Both Windows and Mac OS come with the FTP support. You can create your own FTP server on a Windows PC or Mac computer without third-party software to share files with other devices and computers in your local network. In this article, we will show you how to create an FTP server on Mac. We will use a Mac Pro which is running on Mac OS Monterey Version 12.1 in this demo. Although every Mac should ship with a built-in FTP server, you may see it differs slightly across different Mac versions.
Setup FTP server on Mac
From the top menu bar, click the Apple icon, then choose System Preferences from the drop-down menu. Click to open the Sharing pane. Click to check the box next to Remote Login to enable it. Choose whether to allow access to all users or only users you choose. You can click the Add + icon below the users list to add your current Mac account to the list so you can connect to your Mac using the Mac username and password from other devices or computers in the local network.
How to connect to Mac FTP server from PC?
If you plan to connect to Mac from a Windows PC, you may choose some of these popular FTP clients, such as Filezilla, Transmit, WinSCP, Cyberduck, etc. When create an FTP connection to your Mac from other computer or mobile phones, make sure to choose SFTP as the file transfer protocol and use port 22 other than 21. In FileZilla for Windows, type in your Mac local IP address in the Host field, Mac login username in the Username field and Mac password in the Password field, type in 22 in the Port, then hit the Quickconnect button to connect your PC to Mac FTP server using this free FTP client app.
What’s the IP address of my Mac?
Every device connected to a network has its unique IP address. On Mac, press and hold the Option key on your keyboard and click the Wi-Fi icon in the top menu bar, you will see the details about the network. Both your Mac’s IP address and your router’s IP address can be found in this list. More details can be found from this guide to find out Mac IP address.
How to connect to Mac FTP server from mobile phone?
Most likely you may need a third-party file manager or FTP apps which support SFTP server connection, such as Documents by Readdle for iPhone, AndFTP for Android, PowerFTP for Android, etc.