Add a new chapter full of intermediate-useful-things, somewhere

[u/mdw/putty] / doc / config.but

\versionid $Id: config.but,v 1.14 2001/11/25 18:59:12 simon Exp $

\C{config} Configuring PuTTY

This chapter describes all the configuration options in PuTTY.

PuTTY is configured using the control panel that comes up before you
start a session. Some options can also be changed in the middle of a
session, by selecting \q{Change Settings} from the window menu.

\H{config-session} The Session panel

The Session configuration panel contains the basic options you need
to specify in order to open a session at all, and also allows you to
save your settings to be reloaded later.

\S{config-hostname} The host name section

The top box on the Session panel, labelled \q{Specify your
connection by host name}, contains the details that need to be
filled in before PuTTY can open a session at all.

\b The \q{Host Name} box is where you type the name, or the IP
address, of the server you want to connect to.

\b The \q{Protocol} radio buttons let you choose what type of
connection you want to make: a raw connection, a Telnet connection, an
rlogin connection or an SSH connection. (See \k{which-one} for a
summary of the differences between SSH, Telnet and rlogin.)

\b The \q{Port} box lets you specify which port number on the server
to connect to. If you select Telnet, Rlogin, or SSH, this box will be
filled in automatically to the usual value, and you will only need to
change it if you have an unusual server. If you select Raw mode, you
will almost certainly need to fill in the \q{Port} box.

\S{config-saving} Loading and storing saved sessions

The next part of the Session configuration panel allows you to save
your preferred PuTTY options so they will appear automatically the
next time you start PuTTY. It also allows you to create \e{saved
sessions}, which contain a full set of configuration options plus a
host name and protocol. A saved session contains all the information
PuTTY needs to start exactly the session you want.

\b To save your default settings: first set up the settings the way
you want them saved. Then come back to the Session panel. Select the
\q{Default Settings} entry in the saved sessions list, with a single
click. Then press the \q{Save} button.

Note that PuTTY does not allow you to save a host name into the
Default Settings entry. This ensures that when PuTTY is started up,
the host name box is always empty, so a user can always just type in
a host name and connect.

If there is a specific host you want to store the details of how to
connect to, you should create a saved session, which will be
separate from the Default Settings.

\b To save a session: first go through the rest of the configuration
box setting up all the options you want. Then come back to the
Session panel. Enter a name for the saved session in the \q{Saved
Sessions} input box. (The server name is often a good choice for a
saved session name.) Then press the \q{Save} button. Your saved
session name should now appear in the list box.

\b To reload a saved session: single-click to select the session
name in the list box, and then press the \q{Load} button. Your saved
settings should all appear in the configuration panel.

\b To modify a saved session: first load it as described above. Then
make the changes you want. Come back to the Session panel,
single-click to select the session name in the list box, and press
the \q{Save} button. The new settings will be saved over the top of
the old ones.

\b To start a saved session immediately: double-click on the session
name in the list box.

\b To delete a saved session: single-click to select the session
name in the list box, and then press the \q{Delete} button.

Each saved session is independent of the Default Settings
configuration. If you change your preferences and update Default
Settings, you must also update every saved session separately.

\S{config-closeonexit} \q{Close Window on Exit}

Finally in the Session panel, there is an option labelled \q{Close
Window on Exit}. This controls whether the PuTTY session window
disappears as soon as the session inside it terminates. If you are
likely to want to copy and paste text out of the session after it
has terminated, you should arrange this option to be off.

\q{Close Window On Exit} has three settings. \q{Always} means always
close the window on exit; \q{Never} means never close on exit
(always leave the window open). The third setting, and the default
one, is \q{Only on clean exit}. In this mode, a session which
terminates normally will cause its window to close, but one which is
aborted unexpectedly by network trouble or a confusing message from
the server will leave the window up.

\H{config-logging} The Logging panel

The Logging configuration panel allows you to save log files of your
PuTTY sessions, for debugging, analysis or future reference.

The main option is a radio-button set that specifies whether PuTTY
will log anything at all. The options are

\b \q{Logging turned off completely}. This is the default option; in
this mode PuTTY will not create a log file at all.

