Update version numbers for 0.60 release.
[u/mdw/putty] / doc / using.but
CommitLineData
39a938f7 1\define{versionidusing} \versionid $Id$
fc5a8711 2
3\C{using} Using PuTTY
4
5This chapter provides a general introduction to some more advanced
6features of PuTTY. For extreme detail and reference purposes,
7\k{config} is likely to contain more information.
8
9\H{using-session} During your session
10
11A lot of PuTTY's complexity and features are in the configuration
12panel. Once you have worked your way through that and started
13a session, things should be reasonably simple after that.
14Nevertheless, there are a few more useful features available.
15
16\S{using-selection} Copying and pasting text
17
6cc170f0 18\I{copy and paste}Often in a PuTTY session you will find text on
19your terminal screen which you want to type in again. Like most
20other terminal emulators, PuTTY allows you to copy and paste the
21text rather than having to type it again. Also, copy and paste uses
22the \I{Windows clipboard}Windows \i{clipboard}, so that you can
23paste (for example) URLs into a web browser, or paste from a word
24processor or spreadsheet into your terminal session.
25
26PuTTY's copy and paste works entirely with the \i{mouse}. In order
27to copy text to the clipboard, you just click the \i{left mouse
421406a4 28button} in the \i{terminal window}, and drag to \I{selecting text}select
6cc170f0 29text. When you let go of the button, the text is \e{automatically}
30copied to the clipboard. You do not need to press Ctrl-C or
31Ctrl-Ins; in fact, if you do press Ctrl-C, PuTTY will send a Ctrl-C
32character down your session to the server where it will probably
33cause a process to be interrupted.
fc5a8711 34
35Pasting is done using the right button (or the middle mouse button,
421406a4 36if you have a \i{three-button mouse} and have set it up; see
6cc170f0 37\k{config-mouse}). (Pressing \i{Shift-Ins}, or selecting \q{Paste}
421406a4 38from the \I{right mouse button, with Ctrl}Ctrl+right-click
39\i{context menu}, have the same effect.) When
6cc170f0 40you click the \i{right mouse button}, PuTTY will read whatever is in
41the Windows clipboard and paste it into your session, \e{exactly} as
42if it had been typed at the keyboard. (Therefore, be careful of
43pasting formatted text into an editor that does automatic indenting;
44you may find that the spaces pasted from the clipboard plus the
45spaces added by the editor add up to too many spaces and ruin the
46formatting. There is nothing PuTTY can do about this.)
47
421406a4 48If you \i{double-click} the left mouse button, PuTTY will
49\I{selecting words}select a whole word. If you double-click, hold
50down the second click, and drag the mouse, PuTTY will select a
51sequence of whole words. (You can adjust precisely what PuTTY
52considers to be part of a word; see \k{config-charclasses}.)
53If you \e{triple}-click, or \i{triple-click} and drag, then
54PuTTY will \I{selecting lines}select a whole line or sequence of lines.
6cc170f0 55
56If you want to select a \I{rectangular selection}rectangular region
57instead of selecting to the end of each line, you can do this by
58holding down Alt when you make your selection. (You can also
59configure rectangular selection to be the default, and then holding
60down Alt gives the normal behaviour instead. See
61\k{config-rectselect} for details.)
62
63If you have a \i{middle mouse button}, then you can use it to
64\I{adjusting a selection}adjust an existing selection if you
65selected something slightly wrong. (If you have configured the
66middle mouse button to paste, then the right mouse button does this
67instead.) Click the button on the screen, and you can pick up the
68nearest end of the selection and drag it to somewhere else.
fc5a8711 69
421406a4 70It's possible for the server to ask to \I{mouse reporting}handle mouse
71clicks in the PuTTY window itself. If this happens, the \i{mouse pointer}
72will turn into an arrow, and using the mouse to copy and paste will only
73work if you hold down Shift. See \k{config-features-mouse} and
25c22a0c 74\k{config-mouseshift} for details of this feature and how to configure
75it.
6cee219d 76
6cc170f0 77\S{using-scrollback} \I{scrollback}Scrolling the screen back
fc5a8711 78
79PuTTY keeps track of text that has scrolled up off the top of the
80terminal. So if something appears on the screen that you want to
81read, but it scrolls too fast and it's gone by the time you try to
421406a4 82look for it, you can use the \i{scrollbar} on the right side of the
6cc170f0 83window to look back up the session \i{history} and find it again.
fc5a8711 84
85As well as using the scrollbar, you can also page the scrollback up
6cc170f0 86and down by pressing \i{Shift-PgUp} and \i{Shift-PgDn}. You can
87scroll a line at a time using \i{Ctrl-PgUp} and \i{Ctrl-PgDn}. These
88are still available if you configure the scrollbar to be invisible.
fc5a8711 89
90By default the last 200 lines scrolled off the top are
91preserved for you to look at. You can increase (or decrease) this
92value using the configuration box; see \k{config-scrollback}.
93
421406a4 94\S{using-sysmenu} The \ii{System menu}
fc5a8711 95
96If you click the left mouse button on the icon in the top left
1388ecb1 97corner of PuTTY's terminal window, or click the right mouse button
98on the title bar, you will see the standard Windows system menu
99containing items like Minimise, Move, Size and Close.
fc5a8711 100
101PuTTY's system menu contains extra program features in addition to
102the Windows standard options. These extra menu commands are
103described below.
