"No such file or directory" error when scp from remote to local instance

Question

I am trying to copy a directory from a remote AWS instance to my local instance.

I have not ssh'ed into the remote instance unlike the user in this question

I simply run the command:

scp -r user@remotehost:/path/to/dir/on/remote/instance /C:/Users/example/user/path/to/destination

I type the server password in

I then get the error message:

/C:/Users/example/user/path/to/destination: No such file or directory

relating to the local instance path

Has anyone got any ideas why this is happening?

Edit: Using Gitbash on a local windows instance

Thanks in advance John

From the tags you are using, I assume you are running the scp command from withing the Bash shell that comes with Git for Windows. Is this correct? — Nathan.Eilisha Shiraini
– Nathan.Eilisha Shiraini, Commented Feb 20, 2019 at 12:44
Thanks, you gave me the information I needed to answer. Can you edit your question so that the shell you use is more visible? And welcome to SuperUser! — Nathan.Eilisha Shiraini
– Nathan.Eilisha Shiraini, Commented Feb 20, 2019 at 12:52

Nathan.Eilisha Shiraini · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-20 12:50:51Z

In Git Bash on Windows, disk names are lowercase and don't have colons.

So instead of:

/C:/Users/example/user/path/to/destination

In Git Bash, you should use:

/c/Users/example/user/path/to/destination

Alternately, in WSL (the preferred way to run Linux programs on Windows):

/mnt/c/Users/example/user/path/to/destination

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