Guide
Common connection problems
Most failures are one layer: address, server identity, account, or path.
You never reached a file service. Check the hostname, the port, and whether this network is allowed. Do not change passwords yet.
The socket works. Continue only if the fingerprint or certificate matches what the administrator published.
The server rejected the account. Recheck the username and the key. Stop after a careful retry.
Login worked. The folder is wrong, missing, or not writable. Browse from the home directory.
The situation
Login, or a script’s open, did not produce the directory you expected. Change one layer, then retest. Do not edit three advanced pages between attempts.
Prerequisites
- The hostname, port, protocol, and username as they were written down.
- Permission to try the connection. Guessing is not troubleshooting.
- If you administer the server, its log for the same minute. It is more specific than the client message.
Narrow the failure
- When Before a prompt, during authentication, at the listing, or during a copy.
- Timeout Stay on the network. Check the name, the VPN, and the firewall. Do not scan the host unless the owner allowed a scan.
- Refused Something answered and that port is closed. A website on the same name only proves HTTP or HTTPS.
- Authentication failed Stop changing ports. Recheck the username and the key. A few careful tries are enough.
- Path or permission after a listing Browse from home. Ask about ownership or the bucket policy.
- SFTP will not start SSH may have accepted you. Ask whether the subsystem is enabled. Plain FTP is not the repair.
Take the layer to the error finder before you change a security setting.
How the layers sound
- Network Timed out, refused, or closed before a listing.
- Server identity Host key prompt, especially a changed key, or a TLS warning.
- Account Authentication failed, or access denied before any file list.
- Path No such file, or permission denied inside a session that otherwise works.
Expected result
You can name the layer and the fact you still need. A repair ends in a listing you recognize, or in one finished file. It does not end in “accept any key” or a world-writable directory.
Common mistakes
- Treating every failure as a wrong password.
- Leaving SFTP for FTP because port 22 is blocked.
- Accepting a changed host key to finish before a meeting.
Security
Host-key and certificate warnings are the check, not a defect. If the identifier changed and nobody announced maintenance, cancel and ask. The checklist is the short form of the same rules.
Logs, without secrets
Turn on session logging, or pass /log for a script. Before anyone else sees the file:
- Remove passwords, passphrases, private keys, access keys, and session tokens. Do not use
/loglevel=*if the log might be shared. That level can record the password. - Replace a public hostname and username with examples if you post the log.
- Keep the error text, the protocol, the port, and the last successful step.
This site cannot read the log for you.
Related resources
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