diff --git a/autosubmit/autosubmit.py b/autosubmit/autosubmit.py
index d54ef43eb7344753335c03f1af39f48ef30676ba..378d6e586cfba227559e505b7ce2862869b8413d 100644
--- a/autosubmit/autosubmit.py
+++ b/autosubmit/autosubmit.py
@@ -1241,7 +1241,7 @@ class Autosubmit:
         return content
 
     @staticmethod
-    def as_conf_default_values(exp_id,hpc="local",minimal_configuration=False,git_repo="",git_branch="main",git_as_conf=""):
+    def as_conf_default_values(exp_id,hpc,minimal_configuration=False,git_repo="",git_branch="main",git_as_conf=""):
         """
         Replace default values in as_conf files
         :param exp_id: experiment id
@@ -1252,6 +1252,9 @@ class Autosubmit:
         :param git_as_conf: path to as_conf file in git repository
         :return: None
         """
+        # the var hpc was harcoded in the header of the function
+        hpc_default="local"
+
         # open and replace values
         for as_conf_file in os.listdir(os.path.join(BasicConfig.LOCAL_ROOT_DIR, exp_id,"conf")):
             if as_conf_file.endswith(".yml") or as_conf_file.endswith(".yaml"):
@@ -1270,7 +1273,16 @@ class Autosubmit:
                     content = Autosubmit.replace_parameter_inside_section(content, "EXPID", exp_id, "DEFAULT")
                     search = re.search('HPCARCH: .*', content, re.MULTILINE)
                     if search is not None:
-                        content = content.replace(search.group(0),"HPCARCH: \""+hpc+"\"")
+                        x = search.group(0).split(":")
+                        #clean blankSpace, quotes and doble quote
+                        aux=x[1].strip().strip('\"').strip('\'')
+                        # hpc in config is empty && -H is empty-> hpc_default will be introduced
+                        if (len(aux)==0 and not hpc):
+                            content = content.replace(search.group(0),"HPCARCH: \""+hpc_default+"\"")
+                        # hpc in config is empty && -H is has a value-> wrtie down hpc value
+                        elif len(aux)==0 :
+                            content = content.replace(search.group(0),"HPCARCH: \""+hpc+"\"")
+                        ## the other case is aux!=0 that we dont care about val(hpc) because its a copyExpId
                     if minimal_configuration:
                         search = re.search('CUSTOM_CONFIG: .*', content, re.MULTILINE)
                         if search is not None:
@@ -4663,7 +4675,7 @@ class Autosubmit:
         :return: True if successful, False if not
         :rtype: bool
         """
-
+        
         project_destination = as_conf.get_project_destination()
         if project_destination is None or len(project_destination) == 0:
             if project_type.lower() != "none":
diff --git a/test/unit/conftest.py b/test/unit/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9f06fe1924de85df3b499099f342840db3c3c628
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+# Fixtures available to multiple test files must be created in this file.
+
+import pytest
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from pathlib import Path
+from shutil import rmtree
+from tempfile import TemporaryDirectory
+from typing import Any, Dict, Callable, List
+
+from autosubmit.autosubmit import Autosubmit
+from autosubmit.platforms.slurmplatform import SlurmPlatform, ParamikoPlatform
+from autosubmitconfigparser.config.basicconfig import BasicConfig
+from autosubmitconfigparser.config.configcommon import AutosubmitConfig
+from autosubmitconfigparser.config.yamlparser import YAMLParserFactory
+
+
+@dataclass
+class AutosubmitExperiment:
+    """This holds information about an experiment created by Autosubmit."""
+    expid: str
+    autosubmit: Autosubmit
+    exp_path: Path
+    tmp_dir: Path
+    aslogs_dir: Path
+    status_dir: Path
+    platform: ParamikoPlatform
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope='function')
+def autosubmit_exp(autosubmit: Autosubmit, request: pytest.FixtureRequest) -> Callable:
+    """Create an instance of ``Autosubmit`` with an experiment."""
+
+    original_root_dir = BasicConfig.LOCAL_ROOT_DIR
+    tmp_dir = TemporaryDirectory()
+    tmp_path = Path(tmp_dir.name)
+
+    def _create_autosubmit_exp(expid: str):
+        # directories used when searching for logs to cat
+        root_dir = tmp_path
+        BasicConfig.LOCAL_ROOT_DIR = str(root_dir)
+        exp_path = root_dir / expid
+        exp_tmp_dir = exp_path / BasicConfig.LOCAL_TMP_DIR
+        aslogs_dir = exp_tmp_dir / BasicConfig.LOCAL_ASLOG_DIR
+        status_dir = exp_path / 'status'
+        aslogs_dir.mkdir(parents=True)
+        status_dir.mkdir()
+
+        platform_config = {
+            "LOCAL_ROOT_DIR": BasicConfig.LOCAL_ROOT_DIR,
+            "LOCAL_TMP_DIR": str(exp_tmp_dir),
+            "LOCAL_ASLOG_DIR": str(aslogs_dir)
+        }
+        platform = SlurmPlatform(expid=expid, name='slurm_platform', config=platform_config)
+        platform.job_status = {
+            'COMPLETED': [],
+            'RUNNING': [],
+            'QUEUING': [],
+            'FAILED': []
+        }
+        submit_platform_script = aslogs_dir / 'submit_local.sh'
+        submit_platform_script.touch(exist_ok=True)
+
+        return AutosubmitExperiment(
+            expid=expid,
+            autosubmit=autosubmit,
+            exp_path=exp_path,
+            tmp_dir=exp_tmp_dir,
+            aslogs_dir=aslogs_dir,
+            status_dir=status_dir,
+            platform=platform
+        )
+
+    def finalizer():
+        BasicConfig.LOCAL_ROOT_DIR = original_root_dir
+        rmtree(tmp_path)
+
+    request.addfinalizer(finalizer)
+
+    return _create_autosubmit_exp
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope='module')
+def autosubmit() -> Autosubmit:
+    """Create an instance of ``Autosubmit``.
