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My fascination with technology began from quite an early age thanks to computers and video games. No... | See full bio
Do you need to transfer a large volume of data from one Windows PC to another? You can do so using a USB flash drive, but the more efficient approach would be to try a powerful command tool built into Windows called Robocopy.
If you’re wondering how to transfer files with Robocopy on Windows, you’ve come to the right place.
Robocopy (robust file copy) is a powerful command-line tool built into Windows OS that lets users copy and synchronize files from one location to another.
It was first introduced with Windows Resource Kit NT 4.0, and it has become a standard feature in Windows since Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
The Robocopy file tool was designed to be more efficient at mirroring and copying folders or directories than the standard file copy command tools included in Windows, like Xcopy. It offers numerous useful features and switches, including the ability to:
Transferring files from one Windows PC to another involves two steps. First, you must set up file sharing on the source device and then use Robocopy to transfer the files to the destination device.
These steps apply to both Windows 10 and 11.
Follow these steps to set up file sharing on the source device:
Before moving on to the next step, also makes sure to note down the IP address of the source computer. You can do this by opening Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi and clicking on the connection to view the information.
Once you’ve configured file sharing on the source device, the next step involves using Robocopy to copy the files to the destination computer.
Follow these steps to copy files over the network on Windows 10:
robocopy \\source-device-ip\path\to\share\folder C:\destination-device\path\to\store\files /E /Z /ZB /R:5 /W:5 /TBD /NP /V /MT:16 |
In this command, replace source-device-IP with the IP address of the source computer and path/to/share/folder with the network path of the folder you are sharing. Also, type in the destination path, which is where you want the files to be copied on the destination device.
For example,
robocopy \\192.0.2.1\Users\admin\Documents\ShareFile C:\Users\User\Documents /E /Z /ZB /R:5 /W:5 /TBD /NP /V /MT:16 |
Simply change the source and destination paths with your specific information and hit Enter.
Here is how to use Robocopy to transfer files over the network on Windows 11
cmdkey /add:COMPUTER-OR-DOMAIN /user:COMPUTER-OR-DOMAIN\USERNAME /pass:PASSWORD |
Replace COMPUTER-OR-DOMAIN with the destination computer’s IP address or domain. Similarly, replace COMPUTER-OR-DOMAIN\USERNAME with the destination device and username and PASSWORD with the account password.
This will allow you to add the network user and password to Windows 11.
robocopy \\source-device-ip\path\to\share\folder C:\destination-device\path\to\store\files /E /Z /ZB /R:5 /W:5 /TBD /NP /V /MT:16 /compress |
Enter the IP address of the source device and the network path of the shared folder, and the destination path. For instance:
robocopy \\192.0.2.1\Users\admin\Documents\ShareFile C:\Users\User\Documents /E /Z /ZB /R:5 /W:5 /TBD /NP /V /MT:16. |
Make sure to type in your specific source and destination paths. Then, press Enter.
Here is what each Robocopy option when it comes to switches in the command above means:
To view all the available switches, run the robocopy/? command in the Command Prompt.
Alternatively, if you're looking for a software-based solution you can check out our selection of best data migration software picks. |
Now that you know how to transfer files with Robocopy on Windows, you can move a large number of files from one computer to another without using a USB flash drive. Remember, you first need to configure file sharing on the source device to be able to copy the files to the destination device with Robocopy.
Georgi Karaivanov
My fascination with technology began from quite an early age thanks to computers and video games. Nowadays, I love anything related to music production and astronomy. Coincidentally (or is it?), both of those have a great deal to do with tech. Honestly, most of the stuff that can be accomplished with modern electronics kind of seems like magic to me. This is why I feel this strong need to constantly learn more about it and talk about it, almost to the detriment of others.
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