scp files from local to remote machine error: no such file or directory

Question

I want to be able to transfer a directory and all its files from my local machine to my remote one. I dont use SCP much so I am a bit confused.

I am connected to my remote machine via ssh and I typed in the command

scp name127.0.0.1:local/machine/path/to/directory filename

the local/machine/path/to/directory is the value i got from using pwd in the desired directory on my local host.

I am currently getting the error

No such file or directory

Answer 1

Looks like you are trying to copy to a local machine with that command.

An example scp looks more like the command below:

Copy the file "foobar.txt" from the local host to a remote host

$ scp foobar.txt your_username@remotehost.edu:/some/remote/directory

scp "the_file" your_username@the_remote_host:the/path/to/the/directory

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to send a directory:

Copy the directory "foo" from the local host to a remote host's directory "bar"

$ scp -r foo your_username@remotehost.edu:/some/remote/directory/bar

scp -r "the_directory_to_copy" your_username@the_remote_host:the/path/to/the/directory/to/copy/to

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and to copy from remote host to local:

Copy the file "foobar.txt" from a remote host to the local host

$ scp your_username@remotehost.edu:foobar.txt /your/local/directory

scp your_username@the_remote_host:the_file /your/local/directory

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and to include port number:

Copy the file "foobar.txt" from a remote host with port 8080 to the local host

$ scp -P 8080 your_username@remotehost.edu:foobar.txt /your/local/directory

scp -P port_number your_username@the_remote_host:the_file /your/local/directory

---

From a windows machine to linux machine using putty

pscp -r <directory_to_copy> username@remotehost:/path/to/directory/on/remote/host

Answer 2

In my case I had to specify the Port Number using

scp -P 2222 username@hostip:/directory/ /localdirectory/

Answer 3

i had a kind of similar problem. i tried to copy from a server to my desktop and always got the same message for the local path. the problem was, i already was logged in to my server per ssh, so it was searching for the local path in the server path.

solution: i had to log out and run the command again and it worked

Answer 4

Your problem can be caused by different things. I will provide you three possible scenarios in Linux:

• The File location

When you use scp name , you mean that your File name is in Home directory. When it is in Home but inside in another Folder, for example, my_folder, you should write:

scp /home/my-username/my_folder/name my-username@127.0.0.1:/Path....

• You File Permission

You must know the File Permission your File has. If you have Read-only you should change it.

To change the Permission:

As Root ,sudo caja ( the default file manager for the MATE Desktop) or another file manager ,then with you Mouse , right-click to the File name , select Properties + Permissions and change it on Group and Other to Read and write .

Or with chmod .

• You Port Number

Maybe you remote machine or Server can only communicate with a Port Number, so you should write -P and the Port Number.

scp -P 22 /home/my-username/my_folder/name my-usernamee@127.0.0.1 /var/www/html

Answer 5

Be sure the folder from where you send the file does not contain space !

I was trying to send a file to a remote server from my windows machine from VS code terminal, and I got this error even if the file was here.

It's because the folder where the file was contained space in its name...

Answer 6

If you want to copy everything in a Folder + have a special Port use this one. Works for me on Ubuntu 18.04 and a local machine with Mac OS X.

-r for recursive
-P for Port

scp -rP 1234 /Your_Directory/Source_Folder/ username@yourdomain.com:/target/folder