Problems Using SCP to Upload a File to a vCenter Appliance (e.g. with WinSCP)

If you are having trouble uploading a file via SCP to vCenter then VMware provide a great document on how to resolve this. You’ll be seeing an error like:

Error skipping startup message. Your shell is probably incompatible with the application (BASH is recommended).

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2107727

Essentially what you need to do is logon via SSH to vCenter, swap the Shell to BASH, upload the file, then swap the Shell back to the ApplianceSH shell.

Logon with SSH, then enter the “shell” then run at the command line:

chsh -s /bin/bash root

Upload your file with SCP, then run:

chsh -s /bin/appliancesh root