How to Upload Files With FTP in PowerShell

1. Use the System.Net.WebClient Object to Upload Files With FTP in PowerShell
2. Use the FtpWebRequest Object to Upload Files With FTP in PowerShell
3. Upload Multiple Files With FTP in PowerShell

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a standard network protocol used to transfer files between a client and server on a computer network. An FTP server is a common solution to facilitate file transfers across the internet.

We can upload files to an FTP server and download files from an FTP server. PowerShell is a scripting tool that can automate FTP upload and download tasks.

This tutorial will teach you to upload files to an FTP server using PowerShell.

Use the System.Net.WebClient Object to Upload Files With FTP in PowerShell

We can use the System.Net.WebClient object to upload files to an FTP server. It sends or receives data from any local, intranet, or Internet resource identified by a URI.

First, we need to create an instance of a System.Net.WebClient object and assign it to a variable $WebClient. The New-Object cmdlet creates a .NET Framework or COM object instance.

$WebClient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient

Now, let’s specify a file and FTP URI. Use a valid user name and password for the server. So, replace the value in $FTP with your FTP details.

$File = "C:\New\car.png"
$FTP = "ftp://ftp_user:ftp_password@ftp_host/car.png"

After that, create the System.URI object and assign it to a variable, as shown below.

$URI = New-Object System.Uri($FTP)

The final step is to use the UploadFile method. Then the file will be uploaded to the FTP server.

$WebClient.UploadFile($URI, $File)

The full script is shown below.

$WebClient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
$File = "C:\New\car.png"
$FTP = "ftp://ftp_user:ftp_password@ftp_host/car.png"
$URI = New-Object System.Uri($FTP)
$WebClient.UploadFile($URI, $File)

Use the FtpWebRequest Object to Upload Files With FTP in PowerShell

This method will create an instance of a FtpWebRequest object to upload files to the FTP server in PowerShell.

At first, define the FTP and file details.

$username = "ftp_user"
$password = "ftp_password"
$local_file = "C:\New\test.txt"
$remote_file = "ftp://ftp_host/test.txt"

Then create a FtpWebRequest object and configure it as shown below. The Credentials property is used to specify the credentials for connecting to an FTP server.

The UseBinary property sets a Boolean value to specify the data type for file transfers. True indicates that the data to be transferred is binary, and false indicates that the data to be transferred is text.

This method uses a binary transfer mode to transfer files without modification or conversion. As a result, the same file on the source computer will be uploaded to the server.

$FTPRequest = [System.Net.FtpWebRequest]::Create("$remote_file")
$FTPRequest = [System.Net.FtpWebRequest]$FTPRequest
$FTPRequest.Method = [System.Net.WebRequestMethods+Ftp]::UploadFile
$FTPRequest.Credentials = New-Object System.Net.NetworkCredential($username, $password)
$FTPRequest.UseBinary = $true
$FTPRequest.UsePassive = $true

# Read the file for upload
$FileContent = gc -en byte $local_file
$FTPRequest.ContentLength = $FileContent.Length

# Get stream request by bytes
$run = $FTPRequest.GetRequestStream()
$run.Write($FileContent, 0, $FileContent.Length)

# Cleanup
$run.Close()
$run.Dispose()

When using a FtpWebRequest object to upload a file to a server, we must write the file content to the request stream obtained by calling the GetRequestStream method.

We must write to the stream and close it before sending the request.

Upload Multiple Files With FTP in PowerShell

Sometimes, we might need to upload multiple files to an FTP server. Uploading files one by one will take a lot of time.

So, we have created this PowerShell script to upload multiple files to an FTP server in one go.

First, create a System.Net.WebClient object and assign it to a $WebClient variable.

$WebClient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient

Specify the directory where all files that you want to upload are present.

$Dir = "C:\New"

Then specify the URI of your FTP server.

$FTP = "ftp://ftp_user:ftp_password@ftp_host/docs/"

After that, use the foreach loop to run the command against each item in the $Dir. The following code uploads all .txt files in the $Dir to an FTP server $FTP.

foreach ($item in (Get-ChildItem $Dir "*.txt")) {
    "Uploading $item..."
    $URI = New-Object System.Uri($FTP + $item.Name)
    $WebClient.UploadFile($URI, $item.FullName)
}

We hope this article helped you upload files with an FTP server in PowerShell.