Installation

You can obtain WinSCP from the WinSCP download page. There are two packages available, English-only and a multilanguage package. You should save the installer to an easily accessed location such as your Windows desktop or your My Documents folder.

WinSCP is also available as U3 package.

1. If you have WinSCP running, close it. The installer will not run if it finds any instance of WinSCP running.
2. Open the installation program by double clicking on its icon.
3. If you have downloaded the “Multilanguage installation package”, you will have the opportunity to select the language for the installation. Your selection will also affect which language plugin will be selected by default for the installation. Note that while you can change your language later, the icons the installer creates will remain in the language selected for installation.
   
   
   
   Only complete translations are distributed in package form. Incomplete translations must be downloaded separately.
   
4. A Welcome Screen is shown at the beginning of setup procedure. To continue, click Next.
5. Review the License Agreement, and then click Next.
6. You will be prompted to select a setup type, with following options:
   • Typical installation
     • Installs to default destination (typically C:\Program Files\WinSCP).
     • Installs all components (multilanguage package does install only selected language, to install all languages use Custom installation).
     • Performs most typical setup tasks:
       • Enables automatic check for application updates
       • Creates a desktop icon (for current user only)
       • Adds upload shortcut to Explorer’s ‘Send to’ context menu
       • Registers to handle sftp: and scp: addresses
     • If you select Typical installation you can skip to step 11.
   • Custom installation
     • Allows full selection of destination, components and features. See steps 7 through 10.
7. You will be prompted for a Destination. Normally the default provided will be acceptable. Change the Destination folder if you like, and then click Next to proceed.
8. After selecting the destination folder, the Component Selection screen should appear. You should keep all components selected, however, if you do not intend to use some of the optional components, you may select another option here.
   
   
   
   You can select to install the following components:
   • WinSCP application (mandatory)
   • Drag&drop shell extension (may require restart)
   • Pageant (SSH authentication agent)
   • PuTTYgen (key generator)
   • Translations (multilanguage installation package only)
9. After selecting components, you will be prompted for a Start Menu Folder. You may change this from the default of “WinSCP”, leave it as is, or click the Don’t Create a Start Menu Folder check box. The start menu folder will include icons for all installed applications and links to important webpages about WinSCP. When you are satisfied with your selection click Next to proceed.
10. After selecting a Start Menu Folder, you will be prompted for Additional Installation Tasks. You can also perform most of these tasks later, after installation (follow each task for details).
    
    
    
    You can select from following tasks:
    • Enable automatic check for application updates (recommended)
    • Create a desktop icon (for current or all users)
    • Create a Quick Launch icon (for current user only)
    • Add upload shortcut to Explorer’s ‘Send to’ context menu
    • Register to handle sftp: and scp: addresses
    • Add installation directory to search path (%PATH%)
11. After the Additional Installation Tasks screen, you will be prompted for Initial User Settings. Again, these can be easily changed later.
    
    
    
    
    • User interface style
    • Show advanced login options (available with Custom installation only)
12. Once you choose the interface to use, you’ll arrive at the Ready to Install screen. On this screen, you can review a list of all selected installation options. If you wish to change anything, you may press the back button until you return to the appropriate screen. If everything appears to be in order, click Install and the actual installation process will start.
13. A brief installation process will take place. If certain options such as drag&drop integration were selected, you may have to restart your computer. If necessary, choose whether or not to restart and then click finish. If you choose not to restart, some WinSCP functions may not be available until you do so.

WinSCP uses Inno Setup as installer. It allows automation of the installation procedure using optional command-line parameters.

To automate the installation you can use following parameters:

• /SILENT - Runs the installer without any prompts (with the exception of error messages, etc.). Default selections are used for destination folder, components, etc.
• /VERYSILENT - As /SILENT, but without showing the progress window.
• /LOG=“filename” - Causes Setup to create a log file.
• /LOADINF=“filename” - Instructs Setup to load the settings from the specified file after having checked the command line. This file can be prepared using the /SAVEINF parameter.
• /SAVEINF=“filename” - Instructs Setup to save installation settings to the specified file.

For full list of parameters refer to Inno Setup help.

Learn how to create a custom distribution of WinSCP.

Learn how a system administrator can restrict or enforce certain functionality of the application.

To upgrade WinSCP, download the newer version, and then install it. The installation will preserve your configuration, and–if necessary–upgrade it.

Note that the translation from an older version of WinSCP will not work with the newer one. You need to install the new translation too.

In general, you may downgrade in the same way, but your configurations may be lost. To make sure that you will be able downgrade, you should backup your configuration before the upgrade.

To remove WinSCP, use Microsoft Windows’ Add/Remove Programs function (Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs). During the removal, WinSCP will ask you if you want to remove WinSCP configuration and other data stored on your computer.