podman-machine-cp(1) General Commands Manual podman-machine-cp(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

podman-machine-cp - Securely copy contents between the host and the virtual machine

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**podman machine cp** \[*options*] *src\_path* *dest\_path*

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Use secure copy (scp) to copy files or directories between the virtual machine and your host machine.

**podman machine cp** does not support copying between two virtual machines, which would require two machines running simultaneously.

Additionally, **podman machine cp** will automatically do a recursive copy of files and directories.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

## **--help**

Print usage statement.

## **--quiet**, **-q**

Suppress copy status output.

# [EXAMPLES](#EXAMPLES)

Copy a file from your host to the running Podman Machine.

```
$ podman machine cp ~/configuration.txt podman-machine-default:~/configuration.txt
...
Copy Successful
```

Copy a file from the running Podman Machine to your host.

```
$ podman machine cp podman-machine-default:~/logs/log.txt ~/logs/podman-machine-default.txt
...
Copy Successful
```

Copy a directory from your host to the running Podman Machine.

```
$ podman machine cp ~/.config podman-machine-default:~/.config
...
Copy Successful
```

Copy a directory from the running Podman Machine to your host.

```
$ podman machine cp podman-machine-default:~/.config ~/podman-machine-default.config
...
Copy Successful
```

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**podman(1)**](/man/enterprise-packages/podman-doc-6.1/podman.1), [**podman-machine(1)**](/man/enterprise-packages/podman-doc-6.1/podman-machine.1)

# [HISTORY](#HISTORY)

February 2025, Originally compiled by Jake Correnti jcorrent@redhat.com ⟨mailto:jcorrent@redhat.com⟩

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Document: podman-machine-cp(1) from podman-doc-6.1 6.1.3-r0 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/containers/podman