Creating large test file on Windows

Question

I'm planning to monitor the network with a large file transfer and need to create a dummy test file on Windows. Please can I get a confirmation if creating a test file using fsutil is recommended for this task?
fsutil file createnew pathfilename size

Answer 1

Hi @gsnarendran-4128 ,

fsutil is a good option to create a large file.

I am using the following script for the same task:

$file = new-object System.IO.FileStream c:\temp\testfile.bin, Create, ReadWrite
$file.SetLength(4GB)
$file.Close()

if you prefer a file with random content you can this this:

$file = "c:\temp\testfile3.bin"
$sizeInMB = 8
$out = new-object byte[] ($sizeInMB*1048576); (new-object Random).NextBytes($out); [IO.File]::WriteAllBytes($file, $out)

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

Regards
Andreas Baumgarten

Answer 2

I like Andreas' solution as nowadays, using PS is the preferred approach. There is nothing wrong with using fsutil - you will have to specify the size in bytes though:

fsutil file createNew C:\Temp\testfile.bin 4294967296