Command-line Options

If you are going to run WinSCP from command-line often, you may wish to add WinSCP installation directory to search path.

winscp3.exe stored_session
winscp3.exe [(scp|sftp)://][user[:password]@]host[:port][/path/[file]] [/privatekey=key_file]
winscp3.exe [session] /upload file1 file2 file3 ... [/defaults]
winscp3.exe [session] /synchronize [local_directory] [remote_directory] [/defaults]
winscp3.exe [session] /keepuptodate [local_directory] [remote_directory] [/defaults]
winscp3.exe [session] [/console] [/script=script_file] [/command command1 command2 ...]
winscp3.exe /update
winscp3.exe /ini=<inifile> /log=<logfile>
winscp3.exe /help

The first syntax opens the stored session. The second creates the session specified by at least hostname, optionally by name of protocol, port number, username, password and initial remote path. In both cases, when only hostname is known, only Login dialog is shown with pre-filled hostname. Otherwise connection attempt is started immediately. If the remote path is not ended by slash (/), it is treated as path to file (or even directory) that should be downloaded. Special characters (like @ in username) can be encoded using %XX syntax, where XX is hexadecimal ASCII code.

Parameter /privatekey specifies default private key file for all sessions. It is used when the particular session has no explicit key specified only.

With /upload parameter WinSCP uploads specified files to remote directory of session defined using one of the previous syntaxes. A dialog to set options is displayed first (Note that this is not intended for automation, see scripting, but to allow Explorer’s ‘Send To’ menu integration).

With /synchronize or /keepuptodate parameter WinSCP performs Synchronize or Keep remote directory up to date commands respectively on the specified session and directories. A dialog to set options is displayed first (Note that this is not intended for automation, see scripting).

Use /defaults parameter along with /upload, /synchronize or /keepuptodate to skip the settings dialog and start the operation straight away with default settings.

Parameter /console executes WinSCP in console (scripting) mode. Note that when WinSCP is executed via console interface (WinSCP3.com), the /console parameter is not necessary.

To run batch script either pass script file using /script parameter or specify the commands directly on command line using /command. In the latter case each following parameter is treated as single command (If the command includes spaces, enclose it in quotes). If both /script and /command parameters are used, commands from script file are executed first. When the last command is not exit, regular non-batch mode follows. If /console parameter is not used along with /script or /command, the script/command is executed without visual feedback (window).

When run with /update parameter, WinSCP only checks for its updates.

With /ini parameter you may specify path to configuration INI file. It effectively disables using registry as configuration storage. If the file does not exist, default configuration will be used and the file will be created.

With /log parameter you may turn on session logging to given file.

Parameter /help shows usage (overview similar to this).

For security reasons, when protocol (sftp:// or scp://) is provided on command line (possible execution from web browser/Windows Explorer), all command-like parameters that cause any automatic action are ignored, including /defaults, /log, /script and /command.