WinSCP/PuTTY: Cannot move file on server via sudo: Permission denied

Question

I have uploaded a file to a remote Linux server.

current directory is: /home/user/file.war

Now i want to move the file into tomcat webapps folder and overwrite the existing version:

The directory I want to move it to is: /var/lib/tomcat8/webapps

I tried it a few days ago using PuTTY, change to root user like this:

sudo -s

It asks for my user password and then as root i tried to copy the file with one of the following commands:

scp file.war root@ip:/var/lib/tomcat8/webapps

sudo scp file.war root@ip:/var/lib/tomcat8/webapps

scp /home/user/file.war root@server:/var/lib/tomcat8/webapps

Then it asks for my password again, but I only get a "Permission denied". The password seems to be alright, because otherwise I could not have logged in in the beginning. What am I doing wrong here?

Is it possible to get root access only with WinSCP? Logging in with sudo shell didn't work for me either...

Answer 1

You want to copy a local file to another local directory.

So you want the plain cp, not the scp.

cp /home/user/file.war /var/lib/tomcat8/webapps

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Regarding WinSCP: See FAQ How do I change user after login (e.g. su root)?