104
421406a4 105(These options are also available in a \i{context menu} brought up
533d533c 106by holding Ctrl and clicking with the right mouse button anywhere
421406a4 107in the \i{PuTTY window}.)
533d533c 108
6cc170f0 109\S2{using-eventlog} The PuTTY \i{Event Log}
fc5a8711 110
111If you choose \q{Event Log} from the system menu, a small window
112will pop up in which PuTTY logs significant events during the
113connection. Most of the events in the log will probably take place
114during session startup, but a few can occur at any point in the
115session, and one or two occur right at the end.
116
117You can use the mouse to select one or more lines of the Event Log,
6cc170f0 118and hit the Copy button to copy them to the \i{clipboard}. If you
119are reporting a bug, it's often useful to paste the contents of the
fc5a8711 120Event Log into your bug report.
121
6cc170f0 122\S2{using-specials} \ii{Special commands}
6b590f79 123
6cc170f0 124Depending on the protocol used for the current session, there may be
125a submenu of \q{special commands}. These are protocol-specific
9711106b 126tokens, such as a \q{break} signal, that can be sent down a
2c51c674 127connection in addition to normal data. Their precise effect is usually
9711106b 128up to the server. Currently only Telnet, SSH, and serial connections
129have special commands.
6cc170f0 130
58c840dc 131The \q{break} signal can also be invoked from the keyboard with
132\i{Ctrl-Break}.
133
421406a4 134The following \I{Telnet special commands}special commands are
135available in Telnet:
2c51c674 136
3f2ce694 137\b \I{Are You There, Telnet special command}Are You There
2c51c674 138
3f2ce694 139\b \I{Break, Telnet special command}Break
2c51c674 140
3f2ce694 141\b \I{Synch, Telnet special command}Synch
2c51c674 142
3f2ce694 143\b \I{Erase Character, Telnet special command}Erase Character
2c51c674 144
76d3d354 145\lcont{
146PuTTY can also be configured to send this when the Backspace key is
147pressed; see \k{config-telnetkey}.
148}
149
3f2ce694 150\b \I{Erase Line, Telnet special command}Erase Line
2c51c674 151
3f2ce694 152\b \I{Go Ahead, Telnet special command}Go Ahead
2c51c674 153
3f2ce694 154\b \I{No Operation, Telnet special command}No Operation
2c51c674 155
3f2ce694 156\lcont{
157Should have no effect.
158}
2c51c674 159
3f2ce694 160\b \I{Abort Process, Telnet special command}Abort Process
2c51c674 161
3f2ce694 162\b \I{Abort Output, Telnet special command}Abort Output
2c51c674 163
3f2ce694 164\b \I{Interrupt Process, Telnet special command}Interrupt Process
2c51c674 165
76d3d354 166\lcont{
167PuTTY can also be configured to send this when Ctrl-C is typed; see
168\k{config-telnetkey}.
169}
170
3f2ce694 171\b \I{Suspend Process, Telnet special command}Suspend Process
2c51c674 172
76d3d354 173\lcont{
174PuTTY can also be configured to send this when Ctrl-Z is typed; see
175\k{config-telnetkey}.
176}
177
3f2ce694 178\b \I{End Of Record, Telnet special command}End Of Record
2c51c674 179
3f2ce694 180\b \I{End Of File, Telnet special command}End Of File
2c51c674 181
421406a4 182In an SSH connection, the following \I{SSH special commands}special
183commands are available:
2c51c674 184
421406a4 185\b \I{IGNORE message, SSH special command}\I{No-op, in SSH}\ii{IGNORE message}
6f2d0cde 186
187\lcont{
188Should have no effect.
189}
190
155f8b88 191\b \I{Repeat key exchange, SSH special command}Repeat key exchange
192
193\lcont{
421406a4 194Only available in SSH-2. Forces a \i{repeat key exchange} immediately (and
d57f70af 195resets associated timers and counters). For more information about
196repeat key exchanges, see \k{config-ssh-kex-rekey}.
155f8b88 197}
198
3f2ce694 199\b \I{Break, SSH special command}Break
2c51c674 200
3f2ce694 201\lcont{
6f2d0cde 202Only available in SSH-2, and only during a session. Optional
203extension; may not be supported by server. PuTTY requests the server's
204default break length.
3f2ce694 205}
2c51c674 206
6f2d0cde 207\b \I{Signal, SSH special command}Signals (SIGINT, SIGTERM etc)
2c51c674 208
3f2ce694 209\lcont{
6f2d0cde 210Only available in SSH-2, and only during a session. Sends various
211POSIX signals. Not honoured by all servers.
3f2ce694 212}
6b590f79 213
9711106b 214With a serial connection, the only available special command is
215\I{Break, serial special command}\q{Break}.
216
fc5a8711 217\S2{using-newsession} Starting new sessions
218
219PuTTY's system menu provides some shortcut ways to start new
220sessions:
221
6cc170f0 222\b Selecting \i{\q{New Session}} will start a completely new
223instance of PuTTY, and bring up the configuration box as normal.
fc5a8711 224
8a213300 225\b Selecting \i{\q{Duplicate Session}} will start a session in a
226new window with precisely the same options as your current one -
227connecting to the same host using the same protocol, with all the
228same terminal settings and everything.
