{"id":223,"date":"2026-06-03T23:02:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T06:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hostandtech.com\/kb\/linux\/how-to-transfer-files-via-scp\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T23:02:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T06:02:18","slug":"how-to-transfer-files-via-scp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hostandtech.com\/kb\/linux\/how-to-transfer-files-via-scp\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Transfer Files via SCP (Secure Copy Protocol)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Overview<\/h2>\n<p>SCP (Secure Copy Protocol) is a command-line tool that copies files between machines over an encrypted SSH connection. If you&#8217;ve got SSH access to a server, you&#8217;ve already got SCP \u2014 no extra software required.<\/p>\n<p>Most people reach for SCP when they need to move a database dump, push a config file to a VPS, or pull logs off a remote server without setting up an FTP client. It&#8217;s fast, scriptable, and works on any Linux or macOS terminal out of the box. Windows users can use it via WSL, PowerShell (OpenSSH is included from Windows 10 onward), or tools like PuTTY&#8217;s <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">pscp<\/code>.<\/p>\n<p>This article covers the core SCP transfer commands, useful flags, and the errors that catch people off guard the first time they use it.<\/p>\n<h2>Prerequisites<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>SSH access to the remote server (username, IP address or hostname, and port \u2014 default is 22)<\/li>\n<li>A terminal: bash\/zsh on Linux or macOS, PowerShell or WSL on Windows<\/li>\n<li>OpenSSH client installed \u2014 run <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">ssh -V<\/code> to confirm. Most Linux distros include it; macOS has it built in<\/li>\n<li>Correct file permissions on both source and destination paths \u2014 SCP won&#8217;t create destination directories that don&#8217;t exist (unless you use <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-r<\/code> with an existing parent)<\/li>\n<li>If using key-based auth: your private key file (<code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">.pem<\/code> or <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">.key<\/code>) available locally<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Step-by-Step Instructions<\/h2>\n<h3>Step 1 \u2014 Understand the basic SCP syntax<\/h3>\n<p>Every SCP command follows this pattern:<\/p>\n<div class=\"ht-code-snippet\"><button class=\"ht-code-snippet__copy\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Copy code\"><\/button><span class=\"ht-code-snippet__feedback\">Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\n<pre class=\"ht-code-snippet__code\" id=\"code-block-1\"><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">scp [options] source destination<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<p>Source and destination can each be either local (just a file path) or remote (formatted as <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">user@host:\/path<\/code>). The direction of the transfer depends on which side is local and which is remote.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 2 \u2014 Upload a file from your local machine to a remote server<\/h3>\n<p>This is the most common use case \u2014 pushing a file up to your VPS or dedicated server.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ht-code-snippet\"><button class=\"ht-code-snippet__copy\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Copy code\"><\/button><span class=\"ht-code-snippet__feedback\">Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\n<pre class=\"ht-code-snippet__code\" id=\"code-block-2\"><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">scp \/home\/youruser\/backup.sql root@203.0.113.45:\/var\/backups\/<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<p>Breaking that down: <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">\/home\/youruser\/backup.sql<\/code> is the local source file, <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">root@203.0.113.45<\/code> is the remote user and server IP, and <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">\/var\/backups\/<\/code> is the destination directory on the server. SCP will prompt for your password unless you&#8217;re using key-based auth.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcdd Note: If your SSH daemon is running on a non-standard port (common on hardened servers), pass the port with <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-P<\/code> (capital P \u2014 this catches people out because <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">ssh<\/code> uses lowercase <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-p<\/code>).<\/p>\n<div class=\"ht-code-snippet\"><button class=\"ht-code-snippet__copy\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Copy code\"><\/button><span class=\"ht-code-snippet__feedback\">Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\n<pre class=\"ht-code-snippet__code\" id=\"code-block-3\"><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">scp -P 2222 \/home\/youruser\/backup.sql root@203.0.113.45:\/var\/backups\/<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Step 3 \u2014 Download a file from a remote server to your local machine<\/h3>\n<p>Just flip the source and destination:<\/p>\n<div class=\"ht-code-snippet\"><button class=\"ht-code-snippet__copy\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Copy code\"><\/button><span class=\"ht-code-snippet__feedback\">Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\n<pre class=\"ht-code-snippet__code\" id=\"code-block-4\"><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">scp root@203.0.113.45:\/var\/log\/nginx\/error.log \/home\/youruser\/downloads\/<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<p>This pulls <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">error.log<\/code> off the server and drops it into your local <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">downloads<\/code> folder.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 4 \u2014 Transfer a directory recursively<\/h3>\n<p>To copy an entire folder, add the <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-r<\/code> flag. Without it, SCP will silently skip directories.