Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote in
news:MPG.22dd0a57fa2bb14998b703@news.individual.ne t:

> Apologies if this is NOT -- I'm posting here because I suspect
> there's some setting I need to change in Windows, though I don't know
> what.
>
> Yes, I did email the software makers, following instructions in the
> help file, but I didn't get a reply.
>
> I've been using WS-FTP Pro for years without a problem, but suddenly
> on Friday I stopped being able to connect to the same sites I'd been
> connecting to for years. The two are completely unconnected, so I
> don't think it's a site problem.
>
> Specifically, WS-FTP Pro goes through the connection protocol and
> logs me in with user name and password to either site, then changes
> directory to my specified starting directory. So there is some
> communication. But then it hangs trying to get the file list from the
> remote site, and eventually times out with "retrieve of folder
> listing failed".
>
> When I use Win XP's command-line ftp program, I can do an "ls" and
> successfully get the remote file listing. I can also upload files,
> and verify in my Web browser that the uploads were successful. So
> there's something in the particular protocol that WS-FTP is using to
> get the remote file listing that is now being blocked by my computer.
>
> Initially I thought this was a change that my cable company
> (Roadrunner / Time Warner Cable) had made. I'm suspicious of them, of
> course, because they dropped Usenet and gave a mendacious
> explanation. But yesterday I took my computer to work and to the
> college where I teach, and through their networks I got the same
> problem. That's not 100% conclusive, because they might well be
> connecting through RR as well, but at least it says there's not a
> problem with my cable modem in particular.
>
> I've got XP/SP2, WS-FTP Pro 6.05. Any ideas?
>

One of the most obvious things to check is your PASV setting (perhaps
called Passive Mode) - if you are behind any sort of firewall, you
probably need to enable this mode.