Uploading files to your AndroHost server with SFTP

The panel's Files tab is great for small edits, but uploading a 2 GB modpack or a giant world file through a web browser is painful. Use SFTP. It's the same connection your server already has, exposes the same files, and is much faster for anything over a few MB.

This article covers how to connect, what credentials to use, and where each kind of file actually lives on the server.

What SFTP is, in one sentence

SFTP is a way to drag-and-drop files between your computer and the server, like FTP but encrypted. We provide an SFTP login for every server. You connect with a desktop client (FileZilla, Cyberduck, or a built-in OS feature) and your server's files appear like a normal folder.

What you need

• An SFTP client. Recommendations:
  • Windows: FileZilla (free) or WinSCP (free).
  • macOS: Cyberduck (free), Transmit (paid, very polished), or Finder's built-in "Connect to Server" (Cmd+K in Finder).
  • Linux: any decent file manager has SFTP built in. GNOME Files (Other locations → Connect to server), Dolphin (fish:// URLs), or sftp from the terminal.
• Your panel login. The SFTP password is your panel password.
• Your server selected in the panel.

Finding your SFTP login

In the panel, open your server. Scroll down to the panel sidebar or the bottom of the main page. There's a section labeled SFTP Details with three things:

Address     wings-paid01.androhost.com:2022
Username    <your-panel-username>.<random-id>
Password    (your panel password)

Two important details:

• The port is 2022, not 22. SFTP normally runs on port 22; we use a different port to keep game-server traffic separate. Most clients let you set a custom port in the connection dialog.
• The username has a . and some random characters, like anthonym.a1b2c3d4. That's per-server; each of your servers has a different SFTP username. The same panel password works for all of them.

Connecting

FileZilla (Windows / Mac / Linux)

1. Open FileZilla.
2. Host: wings-paid01.androhost.com
3. Username: the username from your panel SFTP Details.
4. Password: your panel password.
5. Port: 2022.
6. Click Quickconnect.

You should see your server's files on the right pane. Your computer's files are on the left.

Cyberduck (macOS)

1. Open Cyberduck → Open Connection.
2. Top dropdown: SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol).
3. Server: wings-paid01.androhost.com
4. Port: 2022
5. Username: from panel.
6. Password: your panel password.
7. Click Connect.

macOS Finder (built-in)

1. Finder → Cmd+K (Go → Connect to Server).
2. URL: sftp://[email protected]:2022 (replace with your real username).
3. Connect → enter your panel password.

Your server appears as a mounted volume.

Command line

sftp -P 2022 [email protected]

Then put localfile, get remotefile, cd dir, etc.

What's in there

Once connected, the root you see is your server's volume — same files you'd see in the panel's Files tab. For a Minecraft server it looks like:

/
├── world/              ← your main world data
├── world_nether/       ← Nether dimension
├── world_the_end/      ← End dimension
├── plugins/            ← Paper/Spigot plugins live here
├── mods/               ← Forge/Fabric mods live here (modded servers only)
├── config/             ← per-plugin / per-mod configs
├── logs/               ← server logs
├── server.properties   ← main config file
├── ops.json            ← list of admins
├── whitelist.json      ← whitelist (if enabled)
├── banned-players.json ← banlist
└── server.jar          ← the server software

Other games have different layouts. Valheim has worlds_local/, Vintage Story has Saves/, Eco has Storage/. The principle is the same: drag files in, restart the server, the new files are live.

Common things people use SFTP for

Uploading an existing world

1. Stop the server first (panel → power → Stop). NEVER overwrite a world while the server is writing to it.
2. Connect via SFTP.
3. Delete or rename the existing world/ folder so the new one has somewhere to land.
4. Drag your local world folder into the root.
5. Make sure it's named exactly world (not World or MyWorld-2026).
6. Start the server. Watch the console — the world name should appear in the boot messages.

Bulk-uploading plugins or mods

Drag the .jar files into plugins/ (or mods/). Restart the server.

Downloading a server backup

Backups tab in the panel has a Download button. SFTP also works if you want to grab specific files (like just one player's data) without downloading the whole backup.

Editing a config file too big for the panel editor

Drag it out, edit locally with your favorite editor (VS Code, Notepad++, whatever), drag it back. Faster than the web editor for anything more than a few lines.

Performance

Upload speed depends on:

• Your home internet's upload bandwidth (often much slower than download).
• The geographic distance to our datacenter.
• The size and number of files. Many tiny files are slower than one big file because each one has overhead.

A 2 GB modpack zip typically uploads in 5-20 minutes from a US-based home connection. A 50 MB world is under a minute.

If you're uploading a folder with hundreds of small files (a heavily-populated world directory), it's often faster to zip the folder locally, upload the zip, and extract on the server (use the panel Files tab's right-click "Unzip" option).

Security

A few habits worth keeping:

• Treat your SFTP password as you would your panel password — same value.
• Never share your SFTP login with players. If you need a contributor to upload mods, give them temporary access via the panel's Users feature, which generates a separate SFTP login.
• Public WiFi is fine for SFTP. The "S" in SFTP means it's encrypted; nobody on the cafe network can read your files. Saying that, also don't paste your password on a screen anyone might glance at.

Troubleshooting

"Connection refused" / "could not connect":

• Wrong port? It's 2022, not 22.
• Server is offline? SFTP needs the Wings daemon running, which needs your server's host node to be up.

"Authentication failed" / "wrong password":

• Username has the .<random-id> suffix, not just your panel username.
• Try logging into the panel with the same password to confirm it's right.

"Permission denied" on a folder:

• Some game servers run files under a restricted user. You can usually read everything but writes to certain directories are blocked. The Files tab in the panel can do what SFTP can't in those cases.

Slow transfer:

• Try a different time of day if your home internet is congested.
• For huge transfers, zip locally and upload the zip — fewer files = less overhead.

If something doesn't work, take a screenshot of the error and open a ticket in our Discord. We see SFTP misconfigurations a lot; the fix is usually quick.