How to Configure FileZilla Pro Defaults File fzdefaults.xml

4993 September 21, 2023

The file fzdefaults.xml is used to provide system-wide default settings for FileZilla Pro.

fzdefaults.xml can contain any setting from filezilla.xml. FileZilla Pro loads the settings from
fzdefaults.xml and overrides the settings from filezilla.xml. fzdefaults.xml is not modified by FileZilla Pro.

Below you find a step by step guide, if you prefer you can watch our Setting FileZilla defaults file fzdefaults.xml video tutorial.

Note: fzdefaults.xml cannot be used with the MacOS AppStore version.

  • Windows: put the file fzdefaults.xml into the same directory as filezilla.exe.

  • MacOS: modify the app bundle, put fzdefaults.xml into Contents/SharedSupport/subdirectory

  • Other: put the file fzdefaults.xml into one of the following directories (in order of precedence):

    • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/filezilla

    • ~/.config/filezilla

    • ~/.filezilla

    • /etc/filezilla

    • shared/filezilla subdirectory of install prefix

    Create some new Site Manager entries and export the list of sites. See Export Configuration Settings on how to export them. Rename the resulting XML file to fzdefaults.xml or copy the block in it into fzdefaults.xml.

    Config Location

    By default, FileZilla Pro stores its settings in the user’s home directory. If you want to change the location, modify the Config Location setting.

    Config Location either accepts absolute paths or paths relative to the location of fzdefaults.
    xml.

    You can also use environment variables by preceding them with the dollar sign, e.g. $HOME/
    foo. Use $$ to denote a path containing dollar signs, e.g. c:\$$foobar\ if settings should
    be located in c:\$foobar.

    A single dot denotes the directory containing fzdefaults.xml.

    Kiosk Mode

    If the Kiosk mode setting is set to 1, FileZilla Pro will not write any passwords to disk. If
    set to 2, FileZilla Pro will not write to any configuration file. The latter is useful if FileZilla
    Pro gets executed from read-only media. This option has priority over the password saving
    options in Settings.

    Disable update check

    If the Disable update check setting is set to 1, the capability to check for new FileZilla Pro
    versions will be completely disabled.

    Cache directory

    Use the Cache directory setting to override where FileZilla Pro places its resource cache.
    Same rule applies for environment variables and relative paths as for the Config Location
    setting.

    A sample fzdefaults.xml file can found under docs subdirectory in the FileZilla Pro installation directory:


    <FileZilla3>

      <Settings>
      <Setting name="Config Location">$SOMEDIR/filezilla/</Setting>
      <Setting name="Kiosk mode">0</Setting>
      <Setting name="Disable update check">0</Setting>
      <Setting name="Cache directory">$USERPROFILE/Documents</Setting>

    </Settings>
    <Servers>

      <Server>
      <Host>ftp.gnu.org</Host>
      <Port>21</Port>
      <Protocol>0</Protocol>
      <Type>0</Type>
      <Logontype>0</Logontype>
      <User>anonymous</User>
      <Pass>someone@example.com</Pass>
      <TimezoneOffset>0</TimezoneOffset>
      <PasvMode>MODE_DEFAULT</PasvMode>
      <MaximumMultipleConnections>0</MaximumMultipleConnections>
      <EncodingType>Auto</EncodingType>
      <Comments></Comments>
      <LocalDir></LocalDir>
      <RemoteDir></RemoteDir>Primary GNU download server
      </Server>
      </Servers>
      </FileZilla3>

    The video tutorial below shows how to configure FileZilla Pro defaults file fzdefaults.xml

    Video tutorial: Setting FileZilla defaults file fzdefaults.xml

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