Managing FTP accounts in cPanel

In this article, we will cover how to modify, add and delete FTP accounts for your website.

What is FTP?

FTP (or File Transfer Protocol) is a standard protocol used to transfer files between computers and servers. Using an FTP client, you will be able to upload and download files on another device, such as on your HostDash hosting account.

Each operating system has a variety of FTP clients available to use, including free & commercial FTP clients.

Using cPanel, you will be able to create (or delete) individual FTP accounts which will be used to authenticate your FTP client with.

Any user you provide your FTP credentials to will be able to see, modify, delete and add new files to your website though you can restrict specific FTP accounts to access certain directories.

Creating an FTP account

To create an FTP account in the cPanel control panel, follow the steps below.

• Log into your cPanel control panel. For a guide on how to log into cPanel, click here.
• Under the Files category, click FTP Accounts. Alternatively, using the search box search for FTP Accounts and click on the respective cPanel app.

• Under the Add FTP Account heading, in the Login box enter your desired FTP username.
  
  FTP usernames naturally take the form of an email address, such as [email protected] where ftpuser represents the value you insert in the Login box and @example.com represents your domain name.
• In the Password box, enter your desired password for the FTP account.
  
  Hint: You can click the Password Generator button to automatically generate a strong password.
• In the Password (again) box, enter the same password you entered above for verification purposes.
• In the Directory box, enter the directory you wish the FTP account to have access to.
  
  By default, cPanel will generate a new directory using the FTP accounts username. You can modify this directory or give them access to an existing directory here.
  
  If you would like the FTP account to have access to all of your websites files, leave this box blank.
• If you wish to limit the amount of disk space the FTP account directory can contain enter a limit here in the Quota box. By default, this is set to Unlimited.
• Once ready, click the blue Create FTP Account button.

You have now successfully created an FTP account within cPanel!

Changing an FTP account password

For security reasons, it is best practices to regularly change your FTP account passwords. If you have any suspicion of unauthorized access you should immediately change your FTP password.

To change your FTP account password, follow the steps below:

Your FTP account password has now been changed!

Deleting an FTP account

To delete an FTP account in cPanel, follow the steps below:

Your selected FTP account has now been deleted!