$ sudo apt-get install xinetd tftpd tftp

service tftp
{
protocol        = udp
port            = 69
socket_type     = dgram
wait            = yes
user            = nobody
server          = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
server_args     = /tftpboot
disable         = no
}

$ sudo mkdir /tftpboot
$ sudo chmod -R 777 /tftpboot
$ sudo chown -R nobody /tftpboot

$ sudo /etc/init.d/xinetd start

$ touch /tftpboot/hda.txt
$ chmod 777 /tftpboot/hda.txt
$ ls -l /tftpboot/
total 0
-rwxrwxrwx  1 davids davids 0 2006-03-27 23:04 hda.txt
$ tftp 192.168.1.100
tftp> put hda.txt
Sent 722 bytes in 0.0 seconds
tftp> quit
$ ls -l /tftpboot/
total 4
-rwxrwxrwx  1 davids davids 707 2006-03-27 23:07 hda.txt

164 thoughts on “Installing and setting TFTPD in Ubuntu”

1. Works clean on fresh installation of Ubuntu 11.04 64-bit on Intel machine!
   Thanks a lot. — Kosta

2. had mega problems with this.
   finally tracked down to the problem the folder required
   /var/lib/tftpboot and not just /tftpboot

   why does the ‘/var/lib’ need to be specified

   am using Ubuntu

   cheers Brian

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5. when you have issues with the daemon you can use:

   /etc/init.d/xinetd stop
   /etc/init.d/xinetd start

   config of the file */etc/xinetd.d/tftp * should be:
   service tftp
   {
   protocol = udp
   port = 69
   socket_type = dgram
   wait = yes
   user = nobody
   server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
   server_args = var/lib//tftpboot
   disable = no
   }

   I am on Ubuntu 10.04

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7. Thanks a lot! Seems to be OK on Ubuntu 11.10.

8. Hi, when i perform the
   >get test
   all i get is an empty test file in the directory, but i do have this
   ~$ cat /tftpboot/test
   hello

   any suggestions, i need to upload a new kernel to my arm device, and the only thing that’s giving me problems is the tftp server. Kinda sad

9. I get

   $ start xinetd
   start: Rejected send message, 1 matched rules; type=”method_call”, sender=”:1.193″ (uid=1000 pid=4197 comm=”start xinetd “) interface=”com.ubuntu.Upstart0_6.Job” member=”Start” error name=”(unset)” requested_reply=”0″ destination=”com.ubuntu.Upstart” (uid=0 pid=1 comm=”/sbin/init”)

   when I try to start the server (it also happens with “service xinetd start”). The server doesn’t start and when I try to get/put some file, I get “connection timeout”.

10. I’m trying to get this working using a directory in my Downloads folder using a different user name, and I’m not coming up with anything… Here’s what I’ve got so far…

    tftp, and atftpd aren’t running, xinetd seems to be running fine.

    root@Thunder-Dong:/home/bhowell# ps -ef | grep tftp
    root 2572 2560 0 15:59 pts/1 00:00:00 grep tftp
    root@Thunder-Dong:/home/bhowell# ps -ef | grep atftpd
    root 2574 2560 0 16:00 pts/1 00:00:00 grep atftpd
    root@Thunder-Dong:/home/bhowell# ps -ef | grep xinetd
    root 1058 1 0 15:51 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/xinetd -dontfork -pidfile /var/run/xinetd.pid -stayalive -inetd_compat -inetd_ipv6
    root 2576 2560 0 16:00 pts/1 00:00:00 grep xinetd

    root@Thunder-Dong:/home/bhowell# cat /etc/xinetd.d/tftp
    {
    protocol = udp
    port = 69
    socket_type = dgram
    wait = yes
    user = bhowell
    server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
    server_args = /home/bhowell/Downloads/TFTP
    disable = no
    }

    root@Thunder-Dong:/home/bhowell# cat /etc/default/atftpd
    USE_INETD=true
    OPTIONS=”–tftpd-timeout 300 –retry-timeout 5 –mcast-port 1758 –mcast-addr 239.239.239.0-255 –mcast-ttl 1 –maxthread 100 –verbose=5 /home/bhowell/Downloads/TFTP”

    root@Thunder-Dong:/home/bhowell/Downloads# ls -al | grep TFTP
    drwxrwxr-x 2 bhowell bhowell 4096 2011-11-02 14:41 TFTP
    root@Thunder-Dong:/home/bhowell/Downloads#

    I found another site explaining how to set up atftpd, but the only thing it says to do is to set the INETD field to false. And to change the ownership of the file you’re copying from to nobody. Does the user field really matter?

11. Update….

    I was able to put a file from the client (Cisco 3750) into the directory that I had created, now I having problems copying files from that directory into the switch.

12. I can put a file, but I can’t get it.
    I received “Error code 2: Access violation”
    I posted on http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1891866&highlight=access+code+violation

13. I got “transfer time out”
    any idea???

14. Access violation error comes because you can put a file in /tftpboot with tftp client if that file is already exists with 777 permissions. I think this is a bullshit security regulation. I think most administrators uses tftp to save the configuration of the switches and routers. In this case iptables can create the proper security environment. But I am not a IT security man, just an administrator who have sucked a day with this Access violation.

    To solve this problem I have downloaded the previous version (http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/i386/tftpd/download) of tftpd and copy the in.tftpd file from the .deb package to /usr/sbin/ on Ubuntu 10.04.