Each user account includes settings for FTP/SFTP client root folder and FTP/SFTP client default home folder, which impact only FTP or SFTP connections.

These settings affect how the folders of your site are presented in FTP/SFTP programs, but users must also have permissions to access folders or make changes.

Client Root Folder

Site administrators can configure a user's FTP/SFTP client root folder setting in the user's record.

The client root folder is used when you need to present a virtual "root" or / folder in the directory tree. For example, if you set a user's client root folder to /Clients/ACME, they will only see the contents of that folder, including all its subfolders, as the root folder of the server. This is also referred to as a "jail" folder.

Some legacy FTP or SFTP clients or custom scripts expect to interact with a root folder on the server, and it is almost never desirable to actually grant access to the root folder to your users. By setting the client root folder for the user, they are presented with a / folder that is actually an isolated folder rather than your site's root folder.

The FTP/SFTP client root folder setting for a user will always work when the user connects via FTP. The site-wide setting for SFTP client root folders must be enabled for user's setting to apply when connecting with SFTP.

Client Default Home Folder

Site administrators can configure a user's FTP/SFTP client default home folder setting in the user's record. The FTP/SFTP client default home folder provides the starting folder that a user is placed in when connecting via FTP or SFTP.

This is helpful when a user has access to more than one folder, and they may need to change directories while connected with FTP or SFTP.

If the client root folder has been set for the user, the client default home folder must be contained within that folder.

Unlike the client root folder, the client default home folder does not define a virtual root directory to display in the FTP or SFTP program. Users are able to navigate to parent directories of their client default home folder (unless it is also their client root folder).

Default Behavior

By default, both the client root folder and the client default home folder are set to the root folder of your site. This does not grant any access to items in the root folder of your site; all access is granted through either user or group permissions to specific paths.

When a user with those default client root and client default home folder paths connects to your site with FTP or SFTP, they will be placed in the root folder. Only subfolders which are part of one of their path permissions will be visible to the user in the root folder. Unless they have been granted permissions, users cannot make any changes to those parent folders and can only navigate to the subfolders they have permission to access.