+
+    Useful when you need ``Autosubmit`` but do not need any experiments."""
+    autosubmit = Autosubmit()
+    return autosubmit
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope='function')
+def create_as_conf() -> Callable:
+    def _create_as_conf(autosubmit_exp: AutosubmitExperiment, yaml_files: List[Path], experiment_data: Dict[str, Any]):
+        basic_config = BasicConfig
+        parser_factory = YAMLParserFactory()
+        as_conf = AutosubmitConfig(
+            expid=autosubmit_exp.expid,
+            basic_config=basic_config,
+            parser_factory=parser_factory
+        )
+        for yaml_file in yaml_files:
+            parser = parser_factory.create_parser()
+            parser.data = parser.load(yaml_file)
+            as_conf.experiment_data.update(parser.data)
+        # add user-provided experiment data
+        as_conf.experiment_data.update(experiment_data)
+        return as_conf
+
+    return _create_as_conf
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/unit/test_copy_expid.py b/test/unit/test_copy_expid.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..0d8b428bc7b07dbe623128d701b430014e2e2fb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/test_copy_expid.py
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+import pytest
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Any, Dict, Callable, List
+from tempfile import TemporaryDirectory
+
+from autosubmit.autosubmit import Autosubmit
+from autosubmit.platforms.slurmplatform import SlurmPlatform, ParamikoPlatform
+from autosubmitconfigparser.config.basicconfig import BasicConfig
+from autosubmitconfigparser.config.configcommon import AutosubmitConfig
+from autosubmitconfigparser.config.yamlparser import YAMLParserFactory
+
+from test.unit.conftest import AutosubmitExperiment, autosubmit_exp
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def fake_description():
+    return "test descript"
+
+## create expid   && check default hpc
+#       autosubmit expid  -d "test descript"
+def test_create_expid_default_hpc(fake_description):
+        #create default expid
+    expid = Autosubmit.expid(fake_description)  
+        #capture the platform using the describe
+    describe = Autosubmit.describe(expid)
+    hpc_result=describe[4].lower()
+ 
+    assert hpc_result == "local"
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("fake_hpc, expected_hpc", [
+    ("mn5", "mn5"),
+    ("", "local"),
+])
+## create expid && with -H value
+#       autosubmit expid -H ithaca -d "experiment is about..."
+#       autosubmit expid -H "" -d "experiment is about..."
+def test_create_expid_flag_hpc(fake_description,fake_hpc, expected_hpc):
+        #create default expid with know hpc
+    expid = Autosubmit.expid(fake_description, fake_hpc)  
+        #capture the platform using the describe
+    describe = Autosubmit.describe(expid)
+    hpc_result=describe[4].lower()
+ 
+    assert hpc_result == expected_hpc
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("fake_hpc, expected_hpc", [
+    ("mn5", "mn5"),
+    ("", "local"),
+])
+## copy expid with default hpc
+#   autosubmit expid -y a000 -d "experiment is about..."
+def test_copy_expid(fake_description, fake_hpc, expected_hpc):
+        #create default expid with know hpc
+    expid = Autosubmit.expid(fake_description, fake_hpc)  
+        #copy expid
+    copy_expid=Autosubmit.expid(fake_description, "",expid)
+        #capture the platform using the describe
+    describe = Autosubmit.describe(copy_expid)
+    hpc_result=describe[4].lower()
+ 
+    assert hpc_result == expected_hpc
+
+## copy expid with specific hpc should not change the hpc value
+#   autosubmit expid -y a000 -h local -d "experiment is about..."
+def test_copy_expid_no(fake_description):
+    #create default expid with know hpc
+    fake_hpc="mn5"
+    new_hpc="local"
+    expid = Autosubmit.expid(fake_description, fake_hpc)  
+
+    copy_expid=Autosubmit.expid(fake_description, new_hpc ,expid)
+        #capture the platform using the describe
+    describe = Autosubmit.describe(copy_expid)
+    hpc_result=describe[4].lower()
+ 
+    assert not hpc_result == new_hpc
\ No newline at end of file