Powershell: Copy file to local machine after Enter-PSSession

Question

Powershell: Copy file to local machine after Enter-PSSession

Flint Stone 1

I know that I can use Copy-Item with -ToSession or -FromSession to transfer a file using WinRM. But my Use-Case is, that I have already used Enter-PSSession REMOTEPC to work on another PC and now (inside of this session) I want to copy a file from the REMOTEPC back to my local PC using WinRM. Is this possible with -ToSession ? And what would I have to specify as argument?

Flint Stone 1 Reputation point

2020-12-10T07:30:39.99+00:00

To give more details about my use-case here is a copy of one of my comments to a proposed solution:

I frequently use tools that create the PSsession for me, e.g. for remote script execution or a tool that opens a remote Powershell prompt from saved credentials...
So, I am often already inside a session without having the opportunity to store the session into a variable then exit it and execute additional commands.

4 answers

Your answer

Flint Stone 1 Reputation point

2020-12-10T07:30:39.99+00:00

To give more details about my use-case here is a copy of one of my comments to a proposed solution:

I frequently use tools that create the PSsession for me, e.g. for remote script execution or a tool that opens a remote Powershell prompt from saved credentials...
So, I am often already inside a session without having the opportunity to store the session into a variable then exit it and execute additional commands.

Answer 1

Rich Matheisen 47,901

Why not do something like this?

$s1 = New-PSSession -ComputerName xxx -Credential (Get-Credential)
$s2 = New-PSSession -ComputerName zzz -Credential (Get-Credential)
Enter-PSSession $s1
.
. # do stuff on xxx
.
Exit-PSSession
Enter-PSSession $s2
.
. # do stuff on zzz
.
Exit-PSSession
# now you're back on local machine
Copy-Item C:\Temp\xxx.txt -destination c:\junk -FromSession $s1 -ToSession $s2  # between 2 remote sessions
Copy-Item C:\AnotherDirectory\SomeotherFile.txt -Destination -FromSession $s2   # from remote to local
Enter-PSSession $s1
. . . Continue working
Exit-PSSession
$s1,$s2 | Remove-PSSession

Flint Stone 1 Reputation point

2020-12-05T20:05:05.713+00:00

Uhm, why do you use sessions to xxx and zzz? The question involves only the local machine and one remote machine...
Rich Matheisen 47,901 Reputation points

2020-12-05T20:42:39.86+00:00

Just to demonstrate that you can copy between local and remote system and between two remote systems from a local system. If you don't need to do that then just ignore the relevant code.
Kostiantyn Firsov 11 Reputation points

2022-10-15T16:43:04.177+00:00
Copy-Item -Path "C:\some.file" -Destination "C:\some_copy.file" -FromSession $sFrom -ToSession $sTo

Copy-Item : '-FromSession' and '-ToSession' are mutually exclusive and cannot be specified at the same time.
Kostiantyn Firsov 11 Reputation points

2022-10-15T16:46:20.797+00:00
Copy-Item -Path "C:\some.file" -Destination "C:\some_copy.file" -FromSession $sFrom -ToSession $sTo

Copy-Item : '-FromSession' and '-ToSession' are mutually exclusive and cannot be specified at the same time.
Rich Matheisen 47,901 Reputation points

2022-10-15T18:44:44.79+00:00

They aren't mutually exclusive. Both are in the same parameter set. Have you tried using both? What was the error you received?
Kostiantyn Firsov 11 Reputation points

2022-10-16T06:52:42.22+00:00
Yes, I've tried to use it both in real environment and recived the Error:

Copy-Item : '-FromSession' and '-ToSession' are mutually exclusive and cannot be specified at the same time.