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ht-code-snippet\"><button class=\"ht-code-snippet__copy\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Copy code\"><\/button><span class=\"ht-code-snippet__feedback\">Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\n<pre class=\"ht-code-snippet__code\" id=\"code-block-5\"><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">scp -r root@203.0.113.45:\/var\/www\/html\/mysite \/home\/youruser\/site-backup\/<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u26a0 Warning: On large directories, this can take a long time and will fail if your SSH connection drops mid-transfer. For anything over a few hundred MB, I&#8217;d recommend using <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">rsync<\/code> over SSH instead \u2014 it&#8217;s resumable. That said, SCP is fine for smaller directories and one-off transfers.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 5 \u2014 Use an SSH key instead of a password<\/h3>\n<p>If your server uses key-based authentication (which it should), pass your private key with <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-i<\/code>:<\/p>\n<div class=\"ht-code-snippet\"><button class=\"ht-code-snippet__copy\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Copy code\"><\/button><span class=\"ht-code-snippet__feedback\">Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\n<pre class=\"ht-code-snippet__code\" id=\"code-block-6\"><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">scp -i ~\/.ssh\/my-server-key.pem root@203.0.113.45:\/var\/backups\/backup.sql \/home\/youruser\/<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<p>\ud83d\udcdd Note: Your key file must have permissions set to <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">600<\/code>. If they&#8217;re too open, SSH will refuse to use the key and throw a warning. Fix it with:<\/p>\n<div class=\"ht-code-snippet\"><button class=\"ht-code-snippet__copy\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Copy code\"><\/button><span class=\"ht-code-snippet__feedback\">Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\n<pre class=\"ht-code-snippet__code\" id=\"code-block-7\"><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">chmod 600 ~\/.ssh\/my-server-key.pem<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Step 6 \u2014 Transfer files between two remote servers<\/h3>\n<p>SCP can copy directly from one remote host to another without the file touching your local machine first. This is useful when migrating data between servers \u2014 for example, moving a site from an old VPS to a new one.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ht-code-snippet\"><button class=\"ht-code-snippet__copy\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Copy code\"><\/button><span class=\"ht-code-snippet__feedback\">Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\n<pre class=\"ht-code-snippet__code\" id=\"code-block-8\"><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">scp root@203.0.113.10:\/var\/www\/html\/site.tar.gz root@203.0.113.45:\/var\/www\/html\/<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u26a0 Warning: This actually routes the transfer through your local machine&#8217;s SSH connection by default in modern OpenSSH versions (the old <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-3<\/code> flag behaviour is now standard). Both servers need to be reachable from your local machine. If you&#8217;re behind a NAT or the servers can&#8217;t be reached simultaneously from where you&#8217;re sitting, this won&#8217;t work \u2014 SSH directly into the source server and use SCP from there instead.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 7 \u2014 Useful flags to know<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-C<\/code> \u2014 enables compression. Speeds up transfers on slow connections or for uncompressed files like logs and CSVs<\/li>\n<li><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-v<\/code> \u2014 verbose output. Shows the SSH handshake and transfer progress. Useful when debugging a connection issue<\/li>\n<li><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-q<\/code> \u2014 quiet mode, suppresses progress output. Good for scripts<\/li>\n<li><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-l<\/code> \u2014 limits bandwidth in Kbits\/s. For example, <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-l 8192<\/code> caps the transfer at roughly 1 MB\/s so you don&#8217;t saturate a shared connection<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A combined example \u2014 uploading a large archive with compression and bandwidth limiting:<\/p>\n<div class=\"ht-code-snippet\"><button class=\"ht-code-snippet__copy\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Copy code\"><\/button><span class=\"ht-code-snippet__feedback\">Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\n<pre class=\"ht-code-snippet__code\" id=\"code-block-9\"><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">scp -C -l 8192 -i ~\/.ssh\/my-key.pem \/home\/youruser\/archive.tar.gz root@203.0.113.45:\/var\/backups\/<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<p>If you&#8217;re running a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hostandtech.com\/vps-ssd-servers\">VPS SSD Hosting<\/a> plan with Host &amp; Tech, SCP over SSH is one of the quickest ways to push files to your server or pull backups down locally \u2014 especially useful right after provisioning a new instance.<\/p>\n<h2>Common Issues &amp; Troubleshooting<\/h2>\n<h3>Permission denied (publickey,password)<\/h3>\n<p>This means the SSH connection itself failed before SCP even started. The server rejected your credentials. Check that you&#8217;re using the correct username \u2014 on Ubuntu-based servers it&#8217;s often <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">ubuntu<\/code>, not <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">root<\/code>. If using a key, confirm the public key is in <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">~\/.ssh\/authorized_keys<\/code> on the remote server and that the private key path you&#8217;re passing with <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-i<\/code> is correct. Also check that <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">PasswordAuthentication<\/code> isn&#8217;t disabled in <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">\/etc\/ssh\/sshd_config<\/code> if you&#8217;re trying password login.<\/p>\n<h3>scp: \/destination\/path: No such file or directory<\/h3>\n<p>SCP doesn&#8217;t create missing parent directories on the destination. If <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">\/var\/backups\/myapp\/<\/code> doesn&#8217;t exist on the remote server, the transfer will fail. SSH into the server first and run <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">mkdir -p \/var\/backups\/myapp\/<\/code>, then retry the SCP command.