FTP access to your Pre using FileZilla

[zParticle]

Whew—after two days of forum diving and experimentation, I finally got FTP up and running over SSH. I'd like to share the wealth: all the steps you need, in one place, to gain FTP access to your Pre over Wi-Fi—no more swapping out USB cables!

This can be done in just 5 steps, which I'll detail below:

1. install Preware
2. use Preware to install SFTP and Terminal
3. use Terminal to generate keys for OpenSSH
4. transfer SSH keys to desktop via USB
5. configure FileZilla on desktop and connect

1. install Preware
Since this has been well documented and you've probably done this much by now, I'm going to cheat and refer you to these excellent install guides:

• use Device Info and the Updates utility to make sure webOS is current (1.4.1.1 as of this writing)
  
• load webOS Quick install to enable homebrew apps
  
• use webOS Quick Install to load PreWare
  (for both guides, the Setup section is all you need)

2. use Preware to install SFTP and Terminal
With Preware on your system, you can manage most of your system tweaking right on the Pre with this single marvelous utility. Open up Preware to the main screen. It may take a minute or two to check for updates and index available packages.

• At the main screen, type FTP and hit ↵. Select OpenSSH SFTP Server from the list and install it. You may be prompted to install other dependent services and to restart when the install is complete, do so in both cases.
• Back at the main Preware screen, type TERMINAL and hit ↵. Select Terminal from the list and install it. You'll be prompted to install the Terminal Service Plugin and restart; again, do so.

3. use Terminal to generate keys for OpenSSH
Terminal gives you direct command-line access to to your Pre, which is amazing, but don't have too much fun with it—when they say it's not very stable, they're not kidding. For our purposes here it should work fine. I pulled the following command sequence from the helpful Application: OpenSSH wiki. (Really, everything you need is right there, but the trick is knowing which to apply and the necessary prerequisites.) So, to generate your SSH keys, start the Terminal application and enter the following commands:

cd /
/opt/bin/ssh-keygen

Press ↵ to accept the default filename. When prompted, press ↵ twice for a blank password. Then enter the final commands to transfer your keys to usable locations:

mv /home/root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub /home/root/.ssh/authorized_keys
cp /home/root/.ssh/id_rsa /media/internal/id_rsa

You're done with Terminal and can close it.

4. transfer SSH keys to desktop via USB
Connect the Pre to your computer via USB and put it in Drive mode (possibly for the last time!) Copy the id_rsa file from the Pre to your computer's hard drive and remember where you saved it. That's it! You can "safely disconnect" or "eject" the Pre's drive and unplug the USB cable.

5. configure FileZilla on desktop and connect
If you don't already have it, download and install the FileZilla client on your computer. This is a great general-purpose FTP client, but it's particularly suited to our purposes because of its native ability to handle the OpenSSH private key and convert it into a format it can use without any additional software.

To add your SSH private key (again, per the Application: OpenSSH wiki):

• start FileZilla
• under Edit > Settings > SFTP, click "Add keyfile..." and locate the id_rsa file you saved earlier
• click "Yes" to convert it to a .ppk file FileZilla can use
• give it any name you like and save it to a permanent location where it will be available whenever you need to connect

Now you just need to connect! Go to File > Site Manager and create a new site with the following settings:

• Host: your Pre's local IP address over Wi-Fi
  (tap the name of your Wi-Fi connection for its current IP)
• Servertype: SFTP - SSH File Transfer Protocol
• Logontype: Normal
• User: root
• be sure to leave the password blank
• optionally, on the Advanced tab: set your preferred local directory, and set the default remote directory to/media/internal

Click Connect and hold your breath for a couple of seconds while you see if your hard work has paid off... if one of us didn't screw up, you should now have full wireless access to your Pre!

By the way, the FileZilla application folder is easily portable on a USB drive if you wish to access the Pre from other machines.

Written by a newbie, for other newbies! Please let me know if something here didn't work for you. My objective was to make this process as painless as possible, given the incredible utility of having FTP access versus the somewhat daunting nature of making this work if you're not familiar with these tools.

For the more experienced users of this forum, please correct any dumb mistakes, and I apologize if this has all been done before. In particular, the OpenSSH wiki guide is really good, except that I didn't know which parts to use. That page might make it clearer that the 3.x subheadings are all independent, alternate methods—you don't need to follow it top to bottom.

[dianehelen]

Hmm that seems like an awful lot of steps to basically accomplish somethng relatively easy with WinSCP.

I have had full FTP like access to my pre almost from the start, just had to install Optware and download free WinScp, and use SFTP protocal

Unless I am missing something???

I can get my current IP and in 2 seconds log into my Pre wirelessly..

I use WS FTP on the client side.. always have, but Im sure Filezilla would work too

NOW what I WANT desparately is an FTP client ON the PRE so I can SEND files to servers...

Thats what I thought this was, and my heart went a flutter for a second..

[zParticle]

Originally Posted by dianehelen

Hmm that seems like an awful lot of steps to basically accomplish somethng relatively easy with WinSCP.

