Issue to SFTP command

Question

Issue to SFTP command

Jonathan 300

Hi,

Any issue to the command below? What to adjust?

C:\Windows\system32>sftp -p peter@1?.???:22

peter@1?.???'s password:

Connection reset by 1?.??? port 22

Connection closed

AlexCodex 100 Reputation points

2026-08-07T06:35:16.69+00:00
The syntax looks valid, so the "Connection reset by ... port 22" message usually means the server is closing the connection rather than there being a problem with the sftp command itself.

A few things to check:

Verify that the SFTP service is running and listening on port 22.

Confirm the hostname/IP is correct and reachable (ping or Test-NetConnection <host> -Port 22).

Make sure the server allows SFTP/SSH connections from your client IP.

Check the SSH/SFTP server logs for the reason the connection was reset (authentication, firewall, or security policy).

If possible, could you share which SFTP server software you're connecting to (OpenSSH, Bitvise, etc.) and the exact command with the hostname masked? That would help narrow it down.
Jonathan 300 Reputation points

2026-08-07T09:50:04.7333333+00:00

Any help to this?

C:\Windows\system32>Test-NetConnection 1???? -Port 22

'Test-NetConnection' is not recognized as an internal or external command,

operable program or batch file.

Make sure the server allows SFTP/SSH connections from your client IP.

More details?

1 answer

Your answer

AlexCodex 100 Reputation points

2026-08-07T06:35:16.69+00:00

The syntax looks valid, so the "Connection reset by ... port 22" message usually means the server is closing the connection rather than there being a problem with the sftp command itself.

A few things to check:

Verify that the SFTP service is running and listening on port 22.

Confirm the hostname/IP is correct and reachable (ping or Test-NetConnection <host> -Port 22).

Make sure the server allows SFTP/SSH connections from your client IP.

Check the SSH/SFTP server logs for the reason the connection was reset (authentication, firewall, or security policy).

If possible, could you share which SFTP server software you're connecting to (OpenSSH, Bitvise, etc.) and the exact command with the hostname masked? That would help narrow it down.
Jonathan 300 Reputation points

2026-08-07T09:50:04.7333333+00:00

Any help to this?

C:\Windows\system32>Test-NetConnection 1???? -Port 22

'Test-NetConnection' is not recognized as an internal or external command,

operable program or batch file.

Make sure the server allows SFTP/SSH connections from your client IP.

More details?

Answer 1

Hello @Jonathan

Since you're getting as far as:

peter@<server>'s password:

the SFTP command syntax itself is fine:

sftp -P 22 peter@<server>

Also note that SFTP uses uppercase -P to specify the port. Since port 22 is the default, you can simply use:

sftp peter@<server>

The key point is that the connection resets after the password prompt. This means basic TCP 22 connectivity is already established. Test-NetConnection can confirm TCP connectivity, but a successful test wouldn't prove that SFTP authentication/session creation is succeeding.

The next thing I'd do is run the client in verbose mode:

sftp -vvv peter@<server>

This should show exactly where the SSH/SFTP session fails.

If the password is accepted and the connection immediately resets, the issue is more likely on the SFTP/SSH server side. Check the SSH server logs at the same timestamp for authentication, account, or SFTP subsystem errors.

If the server is Windows OpenSSH, check:

Event Viewer → Applications and Services Logs → OpenSSH → Operational

You can also verify that the SSH service is running:

Get-Service sshd

and review:

C:\ProgramData\ssh\sshd_config

In particular, confirm that the SFTP subsystem hasn't been removed or incorrectly configured. A normal Windows OpenSSH configuration should contain an SFTP subsystem configuration such as:

Subsystem sftp sftp-server.exe

Microsoft documents the Windows OpenSSH configuration and sshd_config location here:

Microsoft - OpenSSH Server configuration for Windows

I'd also verify that Peter is permitted to log on and isn't affected by an AllowUsers, AllowGroups, DenyUsers, or DenyGroups rule in sshd_config.

If the destination isn't Windows OpenSSH, check the corresponding SSH/SFTP server logs instead. The server log is particularly important here because the client message only tells us that the remote side terminated the connection.

Could you post the last 15–20 lines from:

sftp -vvv peter@<server>

immediately before Connection reset, with the IP/hostname and any sensitive information removed? That should help identify whether the failure occurs during authentication or SFTP subsystem/session initialization.

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