<\/p>\n<h3>Received disconnect from &#8230; : Too many authentication failures<\/h3>\n<p>This one&#8217;s annoyingly common and the error message isn&#8217;t obvious about the cause. OpenSSH tries every key in your <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">~\/.ssh\/<\/code> directory automatically. If you have many keys, the server may hit its <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">MaxAuthTries<\/code> limit before trying the right one. Force SCP to use only a specific key and skip the SSH agent with:<\/p>\n<div class=\"ht-code-snippet\"><button class=\"ht-code-snippet__copy\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Copy code\"><\/button><span class=\"ht-code-snippet__feedback\">Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\n<pre class=\"ht-code-snippet__code\" id=\"code-block-10\"><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">scp -o IdentitiesOnly=yes -i ~\/.ssh\/correct-key.pem user@host:\/path \/local\/path<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Stalled transfer \/ connection hangs mid-file<\/h3>\n<p>Usually a firewall or NAT timeout dropping idle-looking connections on large transfers. Add SSH keepalive options to prevent the connection from being dropped:<\/p>\n<div class=\"ht-code-snippet\"><button class=\"ht-code-snippet__copy\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Copy code\"><\/button><span class=\"ht-code-snippet__feedback\">Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\n<pre class=\"ht-code-snippet__code\" id=\"code-block-11\"><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">scp -o ServerAliveInterval=60 -o ServerAliveCountMax=5 largefile.tar.gz user@host:\/destination\/<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<p>This sends a keepalive packet every 60 seconds, up to 5 times before giving up. For very large transfers, switching to <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">rsync -avz --progress<\/code> over SSH is the better long-term answer since it&#8217;s resumable.<\/p>\n<h3>Warning: Permanently added host to the list of known hosts \u2014 then hangs<\/h3>\n<p>First-time connections to a server trigger a host key verification prompt. If you&#8217;re running SCP in a non-interactive script and it hangs waiting for input, add <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no<\/code> to skip the prompt. Only do this in controlled environments where you&#8217;re certain of the server identity \u2014 don&#8217;t use it blindly in production scripts.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ht-code-snippet\"><button class=\"ht-code-snippet__copy\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Copy code\"><\/button><span class=\"ht-code-snippet__feedback\">Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\n<pre class=\"ht-code-snippet__code\" id=\"code-block-12\"><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">scp -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no user@203.0.113.45:\/path\/file.txt \/local\/<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<h2>FAQ<\/h2>\n<div class=\"ht-faq-section\">\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<div class=\"ht-faq-item\">\n<h3 class=\"ht-faq-question\">Is SCP safe to use for transferring sensitive files?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"ht-faq-answer\">\n<p>Yes \u2014 SCP encrypts the entire transfer using SSH, so files are protected in transit. That said, make sure you&#8217;re using SSH key authentication rather than passwords, and that the server&#8217;s SSH configuration is reasonably hardened (disable root login, use fail2ban, etc.). The encryption itself is solid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ht-faq-item\">\n<h3 class=\"ht-faq-question\">What&#039;s the difference between SCP and SFTP?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"ht-faq-answer\">\n<p>Both run over SSH and encrypt the transfer. SCP is simpler and faster for one-off file copies from the command line. SFTP is a full file transfer protocol \u2014 it supports resuming interrupted transfers, directory listings, and interactive sessions. For scripting straightforward copies, SCP is fine. For more complex workflows or large files, SFTP or rsync over SSH is usually better.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ht-faq-item\">\n<h3 class=\"ht-faq-question\">Can I use SCP on Windows?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"ht-faq-answer\">\n<p>Yes. Windows 10 and 11 include OpenSSH by default, so you can run SCP directly in PowerShell or Command Prompt. If it&#8217;s not installed, go to Settings &gt; Optional Features and add OpenSSH Client. You can also use WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) or PuTTY&#8217;s companion tool, pscp.exe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ht-faq-item\">\n<h3 class=\"ht-faq-question\">How do I speed up a slow SCP transfer?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"ht-faq-answer\">\n<p>Add the <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-C<\/code> flag to enable compression \u2014 it helps significantly for text-based files like logs, SQL dumps, and HTML. You can also specify a faster cipher with <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-c aes128-ctr<\/code>, which reduces CPU overhead compared to the default. For very large transfers, rsync with the <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-z<\/code> flag and SSH transport is generally faster and more reliable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ht-faq-item\">\n<h3 class=\"ht-faq-question\">Why does SCP skip my directories without any error?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"ht-faq-answer\">\n<p>Because you forgot the <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-r<\/code> flag. Without it, SCP only processes regular files and silently ignores directories. Add <code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">-r<\/code> to your command to copy directories recursively. This is one of those things that catches everyone at least once.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SCP lets you copy files securely between your local machine and a remote server over SSH \u2014 no FTP client needed. This guide covers the exact commands for uploading, downloading, and transferring between servers, plus the errors that trip people up most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[623,626,622,620,625,621,14,624],"class_list":["post-223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-linux","tag-command-line","tag-how-to-transfer-files-via-scp-secure-copy-protocol","tag-linux-file-transfer","tag-scp","tag-scp-transfer","tag-secure-copy","tag-ssh","tag-vps-file-management"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Transfer Files via SCP (Secure Copy Protocol)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to use SCP transfer to copy files securely between local and remote Linux servers. 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