WinSCP — Connecting to your server

Overview

This article uses the SFTP protocol to connect. Make sure your user is an SFTP user before proceeding. Visit the following article for details:

After WinSCP launches, you are presented with a dialog box to input your connection details:

08 WinSCP.png
  1. Visit the SFTP Credentials article to retrieve your SFTP credentials to connect.
  2. Enter the credentials into the corresponding text fields in the WinSCP dialog box:
    • File protocol: SFTP
    • Hostname:
    • Port number: 22
    • User name:
    • Password:
  3. Click the Advanced button below the password field.
    A new dialog box appears:
    09 WinSCP.png
  4. On the left under the Environment category, select the SFTP option.
  5. Make sure the Allow SCP fallback checkbox is unchecked.
  6. Click the OK button to go back to the WinSCP window.
    10 WinSCP.png
  7. Click the Login button to connect via SFTP.
    A warning message appears indicating that you've received a new host key from the server you've just connected to. This will always happen the first time you make a connection:
    11 WinSCP.png
  8. You should visit the 'The server's host key is unknown' warning article for instructions on how to verify the fingerprint. This ensures you're connecting to your DreamHost server.
  9. Once verified, click the Yes button to accept the host key and to save it to your cache for future reference.
    • You'll only have to do this once (unless the servers host key ever changes).
    • You can check your SSH keys in the SSH Keys page of your panel to compare against this warning.
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  10. When you log in, you're in your user's directory. Here you'll see several folders. Look for your website folder and click into it. In that folder, you'll see your site files which you can now edit.

See also

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Article last updated PST.

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