Robocopy
Robocopy is a robust file copy command for the Windows command line. It allows users to copy files, directories, and even drives from one location to another.
Robocopy, for 'Robust File Copy', is a command-line directory and/or file replication command for Microsoft Windows. Robocopy functionally replaces Xcopy, with more options. Created by Kevin Allen 1 and first released as part of the Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit, it has been a standard feature of Windows since Windows Vista and Windows Server. Although Robocopy itself is a command-line tool, Microsoft TechNet provides a GUI front-end call Robocopy GUI. It was developed by Derk Benisch, a systems engineer with the MSN Search group at Microsoft, and required.NET Framework 2.0.
Availability
Robocopy Options
Robocopy is an external command that is available for the following Microsoft operating systems as robocopy.exe.
- Windows NT (In resource kit)
- Windows 2000 (In resource kit)
- Windows Server 2008
Robocopy syntax
| source | Source directory (drive:path or serversharepath). |
| destination | Destination directory (drive:path or serversharepath). |
| file | File(s) to copy (names/wildcards: default is '*.*'). |
Copy options
| /S | Copy subdirectories, but not the empty ones. |
| /E | Copy subdirectories, including the empty ones. |
| /LEV:n | Only copy the top n levels of the source directory tree. |
| /Z | Copy files in restartable mode. |
| /B | Copy files in backup mode. |
| /ZB | Use restartable mode. If access denied, use backup mode. |
| /EFSRAW | Copy all encrypted files in EFS RAW mode. |
| /COPY:copyflag[s] | What to COPY for files (default is /COPY:DAT). (copyflags : D=Data, A=Attributes, T=Timestamps). (S=Security=NTFS ACLs, O=Owner info, U=aUditing info). |
| /DCOPY:T | COPY the directory timestamps. |
| /SEC | Copy files with security (equivalent to /COPY:DATS). |
| /COPYALL | Copy all file info (equivalent to /COPY:DATSOU). |
| /NOCOPY | Copy no file info (useful with /PURGE). |
| /SECFIX | Fix file security on all files, even skipped files. |
| /TIMFIX | Fix file times on all files, even the skipped ones. |
| /PURGE | Delete dest files/dirs that no longer exist in the source. |
| /MIR | Mirror a directory tree (equivalent to /E plus /PURGE). |
| /MOV | Move files (delete from the source after copying). |
| /MOVE | Move files and dirs (delete from the source after copying). |
| /A+:[RASHCNET] | Add the given attributes to copied files. |
| /A-:[RASHCNET] | Remove the given attributes from copied files. |
| /CREATE | Create directory tree and zero-length files only. |
| /FAT | Create destination files using 8.3 FAT file names only. |
| /256 | Turn off very long path (> 256 characters) support. |
| /MON:n | Monitor source; run again when more than n changes seen. |
| /MOT:m | Monitor source; run again in m minutes time, if changed. |
| /RH:hhmm-hhmm | Run hours - times when new copies may be started. |
| /PF | Check run hours on a per file (not per pass) basis. |
| /IPG:n | Inter-packet gap (ms), to free bandwidth on slow lines. |
| /SL | Copy symbolic links versus the target. |
| /MT[:n] | Do multi-threaded copies with n threads (default 8). n must be at least 1 and not greater than 128. This option is incompatible with the /IPG and /EFSRAW options. Redirect output using /LOG option for better performance. |
File Selection Options
| /A | Copy only the files with the archive attribute set. |
| /M | Copy only the files with the archive attribute and reset it. |
| /IA:[RASHCNETO] | Include only the files with any of the given attributes set. |
| /XA:[RASHCNETO] | Exclude files with any of the given attributes set. |
| /XF file [file]... | Exclude files matching given names/paths/wildcards. |
| /XD dirs [dirs]... | Exclude directories matching given names/paths. |
