Knowledge Base

OFF97: Error Message "Cannot connect to the FTP server" When You Access an FTP Site

Article ID: 161437

Article Last Modified on 1/19/2007

APPLIES TO

This article was previously published under Q161437

SYMPTOMS

In the products listed above, when you click Open on the File menu, select a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site, and then click Open, error messages similar to the following may appear:
Cannot connect to the FTP server on the computer named 'ftp.microsoft.com'.

-and-

The folder 'ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/' isn't accessible. The folder may be located on an unavailable volume or protected with a password.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if you are connected to the Internet by a proxy server, and the FTP proxy settings are not set correctly in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

RESOLUTION

To correct the FTP proxy settings, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Internet.
  3. Click the Connection tab, and click Settings.
  4. Under Servers, click to clear the Use the same proxy server for all protocols check box.
  5. In the FTP box, type the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for your FTP gateway server. For example:

          ftp://ftpgate

  6. Click to clear the Port box to the right of the FTP box.
  7. Click OK and OK.
You can connect to an FTP site from the Open dialog box of the products listed at the beginning of this article.

If you still cannot connect to a FTP site, check with your network administrator and confirm you are referring to the correct FTP gateway server.

To check the FTP server name, follow these steps:
  1. On the File menu, click Open.
  2. Click Add/Modify FTP Locations, in the Look in box, select the name of the FTP server to which you want to connect, and then click Remove.
  3. Type the server name in the Name of FTP Site box and click OK.
You may need to quit and restart the program before you connect to an external FTP site.

MORE INFORMATION

In the products listed at the beginning of this article, you can use the Open dialog box to connect to an FTP site on the Internet and a local intranet.

To Connect to an FTP Site

Follow these steps:
  1. On the File menu, click Open.
  2. In the Look in box, click the name of the FTP site.
  3. If the FTP site is not listed, click Add/Modify FTP Locations. type the name of the FTP site, select a logon type, and click OK. In the Open dialog box, click the name of the FTP site, and click Open.
The contents of the FTP site are listed in the Open dialog box. You can open folders and files as if they were stored on your local hard disk drive.

When you access an external FTP site using Microsoft Internet Explorer, only the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) proxy settings must be correct because Microsoft Internet Explorer uses the HTTP protocol to emulate FTP when you connect to an FTP site.

The programs listed at the beginning of this article require that the FTP proxy settings be correct when you access an external FTP site. This is because these programs do not use the HTTP protocol to emulate FTP, instead the FTP proxy settings are used. If you select Use the same proxy server for all protocols in Control Panel, you may be unable to access external FTP sites with Office programs.

Additional query words: XL97 PPT97 Word97 file transfer protocol

Keywords: kbualink97 KB161437


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