`–cookies=on/off’
    When set to off, disable the use of cookies. Cookies are a mechanism for maintaining server-side state. The server sends the client a cookie using the Set-Cookie header, and the client responds with the same cookie upon further requests. Since cookies allow the server owners to keep track of visitors and for sites to exchange this information, some consider them a breach of privacy. The default is to use cookies; however, storing cookies is not on by default.

`–load-cookies file’
    Load cookies from file before the first HTTP retrieval. file is a textual file in the format originally used by Netscape’s `cookies.txt’ file.

    You will typically use this option when mirroring sites that require that you be logged in to access some or all of their content. The login process typically works by the web server issuing an HTTP cookie upon receiving and verifying your credentials. The cookie is then resent by the browser when accessing that part of the site, and so proves your identity.

    Mirroring such a site requires Wget to send the same cookies your browser sends when communicating with the site. This is achieved by `–load-cookies’—simply point Wget to the location of the `cookies.txt’ file, and it will send the same cookies your browser would send in the same situation. Different browsers keep textual cookie files in different locations:

    Netscape 4.x.
  The cookies are in `~/.netscape/cookies.txt’.

    Mozilla and Netscape 6.x.
  Mozilla’s cookie file is also named `cookies.txt’, located somewhere under `~/.mozilla’, in the directory of your profile. The full path usually ends up looking somewhat like `~/.mozilla/default/some-weird-string/cookies.txt’.

    Internet Explorer.
  You can produce a cookie file Wget can use by using the File menu, Import and Export, Export Cookies. This has been tested with Internet Explorer 5; it is not guaranteed to work with earlier versions.

    Other browsers.
  If you are using a different browser to create your cookies, `–load-cookies’ will only work if you can locate or produce a cookie file in the Netscape format that Wget expects.

    If you cannot use `–load-cookies’, there might still be an alternative. If your browser supports a „cookie manager”, you can use it to view the cookies used when accessing the site you’re mirroring. Write down the name and value of the cookie, and manually instruct Wget to send those cookies, bypassing the „official” cookie support:

    wget –cookies=off –header „Cookie: name=value”

`–save-cookies file’
    Save cookies from file at the end of session. Cookies whose expiry time is not specified, or those that have already expired, are not saved.