| /XC | Exclude changed files. |
| /XN | Exclude newer files. |
| /XO | Exclude older files. |
| /XX | Exclude extra files and directories. |
| /XL | Exclude lonely files and directories. |
| /IS | Include same files. |
| /IT | Include tweaked files. |
| /MAX:n | Maximum file size - exclude files bigger than n bytes. |
| /MIN:n | Minimum file size - exclude files smaller than n bytes. |
| /MAXAGE:n | Maximum file age - exclude files older than n days/date. |
| /MINAGE:n | Minimum file age - exclude files newer than n days/date. |
| /MAXLAD:n | Maximum last access date - exclude files unused since n. |
| /MINLAD:n | Minimum last access date - exclude files used since n. (If n < 1900 then n = n days, else n = YYYYMMDD date). |
| /XJ | Exclude junction points. (normally included by default). |
| /FFT | Assume FAT file times (2-second granularity). |
| /DST | Compensate for one-hour DST time differences. |
| /XJD | Exclude junction points for directories. |
| /XJF | Exclude junction points for files. |
Retry Options
| /R:n | Number of retries on failed copies: default 1 million. |
| /W:n | Wait time between retries: default is 30 seconds. |
| /REG | Save /R:n and /W:n in the registry as default settings. |
| /TBD | Wait for sharenames To be defined (retry error 67). |
Logging Options
| /L | List only - don't copy, timestamp or delete any files. |
| /X | Report all extra files, not only those selected. |
| /V | Produce verbose output, showing skipped files. |
| /TS | Include source file timestamps in the output. |
| /FP | Include full pathname of files in the output. |
| /BYTES | Print sizes as bytes. |
| /NS | No size - don't log file sizes. |
| /NC | No class - don't log file classes. |
| /NFL | No file list - don't log file names. |
| /NDL | No directory List - don't log directory names. |
| /NP | No progress - don't display percentage copied. |
| /ETA | Show estimated time of arrival of copied files. |
| /LOG:file | Output status to LOG file (overwrite existing log). |
| /LOG+:file | Output status to LOG file (append to existing log). |
| /UNILOG:file | Output status to LOG file as UNICODE (overwrite existing log). |
| /UNILOG+:file | Output status to LOG file as UNICODE (append to existing log). |
| /TEE | Output to console window and the log file. |
| /NJH | No job header. |
| /NJS | No job summary. |
| /UNICODE | Output status as UNICODE. |
Job Options
| /JOB:jobname | Take parameters from the named job file. |
| /SAVE:jobname | Save parameters to the named job file. |
| /QUIT | Quit after processing command line (to view parameters). |
| /NOSD | No source directory is specified. |
| /NODD | No destination directory is specified. |
| /IF | Include the following files. |
Robocopy examples
In this first example, any .txt file would be copied from the hope directory into the hope2 directory. Whenever you want to copy one or more files and not a complete directory the file must be specified after the destination directory.
In the above example, the robocopy command would copy all files (not directories) in the hope directory to the hope2 directory.
In the above example, all files and folders (including empty ones) are copied from the hope directory to the hope2 directory.
This example mirrors what's in c:hope into c:hope2 and purge any files in the hope2 directory that don't exist in the hope directory. Use the /mir switch cautiously since it is deleting files that do not match in the destination directory.
Next, this example would copy any of the files in the hope directory on the network computer named computer to the current computer hope2 directory.
Additional information
- See our copy definition for further information and related links on this term.
Copies file data from one location to another.