229
230\b In an inactive window, selecting \i{\q{Restart Session}} will
231do the same as \q{Duplicate Session}, but in the current window.
fc5a8711 232
6cc170f0 233\b The \i{\q{Saved Sessions} submenu} gives you quick access to any
fc5a8711 234sets of stored session details you have previously saved. See
235\k{config-saving} for details of how to create saved sessions.
236
6cc170f0 237\S2{using-changesettings} \I{settings, changing}Changing your
238session settings
fc5a8711 239
6cc170f0 240If you select \i{\q{Change Settings}} from the system menu, PuTTY will
fc5a8711 241display a cut-down version of its initial configuration box. This
242allows you to adjust most properties of your current session. You
243can change the terminal size, the font, the actions of various
244keypresses, the colours, and so on.
245
246Some of the options that are available in the main configuration box
247are not shown in the cut-down Change Settings box. These are usually
248options which don't make sense to change in the middle of a session
249(for example, you can't switch from SSH to Telnet in mid-session).
250
9e201f72 251You can save the current settings to a saved session for future use
252from this dialog box. See \k{config-saving} for more on saved
253sessions.
254
6cc170f0 255\S2{using-copyall} \i{Copy All to Clipboard}
fc5a8711 256
257This system menu option provides a convenient way to copy the whole
f20523db 258contents of the terminal screen (up to the last nonempty line) and
6cc170f0 259scrollback to the \i{clipboard} in one go.
fc5a8711 260
6cc170f0 261\S2{reset-terminal} \I{scrollback, clearing}Clearing and
262\I{terminal, resetting}resetting the terminal
fc5a8711 263
6cc170f0 264The \i{\q{Clear Scrollback}} option on the system menu tells PuTTY
265to discard all the lines of text that have been kept after they
fc5a8711 266scrolled off the top of the screen. This might be useful, for
267example, if you displayed sensitive information and wanted to make
268sure nobody could look over your shoulder and see it. (Note that
269this only prevents a casual user from using the scrollbar to view
270the information; the text is not guaranteed not to still be in
271PuTTY's memory.)
272
6cc170f0 273The \i{\q{Reset Terminal}} option causes a full reset of the
421406a4 274\i{terminal emulation}. A VT-series terminal is a complex piece of
6cc170f0 275software and can easily get into a state where all the text printed
276becomes unreadable. (This can happen, for example, if you
277accidentally output a binary file to your terminal.) If this
278happens, selecting Reset Terminal should sort it out.
fc5a8711 279
6cc170f0 280\S2{using-fullscreen} \ii{Full screen} mode
fc5a8711 281
282If you find the title bar on a maximised window to be ugly or
283distracting, you can select Full Screen mode to maximise PuTTY
284\q{even more}. When you select this, PuTTY will expand to fill the
285whole screen and its borders, title bar and scrollbar will
286disappear. (You can configure the scrollbar not to disappear in
a5a6cb30 287full-screen mode if you want to keep it; see \k{config-scrollback}.)
fc5a8711 288
421406a4 289When you are in full-screen mode, you can still access the \i{system
290menu} if you click the left mouse button in the \e{extreme} top left
fc5a8711 291corner of the screen.
292
6cc170f0 293\H{using-logging} Creating a \i{log file} of your \I{session
294log}session
fc5a8711 295
296For some purposes you may find you want to log everything that
421406a4 297appears on your screen. You can do this using the \q{Logging}
298panel in the configuration box.
fc5a8711 299
300To begin a session log, select \q{Change Settings} from the system
301menu and go to the Logging panel. Enter a log file name, and select
302a logging mode. (You can log all session output including the
421406a4 303terminal \i{control sequence}s, or you can just log the printable text.
fc5a8711 304It depends what you want the log for.) Click \q{Apply} and your log
305will be started. Later on, you can go back to the Logging panel and
306select \q{Logging turned off completely} to stop logging; then PuTTY
307will close the log file and you can safely read it.
308
309See \k{config-logging} for more details and options.
310
6cc170f0 311\H{using-translation} Altering your \i{character set} configuration
fc5a8711 312
6cc170f0 313If you find that special characters (\i{accented characters}, for
f80d4744 314example, or \i{line-drawing characters}) are not being displayed
315correctly in your PuTTY session, it may be that PuTTY is interpreting
316the characters sent by the server according to the wrong \e{character
317set}. There are a lot of different character sets available, so it's
318entirely possible for this to happen.
fc5a8711 319
421406a4 320If you click \q{Change Settings} and look at the \q{Translation}
321panel, you should see a large number of character sets which you can
f80d4744 322select, and other related options. Now all you need is to find out
323which of them you want! (See \k{config-translation} for more
324information.)
fc5a8711 325
6cc170f0 326\H{using-x-forwarding} Using \i{X11 forwarding} in SSH
2f8d6d43 327
328The SSH protocol has the ability to securely forward X Window System
329applications over your encrypted SSH connection, so that you can run
330an application on the SSH server machine and have it put its windows
331up on your local machine without sending any X network traffic in
332the clear.
333
334In order to use this feature, you will need an X display server for
5bbb5c6c 335your Windows machine, such as Cygwin/X, X-Win32, or Exceed. This will probably
2f8d6d43 336install itself as display number 0 on your local machine; if it
6cc170f0 337doesn't, the manual for the \i{X server} should tell you what it
338does do.
