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I want to directly transfer a file from a friend's PC running Windows to my Ubuntu box over the internet.

What are my options? For security reasons, I don't want to use a third-party server.

Hopefully, it's something not something complicated or command line based that requires a learning curve since I am the one requesting the friend to send the file to me.

fossfreedom
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Oxwivi
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2 Answers2

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  • Install winscp on the windows PC (it uses sftp which is part of ssh) and set up ssh on your system allowing him access to a directory or share. Install openssh-serverInstall openssh-server if not already there.

    And this how to should still work on setting it up: basically you need to open a port, create a user (and password) and tell your windows user to insert your IP adress, the port, username and password into winscp.

  • Ubuntu One is made for this too.

  • Do not forget about the ability of mailing it or using a free file sharing website like mediafire. These 2 are very low tech and require no installation (unless he or you has no mail ;) ).

  • ... and just for fun... if the 2 of you use torrents he could make it a torrent and give you the announcement (you can create trackers at openbittorrent).

Community
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Rinzwind
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  • I'm just weird, so I don't want to use any method like email or file-sharing which isn't direct and involves the file going to a third-party server beyond our control. – Oxwivi Sep 17 '11 at 17:04
  • SSH, how do I set it up? – Oxwivi Sep 17 '11 at 17:07
  • That's why the invented encryption ;) The 1st one is a straight 1 to 1 copy. If you want I know a few more but the 1st is should be the easiest. I put in an install option for ssh. You still need to set it up though (trying to find a short config method ;) ) – Rinzwind Sep 17 '11 at 17:08
  • OpenSSH is installed on Ubuntu by default. I need to know how to set up SSH server so my computer can be connected to and the file transferred. – Oxwivi Sep 17 '11 at 17:18
  • Eh I sure hope `openssh client` is installed by default and not `openssh server`; I put in a how to from Ubuntu help. – Rinzwind Sep 17 '11 at 17:23
  • Well, I don't know if the server part is in a different package, but I sure can `ssh` into stuff without installing anything. – Oxwivi Sep 17 '11 at 17:48
  • I am asking of you a bit too much, but can you please detail what and how I need to set up in SSH server to receive the file, and needs to be done with WinSCP to send the file? – Oxwivi Sep 20 '11 at 10:35
  • I would love too but have been told to answer the question and not to elaborate. I'd suggest creating a new q so I can answer that one >-) – Rinzwind Sep 20 '11 at 13:36
  • Well, we're not going off-topic - you told me what to do, and I asking how we can do that. Or should I make two separate questions, one asking how to set up SSH server and shares that you suggest, and the other asking how to use WinSCP to do what I want? – Oxwivi Sep 20 '11 at 14:52
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I would try installing CopSSH on your friend's machine. It is a SFTP server implementation for Windows (with a GUI) that enforces per-user authorisation and uses a normally port-forwarded port 22 as S stands for SSH. All you need to do is add yourself to the activated users list. Then you can just connect to your friend using nautilus.

nickguletskii
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