\b \q{Log printable output only}. In this mode, a log file will be
created and written to, but only printable text will be saved into
it. The various terminal control codes that are typically sent down
an interactive session alongside the printable text will be omitted.
This might be a useful mode if you want to read a log file in a text
editor and hope to be able to make sense of it.

\b \q{Log all session output}. In this mode, \e{everything} sent by
the server into your terminal session is logged. If you view the log
file in a text editor, therefore, you may well find it full of
strange control characters. This is a particularly useful mode if
you are experiencing problems with PuTTY's terminal handling: you
can record everything that went to the terminal, so that someone
else can replay the session later in slow motion and watch to see
what went wrong.

\S{config-logfilename} \q{Log file name}

In this edit box you enter the name of the file you want to log the
session to. The \q{Browse} button will let you look around your file
system to find the right place to put the file; or if you already
know exactly where you want it to go, you can just type a pathname
into the edit box.

There are a few special features in this box. If you use the \c{&}
character in the file name box, PuTTY will insert details of the
current session in the name of the file it actually opens. The
precise replacements it will do are:

\b \c{&Y} will be replaced by the current year, as four digits.

\b \c{&M} will be replaced by the current month, as two digits.

\b \c{&D} will be replaced by the current day of the month, as two
digits.

\b \c{&T} will be replaced by the current time, as six digits
(HHMMSS) with no punctuation.

\b \c{&H} will be replaced by the host name you are connecting to.

For example, if you enter the host name
\c{c:\\puttylogs\\log-&h-&y&m&d-&t.dat}, you will end up with files looking
like

\c log-server1.example.com-20010528-110859.dat
\c log-unixbox.somewhere.org-20010611-221001.dat

\S{config-logfileexists} \q{What to do if the log file already exists}

This control allows you to specify what PuTTY should do if it tries
to start writing to a log file and it finds the file already exists.
You might want to automatically destroy the existing log file and
start a new one with the same name. Alternatively, you might want to
open the existing log file and add data to the \e{end} of it.
Finally (the default option), you might not want to have any
automatic behaviour, but to ask the user every time the problem
comes up.

\H{config-terminal} The Terminal panel

The Terminal configuration panel allows you to control the behaviour
of PuTTY's terminal emulation.

\S{config-autowrap} \q{Auto wrap mode initially on}

Auto wrap mode controls what happens when text printed in a PuTTY
window reaches the right-hand edge of the window.

With auto wrap mode on, if a long line of text reaches the
right-hand edge, it will wrap over on to the next line so you can
still see all the text. With auto wrap mode off, the cursor will
stay at the right-hand edge of the screen, and all the characters in
the line will be printed on top of each other.

If you are running a full-screen application and you occasionally
find the screen scrolling up when it looks as if it shouldn't, you
could try turning this option off.

Auto wrap mode can be turned on and off by control sequences sent by
the server. This configuration option only controls the \e{default}
state. If you modify this option in mid-session using \q{Change
Settings}, you will need to reset the terminal \#{ FIXME } before
the change takes effect.

\S{config-decom} \q{DEC Origin Mode initially on}

DEC Origin Mode is a minor option which controls how PuTTY
interprets cursor-position control sequences sent by the server.

The server can send a control sequence that restricts the scrolling
region of the display. For example, in an editor, the server might
reserve a line at the top of the screen and a line at the bottom,
and might send a control sequence that causes scrolling operations
to affect only the remaining lines.

With DEC Origin Mode on, cursor coordinates are counted from the top
of the scrolling region. With it turned off, cursor coordinates are
counted from the top of the whole screen regardless of the scrolling
region.

It is unlikely you would need to change this option, but if you find
a full-screen application is displaying pieces of text in what looks
like the wrong part of the screen, you could try turning DEC Origin
Mode on to see whether that helps.

DEC Origin Mode can be turned on and off by control sequences sent by
the server. This configuration option only controls the \e{default}
state. If you modify this option in mid-session using \q{Change
Settings}, you will need to reset the terminal \#{ FIXME } before
the change takes effect.

\S{config-crlf} \q{Implicit CR in every LF}

Most servers send two control characters, CR and LF, to start a new
line of the screen. The CR character makes the cursor return to the
left-hand side of the screen. The LF character makes the cursor move
one line down (and might make the screen scroll).

