Connecting with PuTTY

Start up PuTTY and enter the host name or IP address of the machine you wish to connect to. You may also save a settings by entering a session name in the "Save Sessions" text box and clicking the "Save" button. You can set the username to use when logging into a particular host under the Connection->Data section in the Auto-login username text box to saving typing the username when connecting.

Enter hostname or IP address (Click for larger image)

Specify username to use when connecting, this is optional as one can type it when connecting (Click for larger image)

Enable X11 forwarding (Click for larger image)

Specifying an ssh key (Click for larger image)

X11 Forwarding

If working with graphical-based programs, X11 forwarding should be enabled. To do this, go to Connection->SSH->X11 and check the "Enable X11 forwarding" checkbox. To use X11 forwarding one must install an X window server such as Xming. Test that X11 forwarding is working by opening a session and running a simple GUI based program, such as typing the command xclock. If you see a popup window with a clock, X11 forwarding should be working.

Using a Key Pair

To set the private key putty uses when connecting to a machine go to Connection->SSH->Auth and clicking the "Browse" button to find the private key file to use. Putty uses files with a ".ppk" suffix, which are generated using PuTTYGen (see Generating SSH keys in Windows for instructions on how to create such a key).