Some issue on github:
https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/issues/2972

Also don't work

Invoke-Command -Session $sTo -ScriptBlock { $sFrom = New-PSSession -ComputerName 'somehost' Copy-Item -Path "C:\some.file" -Destination "C:\some_copy.file" -FromSession $sFrom }

or the same with ArgumentList

So is any idea how to copy file from one session to another directly between this two hosts using powershall script on third masshine?
Rich Matheisen 47,901 Reputation points

2022-10-17T02:03:31.61+00:00

Thanks. I no longer have the necessary number of machines to try that. But if you' say something doesn't work it's always good (as you just did) to provide the error and anything that supports the assertation. Do you know if that problem still exists in PS7?

Because you can't reuse credentials, there's no direct way, from machine1, to copy a file from machine2 to machine3. You could use Invoke-Command from machine 1 to machine2 and (in the script block) provide a user name and password to create a credential when creating a PSSession from machine2 to machine3 and doing the copy-item on machine2.

Answer 2

Andreas Baumgarten 123.6K MVP Volunteer Moderator

Maybe this is helpful:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.management/copy-item?view=powershell-7.1#example-9--copy-a-remote-file-to-the-local-computer

I am not sure if this is working with Enter-PSSession or if it has to be New-PSSession like in the example. But it's worth a try I think.

----------

(If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote and/or accept as answer, thank you)

Regards
Andreas Baumgarten

Flint Stone 1 Reputation point

2020-11-30T06:46:37.757+00:00

Hi,
after I have used $mysess=Enter-PSSession srvtscbuildm the variable $mysess is empty, because I am inside of the new session and the variable is unknown there.

Best regards
Andreas Baumgarten 123.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2020-11-30T15:09:58.29+00:00

Is there any reason why not using New-PSSession instead of Enter-PSSession?

(If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote and/or accept as answer, thank you)

Regards
Andreas Baumgarten
Flint Stone 1 Reputation point

2020-12-08T07:31:09.703+00:00
(Sorry for the delayed response)

Of course, I can do it like RichMatheisen-8856 suggested:

$s1 = New-PSSession -ComputerName xxx -Credential (Get-Credential) Enter-PSSession $s1 . # do stuff on xxx that creates SomeFile.txt Exit-PSSession Copy-Item C:\PATH_ON_REMOTE\SomeFile.txt -FromSession $s1

But I was hoping that this can be done more elegantly like:

Enter-PSSession -ComputerName xxx -Credential (Get-Credential) . # do stuff on xxx that creates SomeFile.txt Copy-Item C:\PATH_ON_REMOTE\SomeFile.txt -SOME_MAGIC_OPTION

Edit
I forgot to mention my other use-case:
I frequently use tools that create the PSsession for me, e.g. for remote script execution or a tool that opens a remote Powershell prompt from saved credentials...
So, I am often already inside a session without having the opportunity to store the session into a variable then exit it and execute additional commands.

Answer 3

Anonymous

Hi,

You can create a new session back to your local machine then copy the file to it

$session = New-PSSession -ComputerName $localmachine -Credential $cred  
Copy-Item -Path $file -Destination $localpath -ToSession $session

Best Regards，
Ian

============================================

If the Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Flint Stone 1 Reputation point

2020-11-30T06:40:15.28+00:00

Hi,
that is exactly the hassle that I wanted to avoid by asking this question.

Best Regards
Anonymous

2020-11-30T09:14:45.85+00:00

Is there a reason you can't create a new session to the local machine in your remote server?
Flint Stone 1 Reputation point

2020-11-30T14:38:15.907+00:00

I can create a new session to the local machine, but that would be tedious/laborious - a lot of typing and I need to provide the credentials for my local machine, while I already have a connection that could be used to copy the files.

That would be like when you already have a connection to a remote host via RDP and in order to copy files from the remote to local you would have to open a new RDP on your remote with your local as target - nobody would want to do that (I know that with RDP that would even be impossible - this is just an analogy).

Answer 4

Brian Yerk 1

Old post but maybe this will help someone going forward- Found this which will help me in a high sec environment like the one I work in- https://blog.ipswitch.com/use-powershell-copy-item-cmdlet-transfer-files-winrm

Share via

Powershell: Copy file to local machine *after* Enter-PSSession

4 answers