Copying files via SCP from Cisco IOS device to a Windows client

Follow the below process to copy files from a Cisco IOS device (server) to a Windows PC (client) using Secure Copy Protocol (SCP).

SCP is based on the RCP protocol but uses SSH to encrypt the file transfer between source and destination. Like SSH, SCP listens on TCP port 22.

Method

1. Ensure SSH is working on the router/switch.
2. Enabled SCP server – “ip scp server enable”.
3. Ensure Putty is installed on your Windows device.
4. Open CMD and run the following:

pscp.exe -v -scp -2 username@172.31.255.10:/flash:example.txt .\

You will be prompted to enter your login password.

Once authenticated, the file should copy to CMD’s working directory.