Opening Webfolders via FTP in IE7

[pjfarr]

Before upgrading to IE7 from IE6, I used to be able to access folders from my website by entering the FTP address+password directly in the IE address bar in the usual way (ftp://ftp.username:password@ftp.hostname.com/domain.com/foldername)
IE6 would then open that folder, automatically logging me in. That simple yet highly useful technique is now buggered up in IE7, apparently deliberately by MS, for security reasons.

I've found a way around this "glitch" by exhaustive experimentation, and I know that others will find this useful since researching this issue has shown many many many people are miffed at this change.

Open a regular Windows Explorer (not IE) browser window. In the address bar, type in the usual FTP URL (like in the sample above) and hit ENTER. The folder will open in Explorer.exe. Now you can right-click any webfolder in the heirarchy and drag it to the desktop. Choose "Create Shortcuts Here" from the popup context menu. A shortcut will appear and that shortcut will now take you directly to that webfolder each time, without any of the extra nonsense.

P.J.F.

 

[Nodsu]

Huh? What is the problem and what is that "extra nonsense" that you are avoiding this way?

 

[pjfarr]

What is the problem?

Uh...see first paragraph....

what is that "extra nonsense"?

With IE7 entering the FTP URL/password string...

1. opens a directory index, not a browser window. I then have to...
2. go to View>Open FTP Site In Windows Explorer which then...
3. opens a Windows Explorer window, but returns an error message because the password I already entered isn't passed along in the previous step. So I then have to...
4. go to File>Login As and enter the username and password again. Then the folder I want is opened.

None of this took place in IE6; all I had to do was enter the FTP URL/password string and I was in. So the "extra nonsense" would be steps 1 through 4, you see.