2f8d6d43 339
340You should then tick the \q{Enable X11 forwarding} box in the
341Tunnels panel (see \k{config-ssh-x11}) before starting your SSH
421406a4 342session. The \i{\q{X display location}} box is blank by default, which
46ed7b64 343means that PuTTY will try to use a sensible default such as \c{:0},
344which is the usual display location where your X server will be
345installed. If that needs changing, then change it.
2f8d6d43 346
347Now you should be able to log in to the SSH server as normal. To
348check that X forwarding has been successfully negotiated during
349connection startup, you can check the PuTTY Event Log (see
350\k{using-eventlog}). It should say something like this:
351
352\c 2001-12-05 17:22:01 Requesting X11 forwarding
353\c 2001-12-05 17:22:02 X11 forwarding enabled
354
355If the remote system is Unix or Unix-like, you should also be able
6cc170f0 356to see that the \i{\c{DISPLAY} environment variable} has been set to
2f8d6d43 357point at display 10 or above on the SSH server machine itself:
358
359\c fred@unixbox:~$ echo $DISPLAY
360\c unixbox:10.0
361
362If this works, you should then be able to run X applications in the
363remote session and have them display their windows on your PC.
364
421406a4 365Note that if your PC X server requires \I{X11 authentication}authentication
366to connect, then PuTTY cannot currently support it. If this is a problem for
2b5567cf 367you, you should mail the PuTTY authors \#{FIXME} and give details
368(see \k{feedback}).
2f8d6d43 369
ee155ed5 370For more options relating to X11 forwarding, see \k{config-ssh-x11}.
371
6cc170f0 372\H{using-port-forwarding} Using \i{port forwarding} in SSH
2f8d6d43 373
421406a4 374The SSH protocol has the ability to forward arbitrary \i{network
375connection}s over your encrypted SSH connection, to avoid the network
2f8d6d43 376traffic being sent in clear. For example, you could use this to
421406a4 377connect from your home computer to a \i{POP-3} server on a remote
2f8d6d43 378machine without your POP-3 password being visible to network
379sniffers.
380
421406a4 381In order to use port forwarding to \I{local port forwarding}connect
382from your local machine to a port on a remote server, you need to:
2f8d6d43 383
421406a4 384\b Choose a \i{port number} on your local machine where PuTTY should
2f8d6d43 385listen for incoming connections. There are likely to be plenty of
6ee9b735 386unused port numbers above 3000. (You can also use a local loopback
dbe6c525 387address here; see below for more details.)
2f8d6d43 388
389\b Now, before you start your SSH connection, go to the Tunnels
390panel (see \k{config-ssh-portfwd}). Make sure the \q{Local} radio
391button is set. Enter the local port number into the \q{Source port}
392box. Enter the destination host name and port number into the
393\q{Destination} box, separated by a colon (for example,
394\c{popserver.example.com:110} to connect to a POP-3 server).
395
396\b Now click the \q{Add} button. The details of your port forwarding
397should appear in the list box.
398
c80f77d8 399Now start your session and log in. (Port forwarding will not be
400enabled until after you have logged in; otherwise it would be easy
401to perform completely anonymous network attacks, and gain access to
414ffbaa 402anyone's virtual private network.) To check that PuTTY has set up
c80f77d8 403the port forwarding correctly, you can look at the PuTTY Event Log
404(see \k{using-eventlog}). It should say something like this:
2f8d6d43 405
406\c 2001-12-05 17:22:10 Local port 3110 forwarding to
407\c popserver.example.com:110
408
409Now if you connect to the source port number on your local PC, you
410should find that it answers you exactly as if it were the service
411running on the destination machine. So in this example, you could
412then configure an e-mail client to use \c{localhost:3110} as a POP-3
413server instead of \c{popserver.example.com:110}. (Of course, the
414forwarding will stop happening when your PuTTY session closes down.)
415
416You can also forward ports in the other direction: arrange for a
421406a4 417particular port number on the \e{server} machine to be \I{remote
418port forwarding}forwarded back to your PC as a connection to a
419service on your PC or near it.
2f8d6d43 420To do this, just select the \q{Remote} radio button instead of the
421\q{Local} one. The \q{Source port} box will now specify a port
422number on the \e{server} (note that most servers will not allow you
421406a4 423to use \I{privileged port}port numbers under 1024 for this purpose).
fc5a8711 424
48b7c4b2 425An alternative way to forward local connections to remote hosts is
421406a4 426to use \I{dynamic port forwarding}dynamic SOCKS proxying. For
6cc170f0 427this, you will need to select the \q{Dynamic} radio button instead
428of \q{Local}, and then you should not enter anything into the
429\q{Destination} box (it will be ignored). This will cause PuTTY to
430listen on the port you have specified, and provide a SOCKS proxy
431service to any programs which connect to that port. So, in
432particular, you can forward other PuTTY connections through it by
433setting up the Proxy control panel (see \k{config-proxy} for
434details).
48b7c4b2 435
beefa433 436The source port for a forwarded connection usually does not accept
421406a4 437connections from any machine except the \I{localhost}SSH client or
438server machine itself (for local and remote forwardings respectively).
