How to Create an FTP Account in ISPConfig

This guide shows you how to create an FTP account in the ISPConfig control panel and then connect to it with an FTP program so you can upload files to your website. It is written for Noiz clients managing their own hosting account through ISPConfig. In ISPConfig an FTP account is called an FTP User, and you may also see it referred to as an FTP login elsewhere; they all mean the same thing: a username and password that let a file transfer program such as FileZilla read and write the files of one of your websites.

Last reviewed: 27 July 2026, against ISPConfig 3.3.1p1. This article follows the official ISPConfig manual procedure for creating an FTP account, cross-checked against the current interface. ISPConfig evolves between releases, so if a screen differs from this guide, check the official documentation links below.

Official Documentation Reference

• How to Add a Website in ISPConfig (HowtoForge): includes a current, field-by-field walkthrough of creating an FTP user under Web Access, maintained by the ISPConfig developers' documentation site.
• ISPConfig 3 Documentation: the official online documentation index for ISPConfig 3.
• ISPConfig Documentation overview: the index of all official ISPConfig documentation, including the full manual.

Prerequisites

• You can log in to the ISPConfig control panel.
• At least one website already exists on your account, because every FTP account belongs to a specific website. If you have not created one yet, see How to Create a Website in ISPConfig.
• An FTP program installed on your computer, for example FileZilla, WinSCP or Cyberduck. Any client that supports FTP with TLS encryption will work.
• A hosting plan with at least one unused FTP user allowance. If the FTP-User menu item is missing, your plan does not include FTP users.

Open the FTP User Form

1. Log in to the ISPConfig control panel.
2. Click the Sites module in the top navigation.
3. In the left menu, under Web Access, click FTP-User. A list of any existing FTP accounts on your hosting appears.
4. Click the Add new FTP-User button.

The FTP User form opens on the FTP User tab. A second tab, Options, holds optional settings covered later in this guide. Parts of the official ISPConfig manual still write this path as Sites > FTP > FTP-User, but the menu group in the panel is Web Access, which is also how the manual's own reference chapter lists it.

Complete the FTP User Tab

Fill in the fields described below, then click Save.

Website

In the Website drop-down, select the website this FTP account should have access to, for example yourdomain.com. Each entry in the list is shown as the domain name followed by the name of the server it is hosted on. The account will be able to see and change the files of this one website only. If you host several websites and want FTP access to each, create a separate FTP account for each site.

Username and the automatic prefix

In the Username field, type the name you want for the account, for example deploy. Notice the short piece of text shown immediately in front of the box: that is a fixed prefix which ISPConfig adds automatically to whatever you type. The prefix is based on your client name on the system, so if the prefix reads client1 and you type deploy, the actual username you will log in with is client1deploy.

The prefix keeps usernames unique across everyone hosted on the server and cannot be removed from your side, so do not try to type it again yourself. After saving, the FTP-User list shows the complete final username, and that full string, prefix included, is what you must enter in your FTP program.

Password and Repeat Password

Type a password in the Password field and confirm it in Repeat Password, or click the Generate Password button to have ISPConfig create a strong one for you. The Password strength indicator rates your choice as you type. Because an FTP account can read and overwrite every file of the website, treat this password with the same care as the panel login itself: use eight or more characters mixing upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols, and avoid dictionary words or names. A minimum password length and strength are enforced for FTP users, so a short or weak password is rejected when you save. Record the password somewhere safe; ISPConfig does not display it again later.

Harddisk-Quota

The Harddisk-Quota field sets the maximum amount of disk space, in megabytes, this FTP account may upload. A value of -1 means unlimited, and is normally fine to leave in place: an FTP user can never upload more than the disk quota of the website itself, so this field only matters if you want to give a specific FTP user a tighter limit than the site as a whole, for example when handing a login to an outside developer.

Active

Leave the Active checkbox ticked so the account works as soon as it is created. Unticking it later disables the login without deleting the account or any files, which is a quick way to suspend a contractor's access when a job is finished.

