Automate FTP session

I have a Windows 2000 server from which I need to upload files to an external FTP server.

Is there a way to automate the OPENING of an FTP session? For instance, at a command prompt, I can enter the following command to automate the transfer:ftp -n -s:C:\ftp.txt xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

This works wonderfully. However, If I create a batch file to include that command, the session won’t open.

Any suggestions on how I can get this process to work?