439There are controls in the Tunnels panel to change this:
beefa433 440
441\b The \q{Local ports accept connections from other hosts} option
48b7c4b2 442allows you to set up local-to-remote port forwardings (including
443dynamic port forwardings) in such a way that machines other than
444your client PC can connect to the forwarded port.
beefa433 445
446\b The \q{Remote ports do the same} option does the same thing for
447remote-to-local port forwardings (so that machines other than the
448SSH server machine can connect to the forwarded port.) Note that
2e85c969 449this feature is only available in the SSH-2 protocol, and not all
421406a4 450SSH-2 servers honour it (in \i{OpenSSH}, for example, it's usually
97e12fcd 451disabled by default).
beefa433 452
421406a4 453You can also specify an \i{IP address} to \I{listen address}listen
454on. Typically a Windows machine can be asked to listen on any single
455IP address in the \cw{127.*.*.*} range, and all of these are
456\i{loopback address}es available only to the local machine. So if
457you forward (for example) \c{127.0.0.5:79} to a remote machine's
458\i\cw{finger} port, then you should be able to run commands such as
459\c{finger fred@127.0.0.5}.
6cc170f0 460This can be useful if the program connecting to the forwarded port
461doesn't allow you to change the port number it uses. This feature is
2e85c969 462available for local-to-remote forwarded ports; SSH-1 is unable to
463support it for remote-to-local ports, while SSH-2 can support it in
6cc170f0 464theory but servers will not necessarily cooperate.
465
85c598bf 466(Note that if you're using Windows XP Service Pack 2, you may need
467to obtain a fix from Microsoft in order to use addresses like
468\cw{127.0.0.5} - see \k{faq-alternate-localhost}.)
469
6cc170f0 470\H{using-rawprot} Making \i{raw TCP connections}
471
472A lot of \I{debugging Internet protocols}Internet protocols are
473composed of commands and responses in plain text. For example,
474\i{SMTP} (the protocol used to transfer e-mail), \i{NNTP} (the
475protocol used to transfer Usenet news), and \i{HTTP} (the protocol
476used to serve Web pages) all consist of commands in readable plain
477text.
2f8d6d43 478
479Sometimes it can be useful to connect directly to one of these
480services and speak the protocol \q{by hand}, by typing protocol
481commands and watching the responses. On Unix machines, you can do
482this using the system's \c{telnet} command to connect to the right
483port number. For example, \c{telnet mailserver.example.com 25} might
484enable you to talk directly to the SMTP service running on a mail
485server.
486
487Although the Unix \c{telnet} program provides this functionality,
488the protocol being used is not really Telnet. Really there is no
489actual protocol at all; the bytes sent down the connection are
490exactly the ones you type, and the bytes shown on the screen are
491exactly the ones sent by the server. Unix \c{telnet} will attempt to
492detect or guess whether the service it is talking to is a real
493Telnet service or not; PuTTY prefers to be told for certain.
494
495In order to make a debugging connection to a service of this type,
6cc170f0 496you simply select the fourth protocol name, \I{\q{Raw}
497protocol}\q{Raw}, from the \q{Protocol} buttons in the \q{Session}
498configuration panel. (See \k{config-hostname}.) You can then enter a
499host name and a port number, and make the connection.
a10c20dd 500
7374c779 501\H{using-serial} Connecting to a local serial line
502
503PuTTY can connect directly to a local serial line as an alternative
504to making a network connection. In this mode, text typed into the
505PuTTY window will be sent straight out of your computer's serial
506port, and data received through that port will be displayed in the
507PuTTY window. You might use this mode, for example, if your serial
508port is connected to another computer which has a serial connection.
509
510To make a connection of this type, simply select \q{Serial} from the
511\q{Connection type} radio buttons on the \q{Session} configuration
512panel (see \k{config-hostname}). The \q{Host Name} and \q{Port}
513boxes will transform into \q{Serial line} and \q{Speed}, allowing
514you to specify which serial line to use (if your computer has more
515than one) and what speed (baud rate) to use when transferring data.
516For further configuration options (data bits, stop bits, parity,
517flow control), you can use the \q{Serial} configuration panel (see
518\k{config-serial}).
519
520After you start up PuTTY in serial mode, you might find that you
521have to make the first move, by sending some data out of the serial
522line in order to notify the device at the other end that someone is
523there for it to talk to. This probably depends on the device. If you
524start up a PuTTY serial session and nothing appears in the window,
525try pressing Return a few times and see if that helps.
526
527A serial line provides no well defined means for one end of the
528connection to notify the other that the connection is finished.
529Therefore, PuTTY in serial mode will remain connected until you
530close the window using the close button.
531
e117a742 532\H{using-cmdline} The PuTTY command line
a10c20dd 533
534PuTTY can be made to do various things without user intervention by
6cc170f0 535supplying \i{command-line arguments} (e.g., from a \i{command prompt
536window}, or a \i{Windows shortcut}).
a10c20dd 537
e117a742 538\S{using-cmdline-session} Starting a session from the command line
a10c20dd 539
6cc170f0 540\I\c{-ssh}\I\c{-telnet}\I\c{-rlogin}\I\c{-raw}These options allow
541you to bypass the configuration window and launch straight into a
542session.
a10c20dd 543
e117a742 544To start a connection to a server called \c{host}:
a10c20dd 545
e2a197cf 546\c putty.exe [-ssh | -telnet | -rlogin | -raw] [user@]host
a10c20dd 547
421406a4 548If this syntax is used, settings are taken from the \i{Default Settings}
e2a197cf 549(see \k{config-saving}); \c{user} overrides these settings if
550supplied. Also, you can specify a protocol, which will override the
551default protocol (see \k{using-cmdline-protocol}).