Some servers only send LF, and expect the terminal to move the
cursor over to the left automatically. If you come across a server
that does this, you will see a stepped effect on the screen, like
this:

\c First line of text
\c                   Second line
\c                              Third line

If this happens to you, try enabling the \q{Implicit CR in every LF}
option, and things might go back to normal:

\c First line of text
\c Second line
\c Third line

\S{config-erase} \q{Use background colour to erase screen}

Not all terminals agree on what colour to turn the screen when the
server sends a \q{clear screen} sequence. Some terminals believe the
screen should always be cleared to the \e{default} background
colour. Others believe the screen should be cleared to whatever the
server has selected as a background colour.

There exist applications that expect both kinds of behaviour.
Therefore, PuTTY can be configured to do either.

With this option disabled, screen clearing is always done in the
default background colour. With this option enabled, it is done in
the \e{current} background colour.

\S{config-blink} \q{Enable blinking text}

The server can ask PuTTY to display text that blinks on and off.
This is very distracting, so PuTTY allows you to turn blinking text
off completely.

\S{config-localecho} \q{Local echo}

With local echo disabled, characters you type into the PuTTY window
are not echoed in the window \e{by PuTTY}. They are simply sent to
the server. (The \e{server} might choose to echo them back to you;
this can't be controlled from the PuTTY control panel.)

Some types of session need local echo, and many do not. In its
default mode, PuTTY will automatically attempt to deduce whether or
not local echo is appropriate for the session you are working in. If
you find it has made the wrong decision, you can use this
configuration option to override its choice: you can force local
echo to be turned on, or force it to be turned off, instead of
relying on the automatic detection.

\S{config-localedit} \q{Local line editing}

Normally, every character you type into the PuTTY window is sent
immediately to the server the moment you type it.

If you enable local line editing, this changes. PuTTY will let you
edit a whole line at a time locally, and the line will only be sent
to the server when you press Return. If you make a mistake, you can
use the Backspace key to correct it before you press Return, and the
server will never see the mistake.

Since it is hard to edit a line locally without being able to see
it, local line editing is mostly used in conjunction with local echo
(\k{config-localecho}). This makes it ideal for use in raw mode
\#{FIXME} or when connecting to MUDs or talkers. (Although some more
advanced MUDs do occasionally turn local line editing on and turn
local echo off, in order to accept a password from the user.)

Some types of session need local line editing, and many do not. In
its default mode, PuTTY will automatically attempt to deduce whether
or not local line editing is appropriate for the session you are
working in. If you find it has made the wrong decision, you can use
this configuration option to override its choice: you can force
local line editing to be turned on, or force it to be turned off,
instead of relying on the automatic detection.

\H{config-bell} The Bell panel

The Bell panel controls the terminal bell feature: the server's
ability to cause PuTTY to beep at you.

In the default configuration, when the server sends the character
with ASCII code 7 (Control-G), PuTTY will play the Windows Default
Beep sound. This is not always what you want the terminal bell
feature to do; the Bell panel allows you to configure alternative
actions.

\S{config-bellstyle} \q{Set the style of bell}

This control allows you to select various different actions to occur
on a terminal bell:

\b Selecting \q{None} disables the bell completely. In this mode,
the server can send as many Control-G characters as it likes and
nothing at all will happen.

\b \q{Play Windows Default Sound} is the default setting. It causes
the Windows \q{Default Beep} sound to be played. To change what this
sound is, or to test it if nothing seems to be happening, use the
Sound configurer in the Windows Control Panel.

\b \q{Play a custom sound file} allows you to specify a particular
sound file to be used by PuTTY alone, or even by a particular
individual PuTTY session. This allows you to distinguish your PuTTY
beeps from any other beeps on the system. If you select this option,
you will also need to enter the name of your sound file in the edit
control \q{Custom sound file to play as a bell}.

\b \q{Visual bell} is a silent alternative to a beeping computer. In
this mode, when the server sends a Control-G, the whole PuTTY window
will flash white for a fraction of a second.

\S{config-belltaskbar} \q{Taskbar/caption indication on bell}

This feature controls what happens to the PuTTY window's entry in
the Windows Taskbar if a bell occurs while the window does not have
the input focus.

In the default state (\q{Disabled}) nothing unusual happens.

