How to Install FileZilla Server on Ubuntu

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install FileZilla FTP and FTPS server on Ubuntu 20.04 | 18.04.

FileZilla is an open source project that create FTP client and server for Windows, MacOS and Linux systems. Its FTP client is cross platform which means it supports Windows, MacOS and Linux systems.

However, FileZilla FTP server is supported on Windows only. FileZilla Server is a free open source FTP and FTPS Server.

For those who want to run FileZilla server on Linux, the steps below show them how to do that. There is no straightforward way to install FileZilla server on Linux. In order to get the server installed, you will have to use Wine.

To get started with installing FileZilla server on Ubuntu, follow the steps below:

Install Wine

As we mentioned above, FileZilla server is a Windows application. It doesn’t support Linux systems, including Ubuntu. To install and use it in Ubuntu, you’ll need to install Wine.

Wine allows users to run applications designed for Windows in Linux environment.

To install Wine, use the steps below:

Before installing Wine, run the command below to enable the 32-bit architecture.

sudo apt update
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386

After installing the package above, run the commands below to add Wine package repository and key.

wget -qO -  | sudo apt-key add -

Add the repository file by running the commands below.

sudo apt-add-repository 'deb  focal main'

Now that the repository is added, run the commands below to install Wine.

sudo apt update 
sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable

Next, run the commands below to configure your environment for Wine.

export WINEARCH=win32
export WINEPREFIX=~/.wine32
sudo winecfg

Wine should be installed and ready to use. You can begin installing applications designed for Windows with Wine environment.

Install FileZilla Server

Now that Wine is installed, go and download FileZilla server package from its download site.

Most downloaded content are saved in your Downloads folder. Open your terminal and browse to the Downloads folder and execute the installer.

cd ~/Downloads
sudo wine FileZilla_Server-*.exe

That will launch the installation wizard. Choose the default settings and continue.

Accept the default settings as shown below. The default port 14147 is the admin interface of FileZilla Server should listen on.

After that, click Install to complete the installation.

FileZilla server should automatically startup after the installation. Click Connect to start accepting connections.

Click on Edit on the menu and select Users. Then Shared folders. Add a user account and at least one home folder for the user you created.

Click Add and select the folder you want the user to access, then click Ok when done.

You can now connect using the account created above. However, you’ll get a message that the server doe not support FTP over TLS and that your password will be sent in clear text over the internet.

You can enable FTPS by following the steps below:

Go to Edit and select Settings then scroll down to FTP over TLS settings.
Check the option box to “Enable FTP over TLS support (FTPS)“.
Click on Browser and select any folder where you want to save the certificate and key.
Click Generate Certificate button.
And then finally the OK