a10c20dd 552
553For telnet sessions, the following alternative syntax is supported
6cc170f0 554(this makes PuTTY suitable for use as a URL handler for \i{telnet
555URLs} in web browsers):
a10c20dd 556
557\c putty.exe telnet://host[:port]/
558
559In order to start an existing saved session called \c{sessionname},
e117a742 560use the \c{-load} option (described in \k{using-cmdline-load}).
a10c20dd 561
e117a742 562\c putty.exe -load "session name"
a10c20dd 563
6cc170f0 564\S{using-cleanup} \i\c{-cleanup}
a10c20dd 565
28339579 566\cfg{winhelp-topic}{options.cleanup}
567
a10c20dd 568If invoked with the \c{-cleanup} option, rather than running as
d8bd04b9 569normal, PuTTY will remove its \I{removing registry entries}registry
9310cb7d 570entries and \i{random seed file} from the local machine (after
d8bd04b9 571confirming with the user).
e117a742 572
9310cb7d 573Note that on \i{multi-user systems}, \c{-cleanup} only removes
574registry entries and files associated with the currently logged-in
575user.
576
e117a742 577\S{using-general-opts} Standard command-line options
578
579PuTTY and its associated tools support a range of command-line
580options, most of which are consistent across all the tools. This
581section lists the available options in all tools. Options which are
582specific to a particular tool are covered in the chapter about that
583tool.
584
6cc170f0 585\S2{using-cmdline-load} \i\c{-load}: load a saved session
e117a742 586
6cc170f0 587\I{saved sessions, loading from command line}The \c{-load} option
588causes PuTTY to load configuration details out of a saved session.
589If these details include a host name, then this option is all you
33f07e96 590need to make PuTTY start a session.
e117a742 591
592You need double quotes around the session name if it contains spaces.
593
421406a4 594If you want to create a \i{Windows shortcut} to start a PuTTY saved
e117a742 595session, this is the option you should use: your shortcut should
596call something like
597
598\c d:\path\to\putty.exe -load "my session"
599
600(Note that PuTTY itself supports an alternative form of this option,
d8bd04b9 601for backwards compatibility. If you execute \i\c{putty @sessionname}
e117a742 602it will have the same effect as \c{putty -load "sessionname"}. With
603the \c{@} form, no double quotes are required, and the \c{@} sign
604must be the very first thing on the command line. This form of the
605option is deprecated.)
606
607\S2{using-cmdline-protocol} Selecting a protocol: \c{-ssh},
608\c{-telnet}, \c{-rlogin}, \c{-raw}
609
610To choose which protocol you want to connect with, you can use one
611of these options:
612
6cc170f0 613\b \i\c{-ssh} selects the SSH protocol.
e117a742 614
6cc170f0 615\b \i\c{-telnet} selects the Telnet protocol.
e117a742 616
6cc170f0 617\b \i\c{-rlogin} selects the Rlogin protocol.
e117a742 618
6cc170f0 619\b \i\c{-raw} selects the raw protocol.
e117a742 620
621These options are not available in the file transfer tools PSCP and
622PSFTP (which only work with the SSH protocol).
623
6cc170f0 624These options are equivalent to the \i{protocol selection} buttons
625in the Session panel of the PuTTY configuration box (see
e117a742 626\k{config-hostname}).
627
6cc170f0 628\S2{using-cmdline-v} \i\c{-v}: increase verbosity
e117a742 629
6cc170f0 630\I{verbose mode}Most of the PuTTY tools can be made to tell you more
631about what they are doing by supplying the \c{-v} option. If you are
632having trouble when making a connection, or you're simply curious,
633you can turn this switch on and hope to find out more about what is
634happening.
e117a742 635
6cc170f0 636\S2{using-cmdline-l} \i\c{-l}: specify a \i{login name}
e117a742 637
638You can specify the user name to log in as on the remote server
639using the \c{-l} option. For example, \c{plink login.example.com -l
640fred}.
641
642These options are equivalent to the username selection box in the
643Connection panel of the PuTTY configuration box (see
644\k{config-username}).
645
b7a5df66 646\S2{using-cmdline-portfwd} \I{-L-upper}\c{-L}, \I{-R-upper}\c{-R}
647and \I{-D-upper}\c{-D}: set up \i{port forwardings}
e117a742 648
649As well as setting up port forwardings in the PuTTY configuration
650(see \k{config-ssh-portfwd}), you can also set up forwardings on the
651command line. The command-line options work just like the ones in
652Unix \c{ssh} programs.
