How to fix scp: Permission denied in SSH

First, check if the destination directory actually exists and what permissions it has:

ssh user@remote ls -ld /path/to/destination

If the directory doesn't exist, create it first:

ssh user@remote mkdir -p /path/to/destination

Look at the output - the first 10 characters show permissions. If it shows drwxr-xr-x with a different owner, that's likely your issue.

Verify who owns the destination directory:

ssh user@remote ls -l /path/to/destination

The third column shows the owner. If it's a different user (e.g., root) and you need write access, you'll need to change ownership or use a directory you own.

To check which user you're logged in as:

ssh user@remote whoami

If the destination directory is owned by root (or another user) but you need write access, change ownership to your user:

ssh user@remote sudo chown -R user:user /path/to/destination

Replace user with your actual SSH username (run whoami if unsure). The -R flag recursively changes ownership of the directory and all contents.

If you don't have sudo access, skip to the next step.

Even if you own the directory, it needs write (w) permissions:

ssh user@remote chmod 755 /path/to/destination

Or if you want stricter permissions (only you can write):

ssh user@remote chmod 700 /path/to/destination

The first number (7) means read+write+execute for the owner, second (5 or 0) for group, third (5 or 0) for others.

If you lack sudo access and can't change ownership, copy to your home directory instead:

scp /local/file.txt user@remote:~/file.txt

Your home directory (~) is always writable by your user. You can then move the file later if needed (assuming you have appropriate permissions for the destination).

If you're copying FROM the remote server and getting permission denied, the source file must be readable by your SSH user:

scp user@remote:/path/to/file.txt /local/destination/

Check what user owns it:

ssh user@remote ls -l /path/to/file.txt

If a different user owns it and you lack read permissions, ask the file owner to change permissions:

ssh user@remote chmod 644 /path/to/file.txt

This makes the file readable by everyone while keeping write access restricted to the owner.

If the above steps don't help, the issue might be SSH key related. Verify you're using the correct key:

scp -i /path/to/private/key /local/file.txt user@remote:/destination/

Also ensure remote SSH directory permissions are correct:

ssh user@remote chmod 700 ~/.ssh
ssh user@remote chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Incorrect permissions on these files can prevent the correct user authentication, causing you to authenticate as a different user without write access.

For more detailed error information, use the verbose flag:

scp -v /local/file.txt user@remote:/destination/

You can use multiple v's for even more detail:

scp -vv /local/file.txt user@remote:/destination/
scp -vvv /local/file.txt user@remote:/destination/

The verbose output will show exactly where the permission check is failing - whether it's on the destination directory, an existing file, or SSH key authentication.