CS Lab: Copying files between accounts or computers

Copying files between accounts

You may want to copy files between an in-lab account and your personal account, or you might want to copy files to/from a partner's account. A fairly easy way to do that is to use the file browser and SSH.

In these examples, we'll assume that you are logged in under one of the lab accounts, and that the other account that you want to copy to or from is for the user named msnerd. (Substitute your username.)

1. Click on the Home Folder icon (upper left of screen) to open a window. Browse to the folder/directory in this account where you want to copy.
2. Move the mouse over the top bar (of the entire screen); in the menu bar that appears, select File for a menu, and Connect to server. In the dialog that pops up,
   • Change Service type to SSH
   • For Server, fill in cslab25 (or any of the other cslab machines; for obscure reasons, you should use a different one from the one you are logged in on)
   • For Folder, fill in /homes/msnerd (with your id).
   • For User name fill in msnerd (yours)
   • Click on Connect
   • When prompted, supply the password for msnerd, but be sure that the "forget immediately" option is chosen.
   All that effort gets you another browser window, but this one is for the home directory of msnerd.
3. Navigate in this new window to where you want to put/get the files. You may want to make a new folder for just this lab.
4. Use the mouse to select the files you want in one window and copy them to the other.

When you're done, disconnect the other home directory. You should see what looks like an "eject" icon next to it in the bar down the left side of the window; click that to disconnect it. (Don't just close the window.)

Copying files between the lab and your own computer