

failed to retrieve directory listing shows me you are making a connection on that port. If it were not, you would get an ECONNABORTED message. So what this looks more like is that your connection strong does not match what it is set up for on the hosting server. Check that out first. *a

Alex, Thanks for the reply. Interesting analysis. I was unaware of the ECONNABORTED message. However, I'm not sure what you mean by "connection string". If you mean the credentials, as you can see from the log I posted I receive "Response: 230 OK. Current directory is /" after sending the user name and password. Since I'm validated at that point, what connection string doesn't match? Bob Mc.

Further information: I am no longer certain that ports are being blocked. I wrote a socket listener program running on a Win7 workstation that listens on port 52000. Then from the Win2003 server I telnet into the workstation using the address and port, and the program responds. So the Win2003 box can clearly communicate within the same LAN over ephemeral ports. Strange, Bob Mc.

Bob, I mean that there are additional variables that need to be set. They are: username, password, is it FTP, FTPS, SFTP, what is the home directory and do you have access to the virtual or physical folder specified for you. Needless to say, this is not a Windows issue. This is due to the program running the FTP service. I'd be happy to help with that too. Let me know if you can elaborate on that front.*a

Alex, It's plain old FTP. Yes I have validated access to the home directory because I can connect just fine using the same credentials from a Win7 workstation running the same FTP client software (FileZilla) same ISP, same firewall, etc. The only difference is one computer is running Win7 and one computer is running Win2003. So since I can connect, download a file listing, upload and download files, delete files, and perform all FTP functions from the Win7 computer I have deduced that the problem is a configuration setting, or something related, on the Win2003 computer. Thanks for helping, Alex. Much appreciated. All other suggestions welcome. Bob Mc.

Bob, I am still convinved its an application issue with the FTP software. We can take this offline if you'd like. And allow others to respond to this thread, and see if they have an experience or opinion that may differ from mine. Regards,*a

That's fine with me. How do we take this offline? I'm not ruling out a problem with the FTP software, either client or server. I'm not ruling out anything at this point. It just seems unlikely based on what I'm seeing. Thanks again, Bob Mc.

Alex, I appears you may have been correct. I had some back-and-forth with the server admin, and he modified something and/or rebooted the server and, voilá, everything started working. Grrrrrr! Pulled my hair out for weeks and it may not have been a problem on my side at all. Thanks, Bob Mc.

I am happy to hear it. Glad our chats helped. Regards.*a