WinSCP Tutorial

This Tutorial is to describe how to install and use WinSCP, a program that will allow you to transfer files from your home computer to your network drive so that you can turn it in using WWWTurnin. I know it looks long, but that's only because I went into a lot of detail. If any of you have experience installing programs, you may want to skip to the set up instructions.

• First things first, you're gonna need WinSCP. You can get it here. Just click on the link. Choose any of the mirror sites and save the .exe file somewhere on your machine.
  (Just make sure you remember where you saved it).
• Next, open up Explorer by clicking 'My Computer' and navigate to where you saved the .exe file. Double-click it to begin installation.
  • A Welcome Window opens, click 'Next'
  • Next is the license agreement, select 'I accept the agreement' and click 'Next'
  • The 'Select Destination Location' window opens, the default location is fine, just click 'Next'
  • The 'Select Components' Window is next, you may as well just stick with the full installation, so just click 'Next' again
  • Now it asks you to 'Select Start Menu Folder' unless you want it to be named something else, just click 'Next'
  • The next step, "Select Additional Tasks" is totally up to you, if you want a desktop shortcut, leave the top box checked, the rest you don't need, so un-check them
  • The last option is what interface you want. "Norton Commander interface" is a two-column interface where your home machine appears on one side and your network drive appears on the other. "Explorer-like interface" is just like when you open any other folder (this may be simpler).
  • At the 'Ready to Install' window, just click 'Install' (depending on the speed of your computer, this should only take a few seconds)
  • Click 'Finish' when installation completes, leaving the 'Launch WinSCP' box checked.
• After installation, you need to set it up
• First click on 'Session' on the left-hand side, to bring up the Session options.
• Fill in the 'Host name' as "hill.cs.ucr.edu"
• Make sure the 'Port number' is set to 22
• Fill in 'User name' with your CS username
• The 'Password' field gets, you guessed it, your CS password
• Select 'SCP' in the 'Protocol' section
• If you want to change the default starting directory for your local machine, you can change it by clicking the 'Directories' section on the left, and browsing the 'Local Directory' field for wherever you want WinSCP to open initially (the left side of the window). If you do not change this, your default local directory is your C drive (C:/).
• Finally, click 'Save' so you won't have to enter all that again (The default name works fine, but you can call it whatever you want)
• Now that setup is done, you just have to click your saved session to highlight it and click 'Login'
• The first time you login, you may see this message: "The server's host key is not cached in the registry. You have no guarantee that the server is the computer you think it is ..." This is no problem, it just means that you haven't logged in from your home machine before, just click 'Yes'
• A bunch of messages flash by, then an explorer window will open showing your network drive. The commands are a little different than a regular explorer window though.
• If you need to create a directory, like 'turnin' go to Commands->Create Directory...
• Then simply drag your files into the directory you want.
• A dialog window will open, just click 'Copy' and the file will be copied to your network drive, depending on the size of the file, and your internet connection, it may take a few seconds to copy it over
• If you need to change permissions, simply right-click on the file you need to modify on your CS Account, and select 'Properties'
• If you would like to edit your remote files locally, you can change the default editor by going to 'Options->Preferences' and selecting 'Editor' on the left. Change the radio button from 'Internal Editor' to 'External Editor' and use the field below it to select your external editor (probably Crimson).
• Now you're ready to turn in the file from the WWWTurnin site.
• When you're finished, just close the window, and click 'Ok'