How to Enter FTP Site Password in Internet Explorer

ID: Q135975

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 2.0, 3.0, 3.01, 3.02, 4.0, 4.01 Service Pack 1, 5 for Windows 95
Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 2.0, 3.0, 3.01, 3.02, 4.0, 4.01 Service Pack 1, 5 for Windows NT 4.0
Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5 for Windows 98
Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 3.0, 3.01, 3.02a, 4.0 for Windows 3.1
Microsoft Windows 98

SYMPTOMS

When you try to log on to an File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site using a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or Internet address of the form

   ftp://<user>@<ftp server>/<url-path>

you may receive one of the following error messages:

The attempt to open "ftp://<user>@<ftp server>/<url-path>" failed or was canceled.
The password was not allowed.

CAUSE

Microsoft Internet Explorer does not support password prompting for FTP connections.

RESOLUTION

To log on to an FTP site that requires a password in Internet Explorer, type the URL in this form

   ftp://<user>:<password>@<ftp server>/<url-path>

where <user> is your user name, <ftp server> is the ftp server address, <password> is the password, and <url-path> is the directory to log in to.

NOTE: If you are a member of a domain then "ftp://<domain- name\username>:<password>@<url-path>" may fail because the "\" is sent in as a literal and Internet Explorer incorrectly looks for a file instead of parsing a Web address. Changing the "\" in the <domain-name\username> to <domainname%5Cusername> works correctly.

MORE INFORMATION

Note that this is not a secure method of logging on, as the password is viewable in plain text. If you require additional security, use the FTP client included with Windows 95.

Additional query words: 2.0 3.0

Keywords          : kberrmsg kbusage msiew95 msient msiew31 msiew98 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: March 18, 1999