Setting up an NT FTP server for a user.

This document outlines a method to configure an NT FTP server to place a user in their home directory once they log into their FTP site.

1. Create the user account.

I tend to make these people members of the Domain Guest Group (You must always have a primary Group).

Then I add the "Log on Locally", without this ability the user cannot authenticate to the machine and log on using FTP.

2. Create the home directory.

For security to be correctly applied you must place the users home directory on an NTFS partition.

I tend to place the users space onto a separate Disk partition to the main system one. Usually this would be something like:-

D:\USERS\username

Now you must apply the appropriate Rights you require the user to have on this directory - Read/Write.

3. Create the FTP directory.

Within the IIS admin utility create a virtual directory /username that points to the directory we have just created. Change the access rights to the directory from READ to READ and WRITE.

Also remember to check that the user authentication is not restricted to anonymous only.

4. Test the theory.

If you now log in as the user you have created then you will find yourself in the directory you just created. To proove this you will have to create some files and view them throught the FTP client and Explorer. If you type cd / within the FTP client you quite often will not see the virtual directory you have just come from, but if you CD /username you will find yourself back in the original directory.

Note: If you create a directory within the FTP root directory of the same name as the user you are using to log in with, the same as this process should also be true.