WinSCP is a free and open source FTP, SFTP and SCP client for Windows. The application can be run as a Windows Service using FireDaemon Pro, which lets you start the application automatically at boot prior to login, start multiple instances of the application and more. This HOWTO will show you how to set it up. You can also use Fusion to manage FireDaemon and other Windows services via a web browser.


WinSCP Setup Under FireDaemon Pro

Download the WinSCP client installation package from the official website.


Install WinSCP. For the purposes of this HOWTO, we have selected the typical installation and the Comander user interface style. The program is installed at C:\Program Files (x86)\WinSCP.


Run WinSCP at least once to set up your sites and configure the client to suit your preferences.


WinSCP offers a command line scripting system that can be automated with FireDaemon Pro. WinSCP's scripting documentation and command line documentation go into much more detail. Save your script as a .txt file.


Download and install FireDaemon Pro into the directory of your choice, typically C:\Program Files\FireDaemon.


Next start the FireDaemon Pro GUI from the desktop shortcut. Click on the "Create a new service definition" button in the toolbar (or type Ctrl+N) and enter the information into the fields as you see below. Adjust the paths to suit your installation. Note the required parameters.



  • Executable: The path to the WinSCP.exe file. For the purposes of this HOWTO, the path is C:\Program Files (x86)\WinSCP\WinSCP.exe.
  • Working Directory: The directory containing the WinSCP.exe file. For the purposes of this HOWTO, the directory is C:\Program Files (x86)\WinSCP


While WinSCP supports many parameters that you can use, the main ones you need to include are: /console /script="C:\path\to\script.txt"

  • /console tells WinSCP.exe to run in command line mode
  • /script="C:\path\to\script.txt" tells WinSCP where your script is located

If you want to see WinSCP running without a specific script, remove the parameters and the GUI will launch.


Now click on the Settings tab. If you DON'T want to see WinSCP running, uncheck the Interact with Desktop check box & select "Hidden" from the "Show Window" dropdown. You must run WinSCP as the user you installed it as. In the Logon Account field type your username (e.g. Administrator) and then enter the user's password twice in the Password and Confirm fields. You can change the Process Priority to allocate more CPU time to the dedicated server or specify which CPU or core WinSCP will run on (in the case of multi-processor, hyperthreaded or multi-core CPUs).



Now click the Lifecycle tab. Uncheck Graceful Shutdown, as it can slow the shutdown of WinSCP. Make sure Console Application is checked.



If you'd like to schedule your WinSCP script to run at certain times, click the Scheduling tab and enter what times you want the script to run.


Now click OK to finish setup and start your WinSCP script!