Copy files between Unix and Windows with rcp

There are many third party tools by which you can copy files between windows and unix machine. Some common tools are winscp, SSHSecureShellClient etc. Instead of using any third party tool, you can use original unix and windows built-in tool to do the task.

The RCP (Remote CoPy) is a standard UNIX tool and a Microsoft Windows 2000 tool that copies files/folder to and from computer running the RCP service.

Before you can use the RCP tool from a Windows-based computer you must do something in your UNIX computer.

you must turn on the RCP service and update the security files to allow the Windows-based computer to connect to your unix machine over this service.

The following steps will help you.
Step 01: Turn on RCP service on UNIX Host

Turn on the RCP service on unix machine by using inetd:

1. Log on as root.
2. Edit the file /etc/Inetd.conf.
3. Uncomment the lines that start with shell and that start with exec.
4. Save the file.
5. Use ps -ef |grep inetd and determine inetd service pid. Send the Host User Profile (HUP) signal to inetd by using kill or by using pkill.
6. Run inetd again.

To turn on the RCP service by using xinetd:

1. Log on as root.
2. Edit the file /etc/Xinetd.d/rsh. You may get another file based on your linux distrinution.
3. Change the line disable to no.
4. Save the file.
5. Use ps -ef |grep inetd and determine inetd service pid. Send the HUP signal to xinetd by using kill or by using pkill.
6. Run xinetd again.

Step 02: Set the security permissions
After turning on RCP services you must set the security permissions to allow the Windows host to connect to your computer.

1. Edit the file /etc/hosts.equiv. Based on your linux distribution this file may vary. You can get like /etc/hosts.allow.
2. In the file add a line that contains the name of your Windows host.
3. Add a second line that contains the name of your Windows host and the name of a user who can access the directory that you want to transfer. Separate the two elements with a tab character.
4. Save the file.

Step 03: Transfer the files or directory
From windows computer you can transfer files or folders using rcp using following syntax.
RCP [-a | -b] [-h] [-r] [host][.user:]source [host][.user:] path\destination

For example, to copy the file index.html from the path /home/oracle on the computer unixhost as the user oracle you must use from windows computer,
rcp unixhost.oracle:/home/oracle/index.html index.html

In order to copy whole directory you need to use -r(for recursive) with rcp command.
To copy test directory under /home/oracle on unix, from windows computer issue,
rcp -r unixhost.oracle:/home/oracle/test test
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