Unix Tip: Using pscp to copy files securely

By Sandra Henry-Stocker

Many people who use PuTTY to make secure connections between Windows desktops and Unix servers are unaware that PuTTY also provides a tool for securely moving files between the two platforms. The reason for this oversight is that, while PuTTY provides a terminal-like window on its users desktops, the pscp command (PuTTY's scp command) that PuTTY provides for moving files has to be run from the command line.

If you use PuTTY on a Windows box to connect to your Unix systems, here's what you have to do to use the pscp command.