653
421406a4 654To \I{local port forwarding}forward a local port (say 5110) to a
655remote destination (say \cw{popserver.example.com} port 110), you
656can write something like one of these:
e117a742 657
658\c putty -L 5110:popserver.example.com:110 -load mysession
659\c plink mysession -L 5110:popserver.example.com:110
660
421406a4 661To forward a \I{remote port forwarding}remote port to a local
662destination, just use the \c{-R} option instead of \c{-L}:
e117a742 663
664\c putty -R 5023:mytelnetserver.myhouse.org:23 -load mysession
665\c plink mysession -R 5023:mytelnetserver.myhouse.org:23
666
421406a4 667To \I{listen address}specify an IP address for the listening end of the
668tunnel, prepend it to the argument:
dbe6c525 669
670\c plink -L 127.0.0.5:23:localhost:23 myhost
671
421406a4 672To set up \I{dynamic port forwarding}SOCKS-based dynamic port
673forwarding on a local port, use the \c{-D} option. For this one you
674only have to pass the port number:
48b7c4b2 675
676\c putty -D 4096 -load mysession
677
e117a742 678For general information on port forwarding, see
679\k{using-port-forwarding}.
680
681These options are not available in the file transfer tools PSCP and
682PSFTP.
683
421406a4 684\S2{using-cmdline-m} \i\c{-m}: \I{reading commands from a file}read
685a remote command or script from a file
e117a742 686
421406a4 687The \i\c{-m} option performs a similar function to the \q{\ii{Remote
688command}} box in the SSH panel of the PuTTY configuration box (see
e117a742 689\k{config-command}). However, the \c{-m} option expects to be given
bcfb73ea 690a local file name, and it will read a command from that file.
691
692With some servers (particularly Unix systems), you can even put
693multiple lines in this file and execute more than one command in
694sequence, or a whole shell script; but this is arguably an abuse, and
695cannot be expected to work on all servers. In particular, it is known
696\e{not} to work with certain \q{embedded} servers, such as \i{Cisco}
697routers.
e117a742 698
699This option is not available in the file transfer tools PSCP and
700PSFTP.
701
b7a5df66 702\S2{using-cmdline-p} \I{-P-upper}\c{-P}: specify a \i{port number}
e117a742 703
e2a197cf 704The \c{-P} option is used to specify the port number to connect to. If
705you have a Telnet server running on port 9696 of a machine instead of
706port 23, for example:
e117a742 707
e2a197cf 708\c putty -telnet -P 9696 host.name
709\c plink -telnet -P 9696 host.name
e117a742 710
711(Note that this option is more useful in Plink than in PuTTY,
712because in PuTTY you can write \c{putty -telnet host.name 9696} in
713any case.)
714
6cc170f0 715This option is equivalent to the port number control in the Session
716panel of the PuTTY configuration box (see \k{config-hostname}).
e117a742 717
6cc170f0 718\S2{using-cmdline-pw} \i\c{-pw}: specify a \i{password}
e117a742 719
720A simple way to automate a remote login is to supply your password
721on the command line. This is \e{not recommended} for reasons of
722security. If you possibly can, we recommend you set up public-key
723authentication instead. See \k{pubkey} for details.
724
725Note that the \c{-pw} option only works when you are using the SSH
726protocol. Due to fundamental limitations of Telnet and Rlogin, these
727protocols do not support automated password authentication.
728
973612f5 729\S2{using-cmdline-agentauth} \i\c{-agent} and \i\c{-noagent}:
730control use of Pageant for authentication
731
732The \c{-agent} option turns on SSH authentication using Pageant, and
733\c{-noagent} turns it off. These options are only meaningful if you
734are using SSH.
735
e5708bc7 736See \k{pageant} for general information on \i{Pageant}.
973612f5 737
738These options are equivalent to the agent authentication checkbox in
739the Auth panel of the PuTTY configuration box (see
740\k{config-ssh-tryagent}).
741
b7a5df66 742\S2{using-cmdline-agent} \I{-A-upper}\c{-A} and \i\c{-a}: control \i{agent
6cc170f0 743forwarding}
e117a742 744
745The \c{-A} option turns on SSH agent forwarding, and \c{-a} turns it
746off. These options are only meaningful if you are using SSH.
747
6cc170f0 748See \k{pageant} for general information on \i{Pageant}, and
e117a742 749\k{pageant-forward} for information on agent forwarding. Note that
750there is a security risk involved with enabling this option; see
751\k{pageant-security} for details.
752
753These options are equivalent to the agent forwarding checkbox in the
754Auth panel of the PuTTY configuration box (see \k{config-ssh-agentfwd}).
755
756These options are not available in the file transfer tools PSCP and
757PSFTP.
758
b7a5df66 759\S2{using-cmdline-x11} \I{-X-upper}\c{-X} and \i\c{-x}: control \i{X11
6cc170f0 760forwarding}
e117a742 761
762The \c{-X} option turns on X11 forwarding in SSH, and \c{-x} turns
763it off. These options are only meaningful if you are using SSH.
764
765For information on X11 forwarding, see \k{using-x-forwarding}.
766
767These options are equivalent to the X11 forwarding checkbox in the
768Tunnels panel of the PuTTY configuration box (see
769\k{config-ssh-x11}).
770
771These options are not available in the file transfer tools PSCP and
772PSFTP.
773
b7a5df66 774\S2{using-cmdline-pty} \i\c{-t} and \I{-T-upper}\c{-T}: control
6cc170f0 775\i{pseudo-terminal allocation}
e117a742 776
777The \c{-t} option ensures PuTTY attempts to allocate a
778pseudo-terminal at the server, and \c{-T} stops it from allocating
779one. These options are only meaningful if you are using SSH.
780
781These options are equivalent to the \q{Don't allocate a
782pseudo-terminal} checkbox in the SSH panel of the PuTTY
783configuration box (see \k{config-ssh-pty}).