Optional Settings on the Options Tab

For a standard FTP account you can skip this tab entirely and simply click Save. Two settings are available if you need them:

• Directory: the home directory of the FTP account. The account can do uploads and downloads in this directory and every subdirectory below it. The field is blank while you are creating the account, and there is no point filling it in at that stage, because ISPConfig sets it to the website's own directory as soon as you save. To confine the account to one part of the site, save the account first, then reopen it from the list and add the subfolder to the end of the path, for example ending in /web/media to lock the user into the media folder inside the site's document root. The path must stay inside the website's directory; ISPConfig rejects anything outside it.
• Expire at: an optional date and time at which the account is disabled automatically. Useful for temporary access, for example a developer engaged for a fixed project. Leave it empty for an account that never expires.

Server administrators see further fields on this tab, such as User identifier (UID), Group identifier (GID), Filequota and the upload and download ratio and bandwidth limits. These are not shown on a client login, and the defaults set by Noiz are correct, so you do not need to do anything about them.

Save and Find the Final Username

1. Click Save. You return to the FTP-User list, where the new account now appears.
2. Read the Username column carefully: it shows the complete username including the automatic prefix, for example client1deploy. This full string is your FTP login name.
3. Watch for the small red change indicator near the top of the panel. It shows that ISPConfig is still writing the new account to the FTP server in the background, and clicking it lists what is outstanding. The server collects queued changes once a minute, so the indicator normally clears within a minute or two; try to connect once it has gone.

Connect With an FTP Client

Every FTP program asks for the same handful of details, even if the labels vary slightly. Use these settings:

Connect, and if your client shows a certificate confirmation window the first time, review it and choose to trust the certificate for future sessions. Once logged in you will see the directory structure of your website.

Where to put your files

• Upload website content into the web directory, or subdirectories of it. The web directory is the document root, meaning it is what visitors see when they open yourdomain.com in a browser.
• The private directory is for files that should not be reachable from the web, such as configuration backups.
• Perl and CGI scripts belong in the cgi-bin directory rather than in web.
• Other directories you may see, such as log, tmp, ssl and backup, are maintained by the server. Leave them alone.

A brand-new website contains a placeholder welcome page called standard_index.html in the web directory, along with a default favicon.ico and robots.txt. The web server only falls back to that placeholder when no index.html or index.php is present, so your own home page takes over the moment you upload it. Delete standard_index.html once your site is live if you would rather it were not sitting there.

Troubleshooting

• Login is refused with an authentication error: the most common cause is entering only the short name you typed in the form, for example deploy, instead of the full prefixed username, for example client1deploy. Copy the username exactly as it appears in the FTP-User list. Also allow a minute after saving for the red change indicator to clear before the first login attempt.
• Saving fails with "The username must be unique.": an FTP account with that name already exists somewhere on the server. Choose a different name.
• "The max. number of FTP users for your account is reached.": your plan's FTP user limit is used up. ISPConfig shows this message the moment you click Add new FTP-User, in place of the form, so you never get as far as saving. Delete an account you no longer need, or open a support ticket to discuss a higher allowance.
• The connection times out or the directory listing hangs: check that your client is set to passive transfer mode and that a local firewall or office network is not blocking FTP. If the network blocks port 21, connecting from another network will confirm the account itself is fine.
• The client warns about the server certificate: FTP with explicit TLS presents the server's certificate, and some clients ask you to confirm it on first connection. Inspect the certificate details and accept it. If the warning claims the certificate is expired or the name looks completely unrelated to your hosting, stop and contact support.
• Files upload successfully but do not appear on the website: they were probably uploaded outside the web directory. Move them into web, and check that your home page file is named index.html or index.php, because a differently named file leaves the server showing the standard_index.html placeholder instead.
• Uploads suddenly fail partway through: the account or the website has hit its disk quota. Remove unneeded files, lower the amount you are uploading, or raise the Harddisk-Quota value if you set one for this FTP user.
• Editing the Directory field fails with "Directory not inside of web root directory.": the path you entered points outside the website's own directory. Keep the path ISPConfig set for the website exactly as it is and only append your subfolder to the end of it.

If you get stuck at any point, open a support ticket with the Noiz support team and include the full FTP username, the website it belongs to, the FTP program you are using, and the exact error message from its message log.