Cannot establish FTP connection to an SFTP server in FileZilla [Solved]

You are here because you probably got the FTP connection error on Filezilla. Most of us encounter FTP connection error when we try to connect with an SFTP server. This post can solve your problem if you are getting an SFTP connection error.

I recently changed the default SSH port of one of my servers from 22 to “XX”. Using Filezilla, I tried to connect to this server using the newly changed port number. The connection established, which means, user/password is correct but FTP connection was not established on SFTP server.

Following error message returned by Filezilla,

• Error: Cannot establish an FTP connection to an SFTP server. Please select proper protocol.
• Error: Critical error: Could not connect to server

Immediately after reading the error message,  I realized that I am making an SFTP connection using Filezilla and FTP is a default protocol. Here is how I fixed,

I changed the default protocol of my site from FTP to SFTP.  You can change the protocol of the site from the site manager.

• In FileZilla menu, go to File->Site Manager

After I changed the protocol, Filezilla recognized that the connection is SFTP. 

Solved!

If you need additional help regarding managing website and servers, leave the comment below.