[RESOLVED] Error "530 Login Authentication Failed"

Those who plays the role of Website Support Engineers (for Managing FTP Servers and Resolving Errors) for Online Businesses faces “530 Login authentication Failed” error commonly in cPanel Pure-ftpd Servers. All about the “530 Login authentication Failed Error” (Cause and Solution) is described in the following text.

Causes of 530 Login Authentication Failed Error :

Basically this error comes when the FTP Server could not verify user’s Login details are correct or not. There are mainly three reasons behind this error and both are detailed below.

1. User’s Incorrect Login Details : For FTP Access, user’s need to enter their correct Username and Password. If any of these details are incorrect then the error may occur. cPanel has a Default User Account along with Additional FTP Accounts Associated with each Domain. Default User Account's Username is the FTP Login Name but in case of Additional FTP Accounts, the FTP Login Name has "username@domain.com" format. If the FTP Username is Incorrect or Not in Specific Format or the Password is Wrong then Login Failure Occurs.

2. Password Database Corruption : User's Password are stored in Encrypted Form (as MD5 Strings) in Pure-ftpd Database. If the cPanel is Updated (Upgraded) or FTP Server is Changed then this may cause an accidental corruption of Database. If Database gets Corrupted then not any single FTP User would be able to Login to the Server and every User will see the “530 Login Authentication Error".

3. Incorrect DNS Information : Incorrect Domain Name System or Service or Server (DNS) information may also lead to 530 Login Authentication Failed Error. The Domain Name must point to the Hosting Account by pointing Domain Name's DNS A Record to Hosting Account's IP Address.

Solutions for 530 Login Authentication Failed Error :

• The first thing is that the user should carefully enter the correct Username, Hostname and Password in FTP Client (Cute-FTP, Filezilla, FlashFXP etc) to establish successful FTP Session.

• If user enters correct password and it not works then he/she should reset the password and try again with those credentials.

• If the error still persists then you have to check the DNS information of your domain. Your nameserver must be point to your hosting account.

• If there is a case of Password Database Corruption then actions such as Synchronize the FTP Passwords (by WHM or Manually) to update the corrupted passwords with the correct passwords.

• Forceful Synchronization (Switching the FTP Server from Pure-ftp to Proftpd and Then Vice Versa) can also be used to correct the Password Database.