A Norton Commander-style dual-pane FTP client for MS-DOS running on any x86 machine. The left pane shows the local DOS filesystem; the right pane connects to an FTP server via the mTCP TCP/IP stack — fully keyboard-driven in 80×25 text mode.
Download latest release here: https://github.com/Projanglez/ftp4dos/releases/latest
- Two panes, Norton Commander style: local DOS filesystem and remote FTP server (passive mode)
- Per-pane sorting (Alt+F3: name/extension/size/date/time, asc/desc) and pane swap (Ctrl+U)
- Search / jump-to-name and full-screen pane toggle for long remote names
- Large remote directories: 512 entries by default; with
/EXMEMthe listing is kept in XMS/EMS memory for several thousand files
- Copy (F5) and move (F6) in both directions, rename (Alt+F6) — recursive for whole directory trees
- Create directories (F7) and recursive delete (F8, confirmations show recursive file/directory counts and total size)
- Multiple selection with the Ins key (Norton style) for copy/move/delete
- Live transfer telemetry (current/average speed, per-file and batch ETA); pause (P) and cancel (ESC) mid-transfer
- View files with F3 (up to 32 KB; remote files via temp download); edit local text files with F4 (minimal editor)
- File checksums (Alt+F9): CRC32 + MD5 for local and remote files, optionally saved to a file
- Long remote file names kept in full beyond the 8.3 / 40-column display and used for transfers; Alt+F2 "Detail" shows the complete name and size
- Long local file names (LFN) where an LFN API is available (Windows 9x DOS, MS-DOS 7.x, or DOSLFN)
- UTF-8 remote file names (RFC 2640), converted to the active DOS codepage (CP437, CP850/858, CP866) and re-encoded on upload; override with
FTP4DOS_CODEPAGEinMTCP.CFG
- Bilingual German/English UI, auto-detected from the DOS country setting (force with
FTP4DOS /L:EN) - Locale-aware number/date/time formatting; compact M/G size display for large files
- Site manager — any number of named connection profiles (host, port, user, password, start directory) in
FTP4DOS.SIT, via [Manage...] in the connect dialog - Tunable transfer buffers via
MTCP.CFGfor maximum throughput on your hardware (see Performance tuning)
- Open Watcom C/C++ (wmake, wpp, wcc, wasm, wlink)
- Windows or DOS host for cross-compilation
- Target: 16-bit real-mode DOS, Large memory model, 8086+
mTCP is an external dependency, included as a git submodule of the official repository https://github.com/mbbrutman/mTCP, pinned to the 2025-01-10 release tag. Clone with submodules and build with Open Watcom:
git clone --recursive https://github.com/Projanglez/ftp4dos.git
# or, in an existing checkout:
git submodule update --init
wmake # produces FTP4DOS.EXE
wmake clean # removes objects and build artifacts- mTCP home page: http://www.brutman.com/mTCP/mTCP.html
Note: mTCP is compiled with -0 (8086), and the application code likewise
uses -0 (compatible with 8086/286/386+). Details are in MAKEFILE and CLAUDE.md.
A packet driver for your network card and an valid mTCP configuration file are required, as well as a valid IP-adress (static or dynamic) via mTCP.
FTP4DOS.EXEFTP4DOS [/L:DE|EN] [/H:HOST] [/P:PORT] [/U:USER] [/W:PASS] [/D:DIR] [/S:ALL|NOPASS|OFF] [/EXMEM[:XMS|EMS]] [/Q] [/MONO|/COLOR] (or /?)
Both / and - are accepted as the flag prefix. Flags are case-insensitive;
values are passed through as-is (username and password are case-sensitive).
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
/L:DE / /L:EN |
Force German or English UI |
/H:HOST |
Connect to HOST automatically on startup |
/P:PORT |
Port (default 21) |
/U:USER |
Username (default anonymous) |
/W:PASS |
Password |
/D:DIR |
FTP start directory after connect (empty = root) |
/S:ALL |
Save connection including password to FTP4DOS.SAV (default) |
/S:NOPASS |
Save connection but not the password |
/S:OFF |
Do not save this connection |
/EXMEM |
Store large remote listings in extended/expanded memory (auto: XMS then EMS; force with /EXMEM:XMS or /EXMEM:EMS) |
/Q |
Skip the splash screen |
/MONO |
Force monochrome display (MDA/Hercules) |
/COLOR |
Force color display (default: auto-detect) |
/? |
Show brief help |
After a successful connection, host/port/username (and optionally the password)
plus the FTP start directory are stored in FTP4DOS.SAV next to the EXE and
pre-filled on the next launch. Use /S:ALL (default), /S:NOPASS, or /S:OFF
to control what gets saved; the connect dialog offers the same three choices
interactively.
