Best Fixes for “ECONNREFUSED – Connection refused by server” Error in FileZilla

If you are having issues with the ECONNREFUSED – Connection refused by server error in FileZilla, you will find all details and fixes below. This guide contains several methods that can resolve the FTP error.

What Is “ECONNREFUSED” Error?

The “ECONNREFUSED – Connection refused by server” error is a network error that occurs when a client attempts to connect to a server, but the server rejects the connection.

This can happen for various reasons, such as the server not running on the specified port, the connection being blocked by a firewall, or the server application not accepting incoming connections.

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More Information and Fix Methods

FileZilla is a free open source cross-platform platform with lots of useful features and an intuitive graphical user interface. It consists of FileZilla Client and FileZilla Server where the Client binaries are available for Windows, Linux and macOS and Server binaries are available for Windows only. The FileZilla Client supports FTP (File Transfer Protocol), FTPS (File Transfer Protocol that supports the Transport Layer Security) and SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol). It is often used for files transferring.

One of the most common errors which FileZilla users may encounter is the “ECONNREFUSED – Connection refused by server”. The error can occur after a connection attempt. At that moment the platform will display something similar to this:

Status: Error: Could not connect to server
Status: Waiting to retry…
Status: Resolving address of signal31.com 2
Status: Connecting to 91.10.62.112:21…
Status: Connection attempt failed with “ECONNREFUSED – Connection refused by server”.
Error: Could not connect to server

Why FileZilla cannot connect with server?

Connection refused errors can be encountered for several reasons:

The service is not running on your FTP Server
The Firewall is blocking the port, this could be the Network Firewall, or Windows Firewall on the server.
The FTP client not configured for the right host information.
The FTP client not configured for the right port.

Apparently, this error can be encountered due to a variety of reasons, so a fix that works for one person may not be the right for another. Below we will describe the most common reasons for this message to appear in FileZilla and show methods for their fixes.

Method 1 to fix ECONNREFUSED error: Ensure that you’re using the right port

Users who share details about their experience with ECONNREFUSED error confirm that one of the most common solutions is changing the connection port. If that’s the case, all you need to do is change the 21 (default FTP port number) to 22 (default SFTP port) in the port column presented on the FileZilla platform:

Changing your port number from 21 the default FTP port to 22 the default SFTP port or vice versa is one of the most common fixes for ECONNREFUSED error in FileZilla. If it does work for you, great! If it does not, keep reading as below, we will cover other common solutions to this issue.

Method 2 to fix ECONNREFUSED error: Disable Firewall, antivirus, or similar program that may be blocking the connection

The ECONNREFUSED server connection error can come as a result of having a firewall or anti-virus software that is preventing FileZilla from making a connection. If these are the issues that are causing the ECONNREFUSED error, then:

Make sure your firewalls allow outbound traffic from the computer running the FileZilla client to TCP port 21 or 22 or another port you’re using on the file server.

Ensure that local firewalls (e.g. Windows Firewall) or active antivirus programs are not interfering with your connection or blocking the filezilla.exe application.

What can fix the ECONNREFUSED – Connection refused by server is disabling the firewall and anti-virus software on your computer. Here’s how to apply this fix on Windows:

1. Press the Windows key and type in Control Panel.
2. Navigate to System and Security and select Windows Defender Firewall.

3. On the left menu bar, select the option Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off.

4. On the next window, modify the settings to turn off Windows Defender Firewall for public and private networks, then press Ok.
5. Restart the system and try to connect the server again

On macOS, you need to:

1. Click on the Apple menu on the upper left toolbar, then click System Preferences.
2. Find the Security & Privacy option.

3. Choose the Firewall tab and click on the Turn Off Firewall option.

4. Restart the system and try to connect the server again.

To disable different anti-virus programs that are running on your computer system, you need to navigate to programs’ interfaces and look for a turn-off, pause or disable option which may be available on the Settings section or a separate section depending on the used app.

These steps should fix the ECONNREFUSED – connection refused by server error instantly in the event that your computer’s firewall and anti-virus are causing the problem. If the error is still there then turn everything back on and try the next method.

Method 3 to fix ECONNREFUSED error: Edit FileZilla Network Configuration Wizard

If none of the methods above worked for you, probably editing FileZilla’s network configurations is the fix you are looking for. To access the Network Configuration Manager in FileZilla you should:

1. Connect to FileZilla FTP client and head to Edit -> Network Configuration Wizard.

2. Once a Firewall and router configuration wizard window pop up, click Next to proceed.
3. When the window appears on the screen, mark Passive (recommended) option as the Default transfer mode, and put a check on the Allow fallback to another transfer mode on failure option.

4. Then select the option Use the server’s external IP address instead.



5. Choose the Get the external IP address from the following URL. If the input field is empty, enter the default value http://ip.filezilla-project.org/ip.php, and proceed.



6. Don’t make any changes to the port range configuration just select Ask operating system for a port.

7. Click the Test button to check if everything is configured correctly. FileZilla will try to connect to probe.filezilla-project.org to perform some simple tests.

If you don’t see any errors during the test, try connecting to your hosting account again.

If none of the above-mentioned fixes don’t fix the ECONNREFUSED – connection refused by server error, contact your hosting customer support team for further assistance.

Conclusion on Steps to Fix ECONNREFUSED Error

To briefly summarize, the methods that we have suggested here are all tested and check out to fix the problems with ECONNREFUSED error. FileZilla will usually give up after four connection attempts before giving you the ECONNREFUSED error. If the connection succeeds that you have managed to fix the ECONNREFUSED error on your FileZilla FTP client.

We hope that this guide is useful! If you have any other fixes to share, or if you have any questions, leave us a comment!

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