Show Hidden Files with WS_FTP or CuteFTP

Display Hidden Files with WS_FTP or CuteFTP

You may be wondering why you cannot see an .htaccess file on your server when using WS_FTP or Cute FTP. Perhaps you checked the server and didn’t see the file, so you created one and transferred it, only to find that it does not appear to be there. We can show you how to display this file name using a couple of popular FTP utilities.

An .htaccess file is normally hidden on a Unix or Linux server because the dot (.) designates the file as a system file. The idea is to protect files that can be sensitive from the eyes of hackers. As a matter of fact, the .htaccess name does not conform to typical file naming standards because it is more of a file extension without a name. Nonetheless, Unix based systems hide files like .htaccess and .htpasswd from normal access and viewing in order to protect them.

Getting these files to display using either Ipswitch’s WS_FTP or GlobalSCAPE’s CuteFTP is fairly simple. Just follow the instructions below.

Displaying .htaccess with WS_FTP

Open WS_FTP
Click Connect
Select the site you wish to modify and right-click on the site
name
Click Properties
Select the Startup tab
Enter -a in the Remote File Mask box
Click OK to confirm the changes

Your hidden files should now be visible when you connect to the site. I don’t know of a way to set this as a the default setting in WS_FTP, so you will probably have to set this mask manually for each Web site you have set up in WS_FTP.

Displaying .htaccess with CuteFTP

Open CuteFTP
Click the Site Manager tab
Select the site you wish to modify
Select File, then Properties (when in CuteFTP Professional)
Select the Actions tab
Click the Filter button
Check the Enable Remote Filters check box
Check the Enable server side filtering check box
Enter -a in the Remote field
Click OK

Your hidden files should now be visible when you connect to the server.

One word of caution when working with the .htaccess file. This file must be a clean text file in order to operate properly. Do not use a word processor to create or modify this file. If you use Microsoft Windows, work on this file with Notepad. If you are using Linux or Unix, use a text editor.

14 Responses to “Display Hidden Files with WS_FTP or CuteFTP”

August 8th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Kurt Says:

Thank you! I was going out of my mind trying to see that little file.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:19 am
Pankaj Sharma Says:

i ave done the processure, but unable to find .htaccess in ute FTP
October 15th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Doogie Says:

perhaps you do not have an .htaccess file on your server. Windows servers cannot use them and hosting companies usually do not add an .htaccess file unless the web site is set up to use FrontPage extensions.

.htaccess files only work on Unix and Linux servers running the Apache web server.
November 20th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Robert Says:

There is no “OK” in ws_ftp pro…
November 21st, 2008 at 6:12 am
Doogie Says:

There is an OK button in the version that I am using. You have to be able to approve and save your changes.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
George Says:

-a does not work on Cute FTP
.htaccess will be seen only if you apply a filter with -rtaF

CUTE FTP: You can display hidden files on servers using a special filter command. When configuring your filter, select Enable remote filters (Server applied filter). Type in -rtaF next to this field. Your listing command should now be LIST-rtaF, which will display of hidden files.

Thank you any way for WS-FTP equivalent hint.
May 30th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Phil G. Says:

Maybe these things are (CuteFTP/WS-FTP) version dependent in how the FTP client executes the command when connected to a server (watching a packet capture would positively show the issue provided the connection is not encrypted).

BUT, I am betting the switches that work are dependent on the FTP SERVER (and version) to which you are connecting. To positively find out which ones work, MANUALLY log in to the FTP server and try the switches.

I *am* using CuteFTP 7.1 and “-a” works for my webhosting server (ProFTPD 1.3.1)
I can see .htaccess (and other hidden files) without issue. I also tried -rtaF as George suggested AND that works as well. But that include the “-a” so I would expect it to.

Here are the switches for ProFTPD:
http://www.proftpd.org/docs/howto/ListOptions.html
-a List all files including those whose names start with “.”
-l Use a long listing format
-r Sort filenames in reverse order
-t Sort by modification time
-F Append file type indicator (one of “*”, “/”, “=”, “@” or “|”) to names

To find out the server used, you can manually connect to it or look in the log of your session.
CuteFTP shows the following for me:

STATUS:> Connecting to FTP server ftp.mydomain.com:21 (ip = 123.123.123.123)…
STATUS:> Socket connected. Waiting for welcome message…
220 ProFTPD 1.3.1 Server (Main FTP Server) [123.123.123.123]

Then you may want to check your web hostings FTP server documentation to see which switches work for that server.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Olaf Says:

Thanks forever! Went crazy and spent too long finding this solution. Great!
December 22nd, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Brian Says:

Thanks for this, I can now see htaccess.

Cheers!
June 28th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
webn Says:

It helps me…Many thanks
July 16th, 2010 at 5:56 am
Jeff Says:

Many thanks.. could not figure out how to do this with WS_FTP and this worked perfectly! You’re a Saint!
February 19th, 2011 at 10:48 am
Bill Myers Says:

Jonathan,

I use WS_FTP95 (WS_FTP LE), and while your instructions don’t exactly work for this particular version, they certainly lead me in the right direction, so thank you!

If it matters for others, the following worked for me (thanks to Jonathan’s original instructions):

1. Open WS_FTP95 (WS_FTP LE)
2. Click Connect
3. Select the site you wish to modify (Profile Name:)
4. Click the Startup tab
5. Enter -a in the Remote File Mask box
6. Click OK to confirm the changes

Thanks again Jonathan!

Sincerely,
Bill
January 8th, 2012 at 5:51 pm
Jeff Ginger Says:

Thank you!