How to Move Files from Windows to Linux
 

Ok - I have been fighting with a 500 error on several CGI scripts that I have on a recently configured server. Here -> http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=420995

Well I tried something, I set up a FTP server and copied a few files over to the new apache server (in ASCII) mode. Gave permissions and all worked.

Now the problem that I have is this was not straight forward and FTP'ing will take forever because of directory structure. It can be done, but I would prefere to just zip and unzip if possible.

Is there a way to just copy the files over and maintain their structure (I guess it's the returns that I am having problems with).

Any suggestions? Thanks.

You need to look into running a Samba server on your Linux box. That would allow you to mount the Linux box on Windows as if it were a network drive and copy files directly.

Thanks. Will this keep the ascii files intact as if they were ftp'ed? I tried zipping the entire directory and unzipping on the server but they broke.

If samba will do that, if I can get through the network (other issues), I can give it a try.

Right now I have gone into the windows server and from a prompt putting the files on the new server, but it is taking a long time. I suppose I can install a ftp client, but I am working from a winxp machine, terminal clienting into a win2003 server, then vnc'ing into win2k server, opening a command prompt and ftp'ing into the linux box. Works but graphically slow.

You may find setting up samba to be rather confusing the first time. Another option is to install an ssh client on your windows machine and use scp (comes with ssh) to copy the files back to the Linux computer. The PuTTy and OpenSSH versions of scp have syntax very similar to the cp command. The official SSH client has a windows explorer like GUI interface.

Samba should make the whole transfer transparent. It should act just like a drive attached to the computer and files shouldn't be affected by copying. Samba can be a bit of a pain to set up, but there are plenty of how-to's out there including this one in the Linux Tutorial section.
That is hands down the most convoluted way of transferring a file I have ever seen. No wonder stuff broke. Can I as why you can't ftp directly from the XP box to the linux box?

I recommend WinSCP, a very good and powerful open-source graphical SFTP/SCP client for Windows. SFTP/SCP Is the most common way to transfer files to and from *nix systems.

Actually it's not breaking, it's how I am getting it to work. Originally I just copied the files via a USB drive and it was broke, then I zipped them, transferred them via USB drive and they were broke, and then I tried FTP'ing from windows explorer and it was broke them.

I will look into Samba and connecting in. On my home network I have this working without any problems, but don't know about breaking the CGI files.

The worst part of this is that the Linux box is sharing a KVM with the XP client that I am working from. The win2k machine is in another building along with the win2003 server. The win2k is on a different domain than the XP client and win2003 terminal server and the linux box is NOT on either domain and has a completely different IP range.

Crazy I know :)

Looks like a good option. Will give it a look in some detail Tuesday. Thanks for the suggestion.