Connecting with PuTTY: Difference between revisions

Start up [http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ PuTTY] and enter the host name or IP address of the machine you wish to connect to. You may also save a collection of settings by entering a session name in the <i>Save Sessions</i> text box and clicking the <i>Save</i> button. You can set the username to use when logging into a particular host under the <i>Connection->Data</i> section in the <i>Auto-login username</i> text box to saving typing the username when connecting.

If working with graphical-based programs, X11 forwarding should be enabled. To do this, go to <i>Connection->SSH->X11</i> and check the <i>Enable X11 forwarding</i> checkbox. To use X11 forwarding one must install an X window server such as [http://www.straightrunning.com/xmingnotes/ Xming] or, for the recent versions of Windows, [https://sourceforge.net/projects/vcxsrv/ VcXsrv]. The X window server should be actually started prior to connecting with SSH. Test that X11 forwarding is working by opening a PuTTY session and running a simple GUI-based program, such as typing the command <code>xclock</code>. If you see a popup window with a clock, X11 forwarding should be working.

To set the private key putty uses when connecting to a machine go to Connection->SSH->Auth and clicking the <i>Browse" button to find the private key file to use. Putty uses files with a <i>.ppk</i> suffix, which are generated using PuTTYGen (see [[Generating SSH keys in Windows|Generating SSH keys in Windows]] for instructions on how to create such a key).  In newer versions of Putty, you need to click the "+" sign next to <i>Auth</i> and then select <i>Credentials</i> to be able to browse for the <i>Private key file for authentication</i>. Note that the additional fields in that newer interface, i.e. <i>Certificate to use</i> and <i>Plugin to provide authentication response</i>, should be left blank.  

[[Category:Connecting]]

</translate>