FileCopy

Article
01/02/2007

Overview
This FileCopy.vbs script performs a very simple task - it copies a file to the same directory on a number of computers. A list of computers is provided in a test file named by default INPUT.TXT and then performs the file copy to each computer listed. The script also creates an output log file named by default <input file name>_LOG.TXT. The script can be easily modified to copy multiple files to multiple destinations if needed.

The real beauty of this script is it can be used a template for many useful scripts that require you to perform some task against a large number of computers. Just replace the code within the "DO WHILE" loop with you own code and you are off and running. The rest of the script is boilerplate code to read an input file and write to a log file. I have used this template to quickly create scripts dozens of times.

Code Review
The script code is well commented to make it easy to understand and modify. Here is a brief discussion of what happens:

You are prompted for to enter the name of the input file. By default INPUT.TXT is selected and is expected to be in the same folder. You can use any file in any folder as long as you type in the full path and name. Then you are prompted to give the output file a name. By default the input file name will be appended with _LOG.TXT but again you can type any name and path you choose.

Next the input file is opened. If the file cannot be found and errors is displayed and the script exits.

The next block of code is commented out. Uncomment if you want a script header. I tend to not use headers/footers and create plain CSV logs so I can open them in Excel for easy analysis.

Now the DO WHILE loop begins. The first line of our input file and store the name in the "strComputer" variable. Then a function named GetComputerStatus is called to confirm the computer we are about to work on is on line and can be reached. GetComputerStatus is nothing fancy, just a ping command and looking for a "reply from". The function returns a "1" if the computer responds or a "0" if no response. The commands to perform a the file copy are used if a "1" is detected and a file named "test1.txt" is copied to the "C:\Documents and Settings" folder on each computer in the input file. A variable called "strComputerStatus" will store the error code returned by the copy operation (0 if no error) and the error description for use in the log file.

Next a line is written to the log file. Each line will contain the computer name (strComputer), a comma, and the error (strComputerStatus) code if any.

Next the error buffer is cleared and the script loops back to the top and the same steps are performed on the next computer name until we reached the end of the input file.

Next the log is closed (saved).

The log file is opened in Notepad for review.

Using The Code
To use the script code, copy all the text between the <BEGIN SCRIPT> and <END SCRIPT> tags into a text file and give it a VBS extension when you name it. Create an input file with one computer or IP address on each line. The script can be run in Windows by double clicking it. A DOS window will open each time a computer is pinged. You might want to run this in a DOS box using CSCRIPT.EXE FileCopy.vbs to prevent the DOS pop ups.

CODE

***<BEGIN SCRIPT> ***

'**********************************************
' SCRIPT: FileCopy.VBS
' AUTHOR: DonBaker
'    DATE: 01/02/2007
' VERSION: 1.0
' PURPOSE: Used to copy the same file to a number of computers
'   USAGE:
'
'Revision: 00/00/00 - change
'
'**********************************************

Option Explicit

ON ERROR RESUME NEXT 'Do Not Uncomment

Dim oWshShell, oFSO, oFileName1, oFilename2, objWMIService, colItems, sProtocol, sSearch, sNWStatus, sDate, iErrNumber
Dim objItem, strComputer, oExec, strPingStdOut, sStatus, bComputerOnline, aComputers, Computer, sOutPutFile, sInPutFile, sComputerStatus
Dim arrFileNAme, sOutPutFileName
CONST ForReading = 1
CONST ForWriting = 2
CONST ForAppending = 8
Const OverwriteExisting = TRUE

'Prompt for name of input file
sInPutFile = INPUTBOX("Enter name of input file. Input file must exist in the script folder.", "Enter Input File Name","input.txt" )
IF sInputFile = "" THEN
   wscript.echo "Operation was cancelled"
   wscript.quit
END IF

'Autoname output file
'Trim extension from sInputFile1
arrFileNAme = Split(sInPutFile, ".")
sOutPutFileName = UCASE(arrFIleNAme(0))
'Prompt for name of output file
sOutPutFile = INPUTBOX("Enter name of output file. Output file will be placed in script folder.", "Enter Output File Name",sOutPutFileName & "_LOG.TXT" )
IF sOutPutFile = "" THEN
   wscript.echo "Operation was cancelled"
   wscript.quit
END IF

Set oWshShell = Wscript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

'Open input file and read
Set oFilename1 = oFSO.OpenTextFile(".\" & sInPutFile, ForReading, False)
iErrNumber = err.number
'Check for missing file
IF iErrNumber = 53 THEN
Wscript.echo "Error - " & sInPutFile & " file was not found."
wscript.quit
END IF

Set oFilename2 = oFSO.OpenTextFile(".\" & sOutPutFile, ForWriting, True)

'Get date and write it to log

'Uncomment next three lines if you want log start header
'sDate = Now()
'oFilename2.writeline "Log Started " & sDate
'oFilename2.writeblanklines 1

'Read external list of computers and perform some work
DO While oFilename1.AtEndOfStream <> True
    'read computernames from the input file
    strComputer = oFileName1.ReadLine

    'confirm computer is online
    IF GetComputerStatus(strComputer) = 1 Then
    'If computer is online do some work
        '<<<.modify line below to set the source and destination locations>>>
        oFSO.CopyFile ".\test1.txt" , "\\" & strComputer & "\C$\Documents and Settings\" , OverwriteExisting
        sComputerStatus = err.description & " " & err.number
      Else
      'if not online do something else
        sComputerStatus = "Offline"
    End IF

    'Write to log file
    oFilename2.writeline strCOmputer & "," & sComputerStatus

    'reset error buffer
     err.Clear

Loop

sDate = Now()
'Uncomment next two lines if you want log stop footer header
'oFilename2.writeblanklines 2
'oFilename2.writeline "Log Completed " & sDate

'Close input file
oFilename1.close
'Close Log file
oFilename2.close

'Wscript.echo "Finished Scanning Computers"
oWshShell.run "notepad.exe .\" & sOutPutFile, 5, FALSE

Set oWshShell = Nothing
Set oFSO = Nothing
Set oExec = Nothing
Set oFilename1 = Nothing
Set oFilename2 = Nothing

Function GetComputerStatus (strComputer)
'Function Returns a 1 if computer is available
'Used to determine if a computer is online before
'attempting WMI connection
'IP Address or computer name can be used
Dim sStatus
sStatus = 0
Set oWshShell = Wscript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Set oExec = oWshShell.Exec("ping -n 2 -w 1000 " & strComputer)
strPingStdOut = LCase(oExec.StdOut.ReadAll)
    If InStr(strPingStdOut, "reply from") <> 0 Then
      sStatus = 1
    Else
      sStatus = 0
    End IF
    GetComputerStatus = sStatus
END FUNCTION

***<END SCRIPT>***

FileCopy

Additional resources