Note: FTP access is not normally enabled on smythies.com. Typically it is enabled only while we collect, or distribute, pictures after some event.
This page contains some notes on setting up IE (Microsoft Internet Explorer) for FTP.
Now, these notes apply to IE versions 6 and less. IE version 7 is a different story, and FTP doesn't seem to work (see some more notes lower down on this web page).
People have been having difficulties with FTP downloads from smythies.com. Uploads have been working fine.
I have not been able to determine why downloads have been troublesome.
Also, downloads work fine for me, so I haven't been able to create a good debugging senario to work with.
To add to the confusion, I have found several references that say that IE (Microsoft Internet Explorer) settings should be different than what I have, and what is shown below.
Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 6 and below (altough similar settings are needed in version 7, for the workaround)) settings:
Hopefully these screen shots are fairly self explainitory. They show to how get to and what my FTP related settings are. From the logs on smythies.com, I do know that some people are using FireFox and/or Modzilla internet browsers, which I can not help with setup options.
In the next two screen shots, the RED arrow is just showing roughly where the scroll bar is to make it easier for you to find the same spot.
Now, in the case of the "Enable folder view for FTP sites", many references say that this option should be unchecked. Whereas I have it enabled. If I disable it, then I do not end up in the proper directory at smythies.com (if this happens to you, go to "home" then "family". And... oh gosh this is security hole!!!)
By the way, some have complained that the downloaded picture is too big (which it is high resolution on purpose. It wasn't actually intended that you would use IE and FTP to view the pictures, just to download them). Anyway, in the above screen shot the second to last check box shown should help you with that issue.
Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7:
For whatever reason FTP folder access does not work with this version of IE. There is some patch that is supposed to make it work if you also do a registry edit. It didn't seem to work for me. So you have to use Windows Explorer and enter the URL directly into it there. I would suggest to cut and paste it from the proper line in a "view source" look at the web page with the FTP site link (the link is not given here on purpose, as it is only given to those people that need it).
Link to Microsoft notes on this issue.