784
785These options are not available in the file transfer tools PSCP and
786PSFTP.
787
0ed48730 788\S2{using-cmdline-noshell} \I{-N-upper}\c{-N}: suppress starting a
d8bd04b9 789\I{suppressing remote shell}shell or command
0ed48730 790
791The \c{-N} option prevents PuTTY from attempting to start a shell or
792command on the remote server. You might want to use this option if
793you are only using the SSH connection for port forwarding, and your
794user account on the server does not have the ability to run a shell.
795
796This feature is only available in SSH protocol version 2 (since the
797version 1 protocol assumes you will always want to run a shell).
798
799This option is equivalent to the \q{Don't start a shell or command
800at all} checkbox in the SSH panel of the PuTTY configuration box
801(see \k{config-ssh-noshell}).
802
8a213300 803This option is not available in the file transfer tools PSCP and
0ed48730 804PSFTP.
805
feb02b4e 806\S2{using-cmdline-ncmode} \I{-nc}\c{-nc}: make a \i{remote network
807connection} in place of a remote shell or command
808
809The \c{-nc} option prevents Plink (or PuTTY) from attempting to
810start a shell or command on the remote server. Instead, it will
811instruct the remote server to open a network connection to a host
812name and port number specified by you, and treat that network
813connection as if it were the main session.
814
815You specify a host and port as an argument to the \c{-nc} option,
816with a colon separating the host name from the port number, like
817this:
818
819\c plink host1.example.com -nc host2.example.com:1234
820
821You might want to use this feature if you needed to make an SSH
822connection to a target host which you can only reach by going
823through a proxy host, and rather than using port forwarding you
824prefer to use the local proxy feature (see \k{config-proxy-type} for
825more about local proxies). In this situation you might select
826\q{Local} proxy type, set your local proxy command to be \cq{plink
827%proxyhost -nc %host:%port}, enter the target host name on the
828Session panel, and enter the directly reachable proxy host name on
829the Proxy panel.
830
831This feature is only available in SSH protocol version 2 (since the
832version 1 protocol assumes you will always want to run a shell). It
833is not available in the file transfer tools PSCP and PSFTP. It is
834available in PuTTY itself, although it is unlikely to be very useful
835in any tool other than Plink. Also, \c{-nc} uses the same server
836functionality as port forwarding, so it will not work if your server
837administrator has disabled port forwarding.
838
839(The option is named \c{-nc} after the Unix program
840\W{http://www.vulnwatch.org/netcat/}\c{nc}, short for \q{netcat}.
841The command \cq{plink host1 -nc host2:port} is very similar in
842functionality to \cq{plink host1 nc host2 port}, which invokes
843\c{nc} on the server and tells it to connect to the specified
844destination. However, Plink's built-in \c{-nc} option does not
845depend on the \c{nc} program being installed on the server.)
846
b7a5df66 847\S2{using-cmdline-compress} \I{-C-upper}\c{-C}: enable \i{compression}
e117a742 848
849The \c{-C} option enables compression of the data sent across the
850network. This option is only meaningful if you are using SSH.
851
852This option is equivalent to the \q{Enable compression} checkbox in
853the SSH panel of the PuTTY configuration box (see
854\k{config-ssh-comp}).
855
6cc170f0 856\S2{using-cmdline-sshprot} \i\c{-1} and \i\c{-2}: specify an \i{SSH
857protocol version}
e117a742 858
2e85c969 859The \c{-1} and \c{-2} options force PuTTY to use version \I{SSH-1}1
860or version \I{SSH-2}2 of the SSH protocol. These options are only
6cc170f0 861meaningful if you are using SSH.
e117a742 862
863These options are equivalent to selecting your preferred SSH
864protocol version as \q{1 only} or \q{2 only} in the SSH panel of the
865PuTTY configuration box (see \k{config-ssh-prot}).
866
05581745 867\S2{using-cmdline-ipversion} \i\c{-4} and \i\c{-6}: specify an
868\i{Internet protocol version}
869
870The \c{-4} and \c{-6} options force PuTTY to use the older Internet
871protocol \i{IPv4} or the newer \i{IPv6}.
872
873These options are equivalent to selecting your preferred Internet
874protocol version as \q{IPv4} or \q{IPv6} in the Connection panel of
875the PuTTY configuration box (see \k{config-address-family}).
876
6cc170f0 877\S2{using-cmdline-identity} \i\c{-i}: specify an SSH \i{private key}
e117a742 878
879The \c{-i} option allows you to specify the name of a private key
421406a4 880file in \c{*.\i{PPK}} format which PuTTY will use to authenticate with the
8cee3b72 881server. This option is only meaningful if you are using SSH.
e117a742 882
6cc170f0 883For general information on \i{public-key authentication}, see
884\k{pubkey}.
e117a742 885
886This option is equivalent to the \q{Private key file for
887authentication} box in the Auth panel of the PuTTY configuration box
888(see \k{config-ssh-privkey}).
2285d016 889
421406a4 890\S2{using-cmdline-pgpfp} \i\c{-pgpfp}: display \i{PGP key fingerprint}s
2285d016 891
892This option causes the PuTTY tools not to run as normal, but instead
893to display the fingerprints of the PuTTY PGP Master Keys, in order to
421406a4 894aid with \i{verifying new versions}. See \k{pgpkeys} for more information.