Using WinSCP to access a remote SFTP server

Question

I am using SFTP client(WinSCP) to get into a remote server and retrieve some files. I could not get to the SFTP server when I use WinSCP in a Windows-7 machine; but it works good when I try it from an XP machine. Can anyone think of what might be wrong. Any help appreciated!

I am also including the error screenshot, if that helps

Can anyone please help!

Answer 1

This could be some problem with your firewall. Check it if you are blocking WinSCP.

Answer 2

Quoting WinSCP documentation on the error message Server unexpectedly closed network connection:

If you get this error message while connecting to your server, it is most usually caused by the server not being able to run some process necessary to support your session. Always try to connect with another SSH (SFTP) client to find, if it is server or client related problem.

Possibilities are:

• Shell.
  • Your account may not be allowed to start a shell at all. With some servers (like OpenSSH or Sun SSH), you may need to be allowed to start a shell, even if using SFTP protocol.
  • Also some servers refuse to start a shell if your password has expired or your account was terminated.
  • Some shells do not work with non-interactive sessions. The same it true for some configurations (or profiles used) for otherwise working shells. This commonly exhibits with SCP protocol with associated error message "Error skipping startup message. Your shell is probably incompatible with the application (BASH is recommended)." Try to force bash shell explicitly on SCP/Shell page of Advanced Site Settings dialog. Using SFTP protocol instead of SCP is another option.
  • OpenSSH server may fail to start shell when chroot is configured, but not possible (e.g. due to group writeable permissions to chroot directory).
  • Some environments require specific permissions (e.g. 755) to files like .profile or .bashrc.
• SFTP server.
  • Your account may not be able to start SFTP server binary (e.g. /bin/sftp-server) or the binary is not present on your server.
  • Your SSH server may also lack the SFTP subsystem.
• SSH server:
  • Your SSH server, particularly OpenSSH, may not be able to access the server key files, due to an incorrect permissions.