FTP access only works some of the time

I'm on a Windows 11 Home desktop PC. I have an ASUS router with a USB stick. The USB works great in USB mode, but when I try to use it in FTP mode, it only works some of the time.

Using the windows 11 file explorer, I type in ftp://192.168.1.1 and sometimes it works, but most of the time it it says "Windows can not access this folder. "Make sure you typed the file name correctly and that you have permission to access this folder" Details: (the details are blank)

Sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn't.

Now my 2nd problem:
I have the ASUS router set up so the Admin account can access all folders and the USER1 account can access only the USER1 folder. Once I log in under USER1, I can't figure out how to log in under Admin.. It won't ask me for login details again, it just goes to the USER1 folder. Somewhere, my PC is storing the login information and assuming that's the one I'm always using. How do I stop this?

Thank you.

It's due to Windows 11 tightened security with shared devices and it has caused havoc with sharing.
Per co-pilot's advice, mapping the drive and assigning credentials fixed it for me.
You'll need to configure both the router and your computer. Here are the notes I kept directly from co-pilot.

Got it — you want to connect to a shared drive (NAS or USB storage) attached to your router, and store login credentials on your Windows PC so you don’t have to re-enter them every time.

Here’s a clear, step-by-step walkthrough:

Step 1: Identify the network path to the shared drive

1. Log in to your router’s admin page (usually at 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1, or similar).
2. Look for USB Storage, File Sharing, or Samba (SMB) settings.
3. Note the network path of the shared drive. It usually looks like:
4. \\192.168.1.1\share

or

\\routername\share

1. Note the username and password your router uses for file sharing.
   (Some routers use the same admin credentials; others have separate “storage” credentials.)

Step 2: Map the shared drive on your PC

1. Open File Explorer → This PC.
2. Click Map network drive on the ribbon (or right-click This PC → Map network drive...).
3. Choose a drive letter (like Z:).
4. In the Folder box, enter the network path, e.g.
5. \\192.168.1.1\share
6. Check Reconnect at sign-in.
7. Check Connect using different credentials.
8. Click Finish.
9. When prompted, enter your username and password for the shared drive.

If you want Windows to remember the credentials, check “Remember my credentials” in the prompt.



I went ahead and did this on each of my computers that accessed the shared drive.It’s more reliable.

Step 3: Manually store the credentials (optional but reliable)

If you want to make sure Windows always has those credentials saved:

1. Open Control Panel → User Accounts → Credential Manager.
2. Click Windows Credentials → Add a Windows credential.
3. In the fields:
   • Internet or network address: the router path (e.g. \\192.168.1.1 or routername)
   • User name: whatever your router uses (often admin, guest, or custom)
   • Password: your share password
4. Click OK.

Now your PC will automatically use that credential for the shared drive.

Step 4: Verify it works

1. Open File Explorer → This PC.
2. You should see the mapped drive (e.g., Z:).
3. Open it — it should connect without asking for credentials.

glasskuter said:

It's due to Windows 11 tightened security with shared devices and it has caused havoc with sharing.
Per co-pilot's advice, mapping the drive and assigning credentials fixed it for me.
You'll need to configure both the router and your computer. Here are the notes I kept directly from co-pilot.

Got it — you want to connect to a shared drive (NAS or USB storage) attached to your router, and store login credentials on your Windows PC so you don’t have to re-enter them every time.

Here’s a clear, step-by-step walkthrough:

​

---

Step 1: Identify the network path to the shared drive

1. Log in to your router’s admin page (usually at 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1, or similar).
2. Look for USB Storage, File Sharing, or Samba (SMB) settings.
3. Note the network path of the shared drive. It usually looks like:
4. \\192.168.1.1\share

or

\\routername\share

1. Note the username and password your router uses for file sharing.
   (Some routers use the same admin credentials; others have separate “storage” credentials.)

​

---

Step 2: Map the shared drive on your PC

1. Open File Explorer → This PC.
2. Click Map network drive on the ribbon (or right-click This PC → Map network drive...).
3. Choose a drive letter (like Z:).
4. In the Folder box, enter the network path, e.g.
5. \\192.168.1.1\share
6. Check Reconnect at sign-in.
7. Check Connect using different credentials.
8. Click Finish.
9. When prompted, enter your username and password for the shared drive.

If you want Windows to remember the credentials, check “Remember my credentials” in the prompt.



I went ahead and did this on each of my computers that accessed the shared drive.It’s more reliable.

​

---

Step 3: Manually store the credentials (optional but reliable)

If you want to make sure Windows always has those credentials saved:

1. Open Control Panel → User Accounts → Credential Manager.
2. Click Windows Credentials → Add a Windows credential.
3. In the fields:
   • Internet or network address: the router path (e.g. \\192.168.1.1 or routername)
   • User name: whatever your router uses (often admin, guest, or custom)
   • Password: your share password
4. Click OK.

Now your PC will automatically use that credential for the shared drive.

​

---

Step 4: Verify it works

1. Open File Explorer → This PC.
2. You should see the mapped drive (e.g., Z:).
3. Open it — it should connect without asking for credentials.

​

---

Click to expand...

Hi Glasscutter, Thank you. What you are referring to sounds like the "ReadyShare" (as ASUS calls it) USB service. Accessing the files on the USB using SAMBA is very reliable for me. And yes, I had done the mapping network drive long ago because typing that garbage into the address bar every time was a pain.

What I'm trying to do now is set up the same thing with FTP.

I have some software that needs to send files to that USB stick connected to the router, but it has to use FTP protocol to do it. When I use file explorer to try to access through FTP, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work. It always works with the samba protocol thing, but samba isn't available to the software I'm using.

Here's an example of my problem. I just opened file explorer and entered ftp://192.168.1.1 and got the dreaded error message. I had also mapped the FTP route and clicked on that, same error message. Then I clicked on This PC to see all my storage drive icons.. When I clicked on the FTP icon, it was able to access the drive.

And I think I just figured something out.. I need to right click, bring up the menu, and click on "Login as.. " then enter my credentials. Hmm. I won't know until I reboot my computer and whatever is in temporary state is rest.. then I'll know if it really works.

This was so easy with Win8.1 Pro..

pseymour said:

why are there two meatloaves for Step 4?

Click to expand...

Don't know for sure but when I made my notes I probably used both co-pilot and Chatgpt to organize it all in a word doc. If I don't understand something I use both. Sometimes one is clearer than the other. Those damn icons make me nuts but it's too much trouble to take them out of a word doc. Same thing as spacing gets messed up when I copy it over..

UPDATE:
I've gone through as many settings and I could find.

Internet Options:
Enable FTP View (checked)
USE Passive FTP (checked)

Windows firewall disabled (temporarily)
Also put in new inbound and outbound port rules for ports 20,21

Windows antivirus disabled.

Asus Router is setup to allow FTP access to the USB stick and if I use file explorer and enter the following:
ftp://myname@192.168.1.1 then it works every time.

But the software I'm using that needs FTP access doesn't have the option to use the "myname@" string in the address.

Any suggestions?