Syntax
For example, to copy a file named yearly-report.mov from c:reports to a file share marketingvideos while enabling multi-threading for higher performance (with the /mt parameter) and the ability to restart the transfer in case it's interrupted (with the /z parameter), type:
Parameters
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
<source> | Specifies the path to the source directory. |
<destination> | Specifies the path to the destination directory. |
<file> | Specifies the file or files to be copied. Wildcard characters (* or ?) are supported. If you don't specify this parameter, *.* is used as the default value. |
<options> | Specifies the options to use with the robocopy command, including copy, file, retry, logging, and job options. |
Copy options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| /s | Copies subdirectories. This option automatically excludes empty directories. |
| /e | Copies subdirectories. This option automatically includes empty directories. |
/lev:<n> | Copies only the top n levels of the source directory tree. |
| /z | Copies files in restartable mode. In restartable mode, should a file copy be interrupted, Robocopy can pick up where it left off rather than re-copying the entire file. |
| /b | Copies files in backup mode. Backup mode allows Robocopy to override file and folder permission settings (ACLs). This allows you to copy files you might otherwise not have access to, assuming it's being run under an account with sufficient privileges. |
| /zb | Copies files in restartable mode. If file access is denied, switches to backup mode. |
| /j | Copies using unbuffered I/O (recommended for large files). |
| /efsraw | Copies all encrypted files in EFS RAW mode. |
/copy:<copyflags> | Specifies which file properties to copy. The valid values for this option are:
|
/dcopy:<copyflags> | Specifies what to copy in directories. The valid values for this option are:
|
| /sec | Copies files with security (equivalent to /copy:DATS). |
| /copyall | Copies all file information (equivalent to /copy:DATSOU). |
| /nocopy | Copies no file information (useful with /purge). |
| /secfix | Fixes file security on all files, even skipped ones. |
| /timfix | Fixes file times on all files, even skipped ones. |
| /purge | Deletes destination files and directories that no longer exist in the source. Using this option with the /e option and a destination directory, allows the destination directory security settings to not be overwritten. |
| /mir | Mirrors a directory tree (equivalent to /e plus /purge). Using this option with the /e option and a destination directory, overwrites the destination directory security settings. |
| /mov | Moves files, and deletes them from the source after they are copied. |
| /move | Moves files and directories, and deletes them from the source after they are copied. |
| /a+:[RASHCNET] | Adds the specified attributes to copied files. The valid values for this option are:
|
| /a-:[RASHCNET] | Removes the specified attributes from copied files. The valid values for this option are:
|
| /create | Creates a directory tree and zero-length files only. |
| /fat | Creates destination files by using 8.3 character-length FAT file names only. |
| /256 | Turns off support for paths longer than 256 characters. |
/mon:<n> | Monitors the source, and runs again when more than n changes are detected. |
/mot:<m> | Monitors the source, and runs again in m minutes, if changes are detected. |
/MT[:n] | Creates multi-threaded copies with n threads. n must be an integer between 1 and 128. The default value for n is 8. For better performance, redirect your output using /log option. The /mt parameter can't be used with the /ipg and /efsraw parameters. |
| /rh:hhmm-hhmm | Specifies run times when new copies may be started. |
| /pf | Checks run times on a per-file (not per-pass) basis. |
| /ipg:n | Specifies the inter-packet gap to free bandwidth on slow lines. |
| /sl | Don't follow symbolic links and instead create a copy of the link. |
| /nodcopy | Copies no directory info (the default /dcopy:DA is done). |
| /nooffload | Copies files without using the Windows Copy Offload mechanism. |
| /compress | Requests network compression during file transfer, if applicable. |
Important
When using the /secfix copy option, specify the type of security information you want to copy, using one of these additional copy options:
- /copyall
- /copy:o
- /copy:s
- /copy:u
- /sec
File selection options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| /a | Copies only files for which the Archive attribute is set. |
| /m | Copies only files for which the Archive attribute is set, and resets the Archive attribute. |
/ia:[RASHCNETO] | Includes only files for which any of the specified attributes are set. The valid values for this option are:
|
/xa:[RASHCNETO] | Excludes files for which any of the specified attributes are set. The valid values for this option are:
|
/xf <filename>[ ...] | Excludes files that match the specified names or paths. Wildcard characters (* and ?) are supported. |
/xd <directory>[ ...] | Excludes directories that match the specified names and paths. |
| /xc | Excludes changed files. |
| /xn | Excludes newer files. |
| /xo | Excludes older files. |
| /xx | Excludes extra files and directories. |
| /xl | Excludes 'lonely' files and directories. |
| /im | Include modified files (differing change times). |