It's actually simpler than it looks. I just detailed everything, since I had a few false starts based on a lot of obsolete, contradictory, or incomplete information I found out there.

Originally Posted by dianehelen

I have had full FTP like access to my pre almost from the start, just had to install Optware and download free WinScp, and use SFTP protocal

Unless I am missing something???

I can get my current IP and in 2 seconds log into my Pre wirelessly..

I use WS FTP on the client side.. always have, but Im sure Filezilla would work too

That may still be the better option, I don't know. My Pre's still shiny and new here—haven't even gotten the charge for it yet—so I'm sure I have a lot more to learn.

From what I read it looked like the WinSCP path was actually more complicated to set up and required I always run that software instead of just connecting with FileZilla, which I was already using anyway. This route only ever requires FileZilla on the client side, and like you I'm usually connected in a couple of seconds.

I never have to bother checking the IP address here, since I just have my router reserve the same address for the Pre. I think you can also configure a static IP on the Pre for a given SSID.

Originally Posted by dianehelen

NOW what I WANT desparately is an FTP client ON the PRE so I can SEND files to servers...

Thats what I thought this was, and my heart went a flutter for a second..

Oh, me too, certainly. Sorry to get your hopes up.

[heth]

I like it. Just tested it and it works right out of the box. Nice detailed discription and real easy to follow along.

[zulfaqar621]

thanks since i use a touchstone and have only one data cable this is going to save me a lot of hassel.

[just_jo]

Originally Posted by zulfaqar621

thanks since i use a touchstone and have only one data cable this is going to save me a lot of hassel.

i second this. gonna try the FTP out tonight. seems easier than the winscp way (never really liked winscp anyway).

[swieder]

Excellent post. Thanks for working out the details.

Followed the procedure and it worked perfectly. Thanks. Time to put away the USB cables.

[malber]

If you don't use passwords, would this make your phone vulnerable to hacking if you use public WiFi hotspots?

[zParticle]

This is why you use the SSH key, which provides 2048-bit encryption and is far more secure than a manual password. For someone else to connect they would need a copy of your private key and know how you were using it.

I had originally included passwords in the setup instructions, but since FileZilla doesn't support them, and in fact strips them when converting your private key, this was just a waste of time. I removed the relevant steps to simplify the procedure.

[Spader]

Thank you very much for this. So far it's working great!

[malber]

Now all I have to do is figure out how to do FTP in Terminal in Mac OS since I have 10.4 and Firezilla only works with 10.5 and up :\

[Garrett92C]

Thank you for these instructions. No more USB cable for me!

[zParticle]

Originally Posted by malber

Now all I have to do is figure out how to do FTP in Terminal in Mac OS since I have 10.4 and Firezilla only works with 10.5 and up :\

While there are ways to do that, why not try one of the unofficial FileZilla binaries first? These appear to allow the very latest builds to run under Tiger with full SSH support.

Note that on the Mac version the settings are actually accessed via FileZilla > Preferences now.

[magistus]

These instructions work perfectly. Thank you.

[Stearmandriver]

Hmmm... pretty sure I've followed the instructions exactly. Here's what I get in FileZilla:

----------------------------------
Status: Connecting to 192.111.1.1...
Response: fzSftp started
Command: keyfile "C:\Documents and Settings\Joe\My Documents\applications\Pre Apps\myprekey.ppk"
Command: open "root@192.111.1.1" 22
Error: Connection timed out
Error: Could not connect to server
------------------------------------

That's not my actual IP address (though of course I'm using the correct one in FileZilla)... otherwise, that's exactly the error.

UPDATE: I restarted in Dev mode and now it works great. I'm guessing it doesn't have anything to do with dev mode... probably just needed the restart. Thanks for the instructions!

Thanks,
Joe

[swieder]

Is there anything special that I need to do to allow two different computers (work and home) to access my Pre? Can I use the same key or do I need a separate one for each computer?

[zParticle]

Originally Posted by swieder

Is there anything special that I need to do to allow two different computers (work and home) to access my Pre? Can I use the same key or do I need a separate one for each computer?

You'll need to use the same private key anywhere you want to access your Pre this way. You can easily take the whole FileZilla folder with you (on a USB drive, or the Pre itself if you have a micro-USB cable along), but at minimum you'll need the .ppk (private key) file you generated.

You'll probably need to update the IP address and local folder for the new site, but everything else should work out of the box.

[dashnamp]

Thanks, zParticle. Works as advertised.

[just_jo]

"Connection closed by server with exitcode 127" *sop* what have i done wrong?

btw anybody noticed, there's no underscore on a german pre plus? funny to type that link in terminal with no underscore used webOSQI after all.

[just_jo]

please, i'm driving crazy with this. i am lost when it comes to linux. another version of filezilla told me, it can't start the sftp server. and executing sftp on the device says it can't find /usr/libexec/sftp-server.

i would guess the sftp server is not starting up? ssh seems to work, as i can connect with putty to my device.

edit: could a pdk ssh server interfere with the openssh one? i installed the pdk package on my phone