Powershell Copy-Item not copying even when folder exists

Question

I have two consecutive calls to Copy-Item but the second one is not copying the file. Both are copying the same file to two different folders. Both folders exist. But the second one never copies. I tried commenting out the first one, but the second one still does not copy.

$deliveryFolder = "C:\Users\administrator.GTCS\Desktop\Delivery\1.5.6.1140\"    
$localFolder = "C:\WebServerGateway\"    
$fileSharingServerManifestFileName = "GTCS_GCS_FileSharingServer_Manifest.xml"

Copy-item -Path $localFolder$fileSharingServerManifestFileName -Destination $deliveryFolder"GcsData\Configurations\Platforms\DEV\Web Server Gateway" -Force

Copy-item -Path $localFolder$fileSharingServerManifestFileName -Destination $deliveryFolder"GcsData\Configurations\Platforms\INT\Web Server Gateway" -Force

Do you receive any error? Add -Verbose

Vivere
– Vivere

2021-06-04 14:35:31 +00:00
Commented Jun 4, 2021 at 14:35 — Vivere
– Vivere, Commented Jun 4, 2021 at 14:35
Did you run Test-Path on them?

Dan Mullin
– Dan Mullin

2021-06-04 14:37:26 +00:00
Commented Jun 4, 2021 at 14:37 — Dan Mullin
– Dan Mullin, Commented Jun 4, 2021 at 14:37
Is the second folder read only?

Dan Mullin
– Dan Mullin

2021-06-04 14:39:04 +00:00
Commented Jun 4, 2021 at 14:39 — Dan Mullin
– Dan Mullin, Commented Jun 4, 2021 at 14:39

Steven · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-04 14:58:37Z

If you are going to combine strings in this manner you need to wrap them in double quotes, to expand the variables:

$deliveryFolder = "C:\Users\administrator.GTCS\Desktop\Delivery\1.5.6.1140\"    
$localFolder = "C:\WebServerGateway\"    
$fileSharingServerManifestFileName = "GTCS_GCS_FileSharingServer_Manifest.xml"

    Copy-item -Path "$localFolder$fileSharingServerManifestFileName" -Destination "$($deliveryFolder)GcsData\Configurations\Platforms\DEV\Web Server Gateway" -Force
    
    Copy-item -Path "$localFolder$fileSharingServerManifestFileName" -Destination "$($deliveryFolder)GcsData\Configurations\Platforms\INT\Web Server Gateway" -Force

Notice I uses a subexpression $() in the -Destination argument. Because in your case the parser may have trouble determining where the variable name ends, therefore the string may not expand properly.

That said, neither of the arguments are particularly pretty/readable so I'd advise against this syntax. concatenating or better yet using Join-Path to derive the arguments are better choices:

$Path = $localFolder + $fileSharingServerManifestFileName
$Dest = $deliveryFolder + "GcsData\Configurations\Platforms\INT\Web Server Gateway"

Note: Concatenation forces you to pay attention to backslashes separating what would be the -Parent/-Child arguments in Join-Path

Or:

$Path = Join-Path $localFolder $fileSharingServerManifestFileName
$Dest = Join-Path $deliveryFolder "GcsData\Configurations\Platforms\INT\Web Server Gateway"

Then simply modify the commands:

Copy-item -Path $Path -Destination $Dest -Force
Copy-item -Path $Path -Destination $Dest -Force

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Powershell Copy-Item not copying even when folder exists

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related