PuTTY Instructions

PuTTY is a free implementation of Telnet and SSH for Win32 platforms, including an Xterm terminal emulator. It is written and maintained primarily by Simon Tatham.

Procedure

Download PuTTY. PuTTY requires no installation.
Configure PuTTy: Manual or Automatic Configuration
Shortcuts for Sessions

Information

PuTTY User Manual
PuTTY FAQ
PuTTY from the Command Line
Other PuTTY Downloads:

PSCP: SCP client for command-line secure file copy
PSFTP: SFTP client for general file transfer sessions, much like FTP
Plink: command-line interface to the PuTTY back ends
Pageant: SSH authentication agent for PuTTY, PSCP and Plink
PuTTYgen: RSA key generation utility

Automatic Configuration

Download Configuration File. Double-click the file to enter the appropriate information into the Windows registry.

Note: If the putty.reg file is loading in your web browser instead of downloading, right-click on the link above and select Save as...

Manual Configuration

Session Tab:

Enter the hostname of the server you wish to connect to in the Host Name field.

Servers are listed on the Campus Remote Access Servers page.

Set the Protocol to "SSH".
Enter a session name under the Saved Sessions field and click Save.

SSH Tab:

Click the Enable Compression checkbox.
Set the Preferred SSH protocol version to "2".
Select the Cipher of your choice in the Encryption Options window.
FAQ: 3des or blowfish - Which to choose?

Tunnels Tab:

Click the Enable X11 forwarding checkbox.
Note: Enabling X11 fowarding is very important!

Now go back to the Session tab:

Click Save to save all of the settings you just set in the SSH and Tunnels tabs.
Click Open to connect to the remote access server.

Shortcuts for Sessions

To create the shortcut:

1. Left-click and hold the PuTTY executable (putty.exe) in Windows Explorer.
2. Press one of the alt keys on the keyboard.
3. Drag the icon of the PuTTY executable to where you want the shortcut (an arrow should be added to the lower left hand side of the icon).
4. Right-click on the shortcut you just made and select Properties.

Use the following information to edit the Target field:

The -load option causes PuTTY to load configuration details out of a saved session. If these details include a host name, then this option is all you need to make PuTTY start a session.

You need double quotes around the session name if it contains spaces to look something like:

C:\path\to\where\I\saved\putty.exe -load "my session"
or
C:\path\to\where\I\saved\putty.exe @my session

More information on using PuTTY from the command line.

Information Technology and Engineering Computer Services (ITECS)
College of Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695
Comments to eoshelp@ncsu.edu. URL: http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/

This support page is for students, faculty, and
staff at North Carolina State University.