421 Sorry, cleartext sessions are not accepted on this server.

Question

I'm trying to access an ftp from my web browser, but I get the following error : 421 Sorry, cleartext sessions are not accepted on this server. Any ideas?

Answer 1

"421 Sorry, cleartext sessions are not accepted on this server" means that the server is using "FTP Over Explicit TLS/SSL". This is a Good Thing.

You might be able to fix it by giving the protocol "ftpes:" instead of "ftp:":

• ftpes://ftp.somesite.com/some_folder

  ... or ...

• ftps://ftp.somesite.com/some_folder

You'll probably need to use another FTP client besides your default browser.

I don't know if newer versions of IE support FTP over SSL.

Filezilla might be a good choice:

• https://filezilla-project.org/

Answer 2

In Filezilla.. under "File" click on the icon to open the "site manager".. then over to the right click on the "General" tab which is probably already open by default.

On the third line down where it says "Encryption".. choose "Require Explicit FTP over TLS"

That one worked fine for me.