SecureFT will give this error when it is blocked by a firewall. Check your PC’s firewall settings first, and exempt SecureFT if necessary. If there is a firewall on the host, you’ll need to verify that it has port 21 open for FTP or Secure FTP, or port 22 for Secure Copy transfers.

Some FTP servers will show an empty directory in the Century FTP Client or SecureFT. This happens when the server uses a different directory item structure than the client’s default. The following steps will change the default in the Century FTP Client:

1. Open the Century FTP Client. It displays the configuration dialog automatically.
2. Click the View/Sort tab.
3. Set the Directory Item Structure value by clicking the Set Default button.
4. Edit the Directory Item Structure value for the required format.

The steps for SecureFT are (also available as a screencast):

1. Go to the Edit menu and select Setup.
2. Click the Directory Structure tab.
3. Click the item under Active Items you want to change.
4. Click the Push button to move it to the Inactive Items. Or use the up and down arrows on the left to change the item’s position in the list.

The required format may be found by connecting to the FTP server using a command-line client, such as the one included in Windows. After connecting, type “dir” at the prompt for a directory item listing. The default format used by the graphical FTP client is:

-rwxrw-rw- 1 owner group 32 May 19 21:35 file.txt

This corresponds to Directory Item Structure:

ATTRIBUTE UNKNOWN USER GROUP SIZE MON DATE TIME FILENAME

Compare the listing on the FTP server with the listing above and change the order as needed, removing any directory items not displayed. The most common change needed is to remove the GROUP item.