Establishing FTP Connection to Local Folder Can Cause Problems

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Personal Web Server version 1.0 for Windows 95

SYMPTOMS

After you use Microsoft Personal Web Server version 1.0 for Windows 95 to share a folder on your computer so that it can be accessed using File Transfer Protocol (FTP), you can use the FTP tool (Ftp.exe) included with Windows 95 to establish an FTP connection to the shared folder. If you establish a connection to the folder from the same computer on which the folder is shared, you can then use the PUT command to copy a file in the folder onto itself. If you do so, the file may be reduced in size to zero bytes.

RESOLUTION

To prevent this problem from occurring, do not establish FTP connections to shared folders from the same computer on which the folders are shared. If you need to establish FTP connections to shared folders from the same computer on which they are shared, do not copy files in the shared folders onto themselves.

STATUS

Microsoft is researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

When you establish an FTP connection to a shared folder from the same computer on which the folder is shared, the shared folder and the FTP connection to the shared folder are treated as two different folders. Because they are treated as different folders, the FTP tool allows you to copy files from one folder to the other. For example, you can copy a file from the shared folder to the FTP connection to the shared folder.

However, because these folders are actually the same folder, copying a file from one folder to the other causes the file to be copied onto itself. When you copy a file onto itself in this manner, the file may be reduced in size to zero bytes.