For more than one server, the site manager ([Manage...] in the connect
dialog) keeps any number of named profiles in FTP4DOS.SIT.
Security note: Stored passwords are lightly obfuscated (XOR + hex), not encrypted — and FTP transmits passwords in plain text anyway.
Advanced — totally optional. FTP4DOS works fine out of the box with sensible defaults; only dig into this if you want to squeeze out more throughput on your specific hardware.
Transfer buffer sizes have a large impact on throughput, and the optimal
values are hardware-specific (disk speed, CPU, packet driver quality).
FTP4DOS reads the following optional settings from your mTCP configuration
file (MTCPCFG):
| Setting | Range | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
FTP4DOS_TCP_BUFFER |
512–16384 | 16384 | TCP receive buffer (window) of the data connection |
FTP4DOS_FILE_BUFFER |
512–32768 | 8192 | File I/O buffer: received data is written to disk in blocks of this size (uploads read in the same blocks) |
FTP4DOS_CODEPAGE |
437/850/858/866 | auto | Codepage for UTF-8 file name conversion (default: active DOS codepage) |
The mTCP FTP client settings FTP_TCP_BUFFER / FTP_FILE_BUFFER are read
as fallbacks, so an already tuned MTCP.CFG works as-is; the FTP4DOS_*
keys take precedence. Experiment: larger file buffers help most machines
(especially with slow disk I/O), but some setups are faster with small ones.
Example:
FTP4DOS_TCP_BUFFER 16384
FTP4DOS_FILE_BUFFER 32768
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Tab | Switch active pane |
| Ctrl+U | Swap panes left/right (remembered) |
| Ctrl+A | File details (same as Alt+F2) |
| Ctrl+F | Search / jump to name (same as Alt+F7) |
| Ctrl+R | Refresh active pane (same as F9) |
| Arrow keys / PgUp PgDn | Move selection |
| Home / End | Jump to first / last entry |
| Ins | Mark entry (for multi-file copy/delete) |
| * (numpad) | Invert selection |
| + (numpad) | Mark files missing or different in the other pane |
| Enter | Enter directory / view file (same as F3) |
| Backspace | Go to parent directory |
| F1 | Help |
| F2 | FTP connect / disconnect (with site manager) |
| Alt+F2 | Detail: full name + size of the selected entry |
| F3 | View file (local or remote; max 32 KB) |
| Alt+F3 | Sort the active pane (name/extension/size/date/time, asc/desc) |
| F4 | Edit local file (minimal editor, ~32 KB, no undo/search) |
| F5 | Copy (recursive for directories) |
| F6 | Move (copy then delete source; recursive) |
| Alt+F6 | Rename (in place) |
| F7 | Create directory |
| Alt+F7 | Search / jump to the next name with a prefix |
| F8 | Delete (recursive with confirmation) |
| Alt+F8 | Full-screen the active pane |
| F9 | Refresh the active pane |
| Alt+F1 | Switch local drive |
| Alt+F9 | Checksum (CRC32 + MD5) of the selected file, optionally saved to a file |
| F10 | Quit |
This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0
(see LICENSE). It statically links the mTCP library, which is
also licensed under the GPLv3.
mTCP © Michael B. Brutman — official home page: http://www.brutman.com/mTCP/mTCP.html
This project builds against the official mTCP, version 2025-01-10,
unmodified, referenced as a git submodule of the official repository
https://github.com/mbbrutman/mTCP (pinned to the 2025-01-10 release
tag). That exact source, together with the source in this repository,
constitutes the complete corresponding source for any distributed binary
(GPLv3 §6). Published releases include a copy of those mTCP sources as an
additional release asset.
This software is provided without any warranty; use at your own risk. See LICENSE (GPLv3, §15–16).
This software was developed with the help of an AI coding assistant (Claude Code).