»WinSCP«

»WinSCP« is a free and open source FTP client, the source code is licensed under GPL. It is available for the Windows operating system.

Installation / Download

»WinSCP« can be distributed on centrally administered computers, otherwise it can be obtained from the manufacturer's website.

Connection setup

Set up session

Create »connection destination« → Click on the image for an enlarged view

Login/Connection Destination

With »WinSCP« you can set up so-called sessions and thus reuse them the next time you use them:

Transmission protocol:FTP - File Transfer Protocol
Encryption:TLS/SSL explicit encryption
Computer name:webuser.uni-weimar.de
Port number:21
Username / Password:Your personal user ID
Connection:Passive mode

Directory view

After the connection to the server has been successfully established, you will see the contents of your local computer on the left-hand side of the programme window, and the contents of the remote server on the right-hand side.

Change to the directory public_html. Here you can edit all files (create, change, rename, delete). Drag and drop files with the mouse to transfer them from the local computer to the remote server (and vice versa).

Password security

Assign main password

With »WinSCP« you can increase the security with which your password is stored in the connection destination quite easily: To do this, assign a main password.

This is requested only once after the program start (until you restart the program) and is used to encrypt your password.

To do this, go to Tools/Settings in the login screen, then select Security and set the optionUse main password.

Language setting of the program interface

Installation: Upgrade languages

Open settings
Select »Languages«
Download language file
Installing language file
Select language.

At the first start, the program interface is set to English; other languages can be added (German in this example):

  1. Click on Tools/Preferences in the login screen.
  2. Then select the item Environment/Languages.
    Click on the Get more... button.
  3. A browser window opens with the download page for more language files.
    Click on the download link for the desired language.
  4. Click on the download link for the desired language. The file you have just downloaded (zip archive) contains a single language file. Copy it into the program directory of »WinSCP«.
  5. Close the window with the settings and open it again (see point 1.), select the item Environment/Languages – now you can select German here and apply it with OK.