Windows has two command line utilities to copy files/directories from command line. Copy command can be used to copy files from one folder to another folder. It can’t be used to copy a complete folder to another location on the disk. Xcopy allows us to do this. Let’s see how we can copy a directory along with all the files and sub directories to another location.
Xcopy /E /I SourceFolder DestinationFolder
Let’s say we need to copy a directory called C:\dir1\sourcedir to a location named D:\data\destinationdir.
Now you can run the below command to copy the complete sourcedir to D:\data\destination
Xcopy /E /I C:\dir1\sourcedir D:\data\destinationdir
In the above command we can also use relative paths of the folders with respect to the current directory.
Understanding the command
/E – This option makes sure that empty subfolders are copied to the destination.
/I – Avoids prompting if the destination is a folder or file. Not required if you are adding a trailing ‘\’ to the destination folder, like below.
Xcopy /E C:\dir1\sourcedir D:\data\destinationdir\
/S – This option is not required if you are using /E. /E ensures that all subfolders are also copied to the destination.
yOU Are the Best….i just tried it now…it came very handy wen i needed it…
0 files copied
What was the exact command you tried? Can you paste the output of dir on the source folder
@mr.hostile – 0 files copied MAY mean that you just copied a folder that contained no files. Folders being copied will not be counted; only files.
@Mayank .K.P – to copy from an IP like that you are going to need to use a different format. Your options are to map the IP as a drive letter and then use the drive letter to do the xcopy OR you can use “\\12.33.58.31\dir1\sourcedir”
Worked like a charm.
xcopy/E
worked fine
Thanks :)
I want a cmd command to copy folder from Remote to Local computer using Ip address.
Pl do the needful
I used this cmd before it copies the emty dir n files. But i was looking forward to copy the entire source dir like the folder named “aaa” present in desktop to “c:/ myself”
It doesn’t do the job.
Anyother method.
I have folder A that includes 10 subfolders (1…10). I want to copy folders 3,5,8 & 9 (including subfolders) to Folder B. How can I do that?
This only copies the files and not the directory in which the files reside.
After Xcopy /E C:\dir1\sourcedir D:\data\destinationdir\
i want destinationdir to contain sourcedir and all its files and subfolders
so D:\data\destinationdir\sourcedir\FilesThatWereInSourcedir
Exactly as if I had dragged (in windows explorer) sourcedir onto destinationdir
How can I do that?
Can not get this to work. I need to get a directory called Germane located in C:\Build\ to copy to C:\Drivers so I end up with C:\Drivers\Germane and all of its contents.. instead I end up with C:\Drivers with all of the files contained in C:\Build\Germane… which .. since this is part of a process to copy a lot of things into drivers.. ends up really messy.
You are fabulous. My Windows Explorer 7 crashes on anything…
I feel like Bruce Lee, just as straight command punch and all my music files are on a USB without spending a lifetime debugging windows..;c)
If you want to copy entire directory trees, use robocopy. It’s included with Windows. Type “robocopy\?” at the command line to learn about it.
Thanks buddy, works great!
my source forder includes space in its name. i am unable to the the given commands.
help!!!
Can I do
Xcopy /E /I 12.33.58.31:\dir1\sourcedir D:\data\destinationdir ?
If not, any other way to do that?
xcopy /e /s \\12.33.58.31\dir1\sourcedir d:\data\destinationdir
However, you will probably have to mount \\12.33.58.31 as a mapped drive.
use /s to get the all the sub-directories too.
Thanks a lot. This is awesome. Helped me in day where I had to backup my data when my windows got corrupted. ❤
Yes, thank you for this article. My ISP has said Go to hell. I have 10 years of work there, some of which is of value to the academic community. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it (in the 1970s I was an IBM/S370/MVS Systems Programmer and wrote part of MVS, today I’m helpless). But I always kept the source for everything in my website on my local computer which now has a dead keyboard and I don’t dare power it off for fear it will not power up again.
Anyway your example command line file let me copy my original source directory for everything onto a pluggable backup drive (I don’t know what it’s called), in a lot less time than it’s taking me to write this thank you to you, Sir. [email protected] ~ yes, again, thank you.
Thank you
I want to copy only pdf files located in subfolders on a directory to a single folder on another directory
Would you be able to help ?
Hi
Thanks. This code helped me
Explorer kept crashing for me when i tried to copy some files, but this method works like a charm. Thank you very much!
Can anyone help me how to copy folder address to a notepad
i need to copy multiple folders address simultaneously…any help would be greatly appriciated.
In Windows 11, I’m trying to create a batch file to copy a folder in my %APPDATA% directory to another folder on my desktop as a backup, but xcopy won’t copy the folder to another folder, just the contents of it, which is highly annoying as I need to copy 2 folders from there to the same location. I’ve tried using the /E /I switches and quotes. /code @ECHO OFF
@xcopy /I “%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations\” “C:\Users\user\Desktop\jumplist_backup”
@xcopy /I “%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations\” “C:\Users\user\Desktop\jumplist_backup” /code
Is it because the folders are ‘hidden’? I wouldn’t think the hidden part would the problem as it has no problem copying the contents and not the folder itself. Any suggestions? I’d really appreciate it! Thank you!