Using WinSCP .NET Assembly from PowerShell

Windows PowerShell is Microsoft’s task automation framework, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language built on .NET Framework.

PowerShell is built into Windows 7 and newer; and is optionally available for Windows 98 SP2 and newer.1

PowerShell scripts can be directly executed, they do not need to be compiled first.

From WinSCP scripting perspective, important aspect of PowerShell (powershell.exe) is its ability to run simple, yet powerful, scripts that can make use functionality exposed by WinSCP .NET assembly.

The powershell.exe is located in %WINDIR%\System32\WindowsPowershell\v1.0.2 Typically you run powershell.exe with -File argument followed by path to your PowerShell script. The script file needs to have .ps1 extension:

powershell.exe -File upload.ps1

Note that by default, executing PowerShell scripts is disabled. To override that, you can either lift the restriction by typing using Set-ExecutionPolicy cmdlet on PowerShell administrator console3:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

or use -ExecutionPolicy argument for every script run:

powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -File upload.ps1 

First, you need to install the WinSCP .NET assembly.4

You use WinSCP .NET assembly from PowerShell as any other .NET assembly.

Though there are some less known techniques and peculiarities that you may need to use, which are described in following sections.

PowerShell script needs to load the assembly before it can use classes the assembly exposes. To load assembly use Add-Type cmdlet.5

Add-Type -Path "WinSCPnet.dll"

Had you need to run the script from other directory, you need to specify a full path to the assembly. You can derive the path from the script file path using $PSScriptRoot automatic variable:6

Add-Type -Path (Join-Path $PSScriptRoot "WinSCPnet.dll")

Enumeration values are accessed using static field syntax [Namespace.Type]::Member, for example [WinSCP.Protocol]::Sftp.

The Session class exposes several events.

If you need to make use of these events:

• Define event handling function;
• Associate the event handling function with an instance of Session class using .add_Event method, where Event is a name of the event.7

See following code snippet:

# Event handling function
function FileTransferred
{
    param($e)
 
    if ($e.Error -eq $Null)
    {
        Write-Host ("Transfer of {0} succeeded" -f $e.FileName)
    }
    else
    {
        Write-Host ("Transfer of {0} failed: {1}" -f $e.FileName, $e.Error)
    }
}
 
...
 
# Subscribe to the event
$session.add_FileTransferred( { FileTransferred($_) } )

There is a third-party PowerShell module, WinSCP PowerShell Wrapper, that provides a cmdlet interface on top of the .NET assembly.

Example:

# Define the options for the WinSCP Session.
$options = New-WinSCPSessionOptions -Hostname "example.com" -Username "user" -Password "mypassword" -SshHostKeyFingerprint "ssh-rsa 2048 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx"
# Open the WinSCP Session with the defined options.
$session = Open-WinSCPSession -SessionOptions $options
# Using the open WinSCPSession, download the file from the remote host to the local host.
Receive-WinSCPItem -WinSCPSession $session -RemotePath "/home/user/file.txt" -LocalPath "C:\download\"
# Close the WinSCPSession after completion.
Close-WinSCPSession -WinSCPSession $session

Accomplish the same task with one line of code:

# Piping the WinSCPSession into the Receive-WinSCPItem auto disposes the object after completion.
Open-WinSCPSession -SessionOptions (New-WinSCPSessionOptions -Hostname "example.com" -Username "user" -Password "mypassword" -SshHostKeyFingerprint "ssh-rsa 2048 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx") | 
     Receive-WinSCPItem -RemoteItem "/home/user/file.txt" -LocalItem "C:\download\"

This example is functionally equivalent to overall C# example for WinSCP .NET assembly.

There are also other PowerShell examples.

try
{
    # Load WinSCP .NET assembly
    Add-Type -Path "WinSCPnet.dll"
 
    # Setup session options
    $sessionOptions = New-Object WinSCP.SessionOptions
    $sessionOptions.Protocol = [WinSCP.Protocol]::Sftp
    $sessionOptions.HostName = "example.com"
    $sessionOptions.UserName = "user"
    $sessionOptions.Password = "mypassword"
    $sessionOptions.SshHostKeyFingerprint = "ssh-rsa 2048 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx"
 
    $session = New-Object WinSCP.Session
 
    try
    {
        # Connect
        $session.Open($sessionOptions)
 
        # Upload files
        $transferOptions = New-Object WinSCP.TransferOptions
        $transferOptions.TransferMode = [WinSCP.TransferMode]::Binary
 
        $transferResult = $session.PutFiles("b:\toupload\*", "/home/user/", $False, $transferOptions)
 
        # Throw on any error
        $transferResult.Check()
 
        # Print results
        foreach ($transfer in $transferResult.Transfers)
        {
            Write-Host ("Upload of {0} succeeded" -f $transfer.FileName)
        }
    }
    finally
    {
        # Disconnect, clean up
        $session.Dispose()
    }
 
    exit 0
}
catch [Exception]
{
    Write-Host $_.Exception.Message
    exit 1
}

When you are considering converting your script to code that uses WinSCP .NET assembly, PowerShell, thanks to its ubiquity, can be a good choice, particularly, when you do not have your own preferred language that supports .NET.