If FTP isn’t working in Chrome, Firefox or Edge on a Windows PC and you are looking for a solution, you have come to the right place. We wrote this post because we received emails asking why FTP wasn’t working in their browser. You should know that Google Chrome deprecated the option to enable or disable the FTP setting a long time ago. It will be a waste of time if you’re looking for it in the browser. Nevertheless, if you are using an earlier version or a different browser, you can try the following suggestions to resolve the FTP not working in the browser issue.
FTP not working in Edge, Chrome or Firefox browser
If FTP is not working in your browser, follow these steps:
- Know the credentials
- Enable FTP in Windows Features
- Check FTP settings in Firefox browser
To learn more about these steps, continue reading.
1] Know the credentials
To use an FTP server, you need its credentials. Without knowing the username and password, you may not be able to access the FTP server in the browser. Whether you use Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge, you can’t access the server without the credentials.
However, it doesn’t apply when you are trying to access a public FTP server. There are some companies that offer their downloads via FTP server to the public. In those cases, you may not need a username and password.
2] Enable FTP in Windows Features
In order to use FTP in the browser, you need to enable three things – FTP Server, Web Management Tools, and World Wide Web Services. All three are optional features and aren’t enabled by default. Whether you use Windows 11, Windows 10, or another version of Windows, you need to enable them manually.
Without enabling these three tools, you won’t be able to use FTP in the browser. Whether it is your personal FTP server or public FTP, you need to enable these three features. For your information, you do not need to download third-party software. Instead, you can use the Windows Features panel to get the job done.
To enable FTP in Windows 11/10, follow these steps:
- Search for windows features in the Taskbar search box.
- Click on the individual search result.
- Tick the Internet Information Services checkbox.
- Make sure all three checkboxes are ticked.
- Click the OK button.
- Restart your computer.
After that, check if you can access FTP in the browser or not.
3] Check FTP settings in Firefox browser
Although Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge don’t offer an option to enable or disable FTP in the browser, you can turn this setting on or off in Firefox. Therefore, if you are using the Mozilla Firefox browser, follow these steps to enable FTP:
- Open the Firefox browser on your computer.
- Enter about:config in the address bar.
- Click the Accept the Risk and Continue button.
- Search for ftp.
- If the status is set to false, double-click on the value to set it true.
Then restart your computer and check whether it resolves the issue.
That’s all! Hope this guide helped.
Read: How to access FTP Server using Notepad++
Why is FTP not working in Chrome?
Google has removed FTP support from Google Chrome. You can’t use Google Chrome as an FTP client. Instead, use a dedicated FTP client on your computer.
Why is FTP not working Firefox?
The FTP protocol is disabled by default in the latest version of Mozilla Firefox. If you are using the latest version of this browser, you need to enable it manually. For that, open the Configuration panel and search for ftp. Then, double-click on it to set the value as true.
Read: Cyberduck: Free FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Google Drive client for Windows PC.
