windowspowershellfile-copyingwindows-scriptingcopy-item

Copy-Item for copy files from local to remove server using credentials


I am trying to copy some files and folder from my local machine to a remote server:

Copy-Item .\copy_test.txt -destination "\\serverip\c$\backups\"

but I'm getting an error:

Copy-Item : Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password.
At line:1 char:10
+ Copy-Item <<<<  .\copy_test.txt -destination "\\serverip\c$\backups\" -verbose
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Copy-Item], IOException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.IOException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand

I was trying using credentials but this command does not allow -Credential argument. I was searching a lot and in every example the command is pretty easy just executing the Copy-Item $source -destination $destination and I wonder why is so hard in my workstation.

Creating New PSDrive

I tried to create a New-PSDrive but it didn't work.

$creds = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -argumentlist $username, $password

New-PSDrive -Name X -PSProvider FileSystem -Root '\\$serverip\c$' -Credential $creds -Persist
Copy-Item '.\copy_test.txt' -Destination 'X:\backups'
Remove-PSDrive -Name X

It is the error message:

PS C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop> .\copyfiles.ps1
New-PSDrive : The network path was not found
At C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\copyfiles.ps1:11 char:1
+ New-PSDrive -Name X -PSProvider FileSystem -Root '\\$serverip\c$' -Credential $c ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (X:PSDriveInfo) [New-PSDrive], Win32Exception
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CouldNotMapNetworkDrive,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.NewPSDriveC

Copy-Item : Cannot find drive. A drive with the name 'X' does not exist.
At C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\copyfiles.ps1:12 char:1
+ Copy-Item '.\copy_test.txt' -Destination 'X:\backups'
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (X:String) [Copy-Item], DriveNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DriveNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand

Remove-PSDrive : Cannot find drive. A drive with the name 'X' does not exist.
At C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\copyfiles.ps1:13 char:1
+ Remove-PSDrive -Name X
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (X:String) [Remove-PSDrive], DriveNotFoundExcepti
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DriveNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemovePSDriveCommand

My servers

My server are windows instances in AWS. I have the right permission because I am able to run other command like Invoke-Command in order to inspect some services into the remote server.

PS> $PSVersionTable.PSVersion

Major  Minor  Build  Revision
-----  -----  -----  --------
4      0      -1     -1

Solution

  • I found the solution. I was using PowerShell version 4.0 and then upgrade my version to 5.0

    In previous version the Copy-Item doesn't allow credentials. Now is possible to copy files through the sessions between servers:

    $deploy_dest = "C:\backup"
    $username = "$server\Administrator"
    $password =  Get-Content C:\mypassword.txt | ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force
    
    $creds = new-object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -argumentlist $username, $password
    
    $session = New-PSSession -ComputerName $server -Credential $creds
    
    Copy-Item -Path .\copy_test.txt -Destination -ToSession $session