| /is | Includes the same files. |
| /it | Includes tweaked files. |
| /xc | Excludes existing files with the same timestamp, but different file sizes. |
| /xn | Excludes existing files newer than the copy in the source directory. |
| /xo | Excludes existing files older than the copy in the source directory. |
| /xx | Excludes extra files and directories present in the destination but not the source. Excluding extra files will not delete files from the destination. |
| /xl | Excludes 'lonely' files and directories present in the source but not the destination. Excluding lonely files prevents any new files from being added to the destination. |
| /is | Includes the same files. Same files are identical in name, size, times, and all attributes. |
| /it | Includes 'tweaked' files. Tweaked files have the same name, size, and times, but different attributes. |
/max:<n> | Specifies the maximum file size (to exclude files bigger than n bytes). |
/min:<n> | Specifies the minimum file size (to exclude files smaller than n bytes). |
/maxage:<n> | Specifies the maximum file age (to exclude files older than n days or date). |
/minage:<n> | Specifies the minimum file age (exclude files newer than n days or date). |
/maxlad:<n> | Specifies the maximum last access date (excludes files unused since n). |
/minlad:<n> | Specifies the minimum last access date (excludes files used since n) If n is less than 1900, n specifies the number of days. Otherwise, n specifies a date in the format YYYYMMDD. |
| /xj | Excludes junction points, which are normally included by default. |
| /fft | Assumes FAT file times (two-second precision). |
| /dst | Compensates for one-hour DST time differences. |
| /xjd | Excludes junction points for directories. |
| /xjf | Excludes junction points for files. |
Retry options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
/r:<n> | Specifies the number of retries on failed copies. The default value of n is 1,000,000 (one million retries). |
/w:<n> | Specifies the wait time between retries, in seconds. The default value of n is 30 (wait time 30 seconds). |
| /reg | Saves the values specified in the /r and /w options as default settings in the registry. |
| /tbd | Specifies that the system will wait for share names to be defined (retry error 67). |
Logging options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| /l | Specifies that files are to be listed only (and not copied, deleted, or time stamped). |
| /x | Reports all extra files, not just those that are selected. |
| /v | Produces verbose output, and shows all skipped files. |
| /ts | Includes source file time stamps in the output. |
| /fp | Includes the full path names of the files in the output. |
| /bytes | Prints sizes, as bytes. |
| /ns | Specifies that file sizes are not to be logged. |
| /nc | Specifies that file classes are not to be logged. |
| /nfl | Specifies that file names are not to be logged. |
| /ndl | Specifies that directory names are not to be logged. |
| /np | Specifies that the progress of the copying operation (the number of files or directories copied so far) will not be displayed. |
| /eta | Shows the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of the copied files. |
/log:<logfile> | Writes the status output to the log file (overwrites the existing log file). |
/log+:<logfile> | Writes the status output to the log file (appends the output to the existing log file). |
| /unicode | Displays the status output as Unicode text. |
/unilog:<logfile> | Writes the status output to the log file as Unicode text (overwrites the existing log file). |
/unilog+:<logfile> | Writes the status output to the log file as Unicode text (appends the output to the existing log file). |
| /tee | Writes the status output to the console window, as well as to the log file. |
| /njh | Specifies that there is no job header. |
| /njs | Specifies that there is no job summary. |
Job options
Robocopy J Switch
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
/job:<jobname> | Specifies that parameters are to be derived from the named job file. |
/save:<jobname> | Specifies that parameters are to be saved to the named job file. |
| /quit | Quits after processing command line (to view parameters). |
| /nosd | Indicates that no source directory is specified. |
| /nodd | Indicates that no destination directory is specified. |
| /if | Includes the specified files. |
Exit (return) codes
Robocopy Switches
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 | No files were copied. No failure was encountered. No files were mismatched. The files already exist in the destination directory; therefore, the copy operation was skipped. |
| 1 | All files were copied successfully. |
| 2 | There are some additional files in the destination directory that are not present in the source directory. No files were copied. |
| 3 | Some files were copied. Additional files were present. No failure was encountered. |
| 5 | Some files were copied. Some files were mismatched. No failure was encountered. |
| 6 | Additional files and mismatched files exist. No files were copied and no failures were encountered. This means that the files already exist in the destination directory. |
| 7 | Files were copied, a file mismatch was present, and additional files were present. |
| 8 | Several files did not copy. |
Note
Any value greater than 8 indicates that there was at least one failure during the copy operation.