Why I cannot connect/transfer using script, when I can using GUI (or vice versa)?

There are three common reasons why a script does not work, when a connectivity is otherwise possible:

• You run script from a different environment (under a different account/service; with a different configuration) than the GUI.
  See another FAQ: My script works fine when executed manually, but fails or hangs when run by Windows Scheduler, SSIS or other automation service. What am I doing wrong?1
• You have your session configured differently in the script and in the GUI.
  • Use a Generate Session URL/Code command to avoid common mistakes in manually typed URL’s or code; and to make sure all the settings from your GUI configuration is used in the script.
    A common problem is special characters in some part of the session URL (typically a password or a username).
  • Passphrase to an SSH private key is not a password, you need to specify it using -passphrase switch, not in a password part of the session URL.
  • With WebDAV and S3 protocols, it is possible that you do not have an access to the root folder (bucket list in S3).
• You use different paths in the script than in the GUI.
  • Always make sure you that use the exact paths that you see on the label above the file panel in the GUI. Use Copy Path to Clipboard command to avoid typing errors.
  • Common mistake is using paths that are relative to the home folder as absolute paths. For example, when there’s data folder in your /home/user folder, you cannot refer to the folder as /data. Either use an absolute path /home/user/data (recommended) or relative path data.
  • Remote paths are case sensitive. So Data is not the same as data.

You can also enable a session logging both in the GUI (on Logging page of Preferences dialog) and the script (using a command-line parameter /log) and compare the logs to find out what is different. Use a command-line parameter /loglevel=* to enable a password logging and check if a correct password is used.

If you decide to seek a help, make sure you provide both complete logs, when describing your issue.

• More generic article Why WinSCP does not work in a new environment (operating system, machine, user account, network), when it works for me in a different environment already?.
• Debugging transfer task running in Windows Scheduler, SSIS, or another automation service.