Setting the web root

This may be a dumb question but I'm pretty new to web development. I've got a windows shared hosting account with godaddy and I want to place some files above the web root for security purposes. The problem is that the root of the ftp space is the same as the web root. I contacted the host and so I know what my absolute server path is, but I just don't know how to upload files to any directory higher than the web root.

Any help or suggestions would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

--carriker

Typically, the web directory is something like this on shared hosting plans: /public_html/ or /www/

So, I'd guess that if you setup your FTP application to NOT point into one of those directories by simply leaving your 'directory path' blank, or maybe using a single forward slash: /

I'm not 100% sure, so you'll have to try it out.

Thanks herkalees, but I'm still having some trouble.
I'm using dreamweaver 8 for ftp and I tried just using a single slash '/' as my host directory and it will let me connect just fine but when I try to upload anything to that directory it tells me that permission is denied.

This is what I was told from my provider about how my server path is setup:

your full server path is /home/content/u/s/e/username/html, where 'u', 's', and 'e' are replaced by the first three letters of your hosting username, and 'username' is replaced by your username.

I tried a lot of different things but the only way I have had permission to connect and upload files via ftp is if I set my host directory as '/username/'. From the information my provider sent I thought that maybe there is supposed to be an "html" directory beneath the "username" directory that acts as the web root, but in reality anything in the "username" directory is visible to the web.

I do appreciate any advice I can get, and I'll probably pester my provider some more. I just can't believe it would be this difficult to place files above the web root.

Thanks again,

--carriker

Usually an FTP account will give you access to your internet root as well as possibly another folder for databases and maybe your logs.

When you just FTP normal into the website do you see these folders?

The only subdirectory visible through ftp was named "aspnet_client" and it has a subdirectory called "system_web" which has some subfolders containing a couple of .js files. But if I try to upload anything into the "aspnet_client" folder or lower it tells me I don't have permission to do so. So, the only place for me to upload files is the root of the ftp area which is also the root of my web space. And of course I can create my own subfolders and subdomains which appear on ftp and I can upload to them.

Also, I can create custom folders that are password protected. But it defaults to the same user name and password as my hosting account and I have no clue how to change the protection settings. It's a windows server so I don't think it's using .htaccess and .htpassword, but even if it was I couldn't find and modify them.

Thanks again for all your help. In the not too distant future I'll be moving the site to a dedicated server anyway, but for the moment I'd really like to get this figured out.

--carriker

If that is the only thing that you see, it sounds like you are in the root as soon as you FTP into the website.

If you want a folder (like I suggested earlier) higher up - it sounds like you do not have permission to move "higher" up