If you select \q{Steady}, then when a bell occurs and the window is
not in focus, the window's Taskbar entry and its title bar will
change colour to let you know that PuTTY session is asking for your
attention. The change of colour will persist until you select the
window, so you can leave several PuTTY windows minimised in your
terminal, go away from your keyboard, and be sure not to have missed
any important beeps when you get back.

\q{Flashing} is even more eye-catching: the Taskbar entry will
continuously flash on and off until you select the window.

\S{config-bellovl} \q{Control the bell overload behaviour}

A common user error in a terminal session is to accidentally run the
Unix command \c{cat} (or equivalent) on an inappropriate file type,
such as an executable, image file, or ZIP file. This produces a huge
stream of non-text characters sent to the terminal, which typically
includes a lot of bell characters. As a result of this the terminal
often doesn't stop beeping for ten minutes, and everybody else in
the office gets annoyed.

To try to avoid this behaviour, or any other cause of excessive
beeping, PuTTY includes a bell overload management feature. In the
default configuration, receiving more than five bell characters in a
two-second period will cause the overload feature to activate. Once
the overload feature is active, further bells will have no effect at
all, so the rest of your binary file will be sent to the screen in
silence. After a period of five seconds during which no further
bells are received, the overload feature will turn itself off again
and bells will be re-enabled.

If you want this feature completely disabled, you can turn it off
using the checkbox \q{Bell is temporarily disabled when over-used}.

Alternatively, if you like the bell overload feature but don't agree
with the settings, you can configure the details: how many bells
constitute an overload, how short a time period they have to arrive
in to do so, and how much silent time is required before the
overload feature will deactivate itself.

\H{config-keyboard} The Keyboard panel

The Keyboard configuration panel allows you to control the behaviour
of the keyboard in PuTTY.

\S{config-backspace} Changing the action of the Backspace key

Some terminals believe that the Backspace key should send the same
thing to the server as Control-H (ASCII code 8). Other terminals
believe that the Backspace key should send ASCII code 127 (usually
known as Control-?) so that it can be distinguished from Control-H.
This option allows you to choose which code PuTTY generates when you
press Backspace.

If you are connecting to a Unix system, you will probably find that
the Unix \c{stty} command lets you configure which the server
expects to see, so you might not need to change which one PuTTY
generates. On other systems, the server's expectation might be fixed
and you might have no choice but to configure PuTTY.

If you do have the choice, we recommend configuring PuTTY to
generate Control-? and configuring the server to expect it, because
that allows applications such as \c{emacs} to use Control-H for
help.

\S{config-homeend} Changing the action of the Home and End keys

The Unix terminal emulator \c{rxvt} disagrees with the rest of the
world about what character sequences should be sent to the server by
the Home and End keys.

\c{xterm}, and other terminals, send \c{ESC [1~} for the Home key,
and \c{ESC [4~} for the End key. \c{rxvt} sends \c{ESC [H} for the
Home key and \c{ESC [Ow} for the End key.

If you find an application on which the Home and End keys aren't
working, you could try switching this option to see if it helps.

\S{config-funkeys} Changing the action of the function keys and keypad

This option affects the function keys (F1 to F12) and the top row of
the numeric keypad.

\b In the default mode, labelled \c{ESC [n~}, the function keys
generate sequences like \c{ESC [11~}, \c{ESC [12~} and so on. This
matches the general behaviour of Digital's terminals.

\b In Linux mode, F6 to F12 behave just like the default mode, but
F1 to F5 generate \c{ESC [[A} through to \c{ESC [[E}. This mimics the
Linux virtual console.

\b In Xterm R6 mode, F5 to F12 behave like the default mode, but F1
to F4 generate \c{ESC OP} through to \c{ESC OS}, which are the
sequences produced by the top row of the \e{keypad} on Digital's
terminals.

\b In VT400 mode, all the function keys behave like the default
mode, but the actual top row of the numeric keypad generates \c{ESC
OP} through to \c{ESC OS}.

\b In VT100+ mode, the function keys generate \c{ESC OP} through to
\c{ESC O[}

\b In SCO mode, the function keys F1 to F12 generate \c{ESC [M}
through to \c{ESC [X}.  Together with shift, they generate \c{ESC [Y}
through to \c{ESC [j}.  With control they generate \c{ESC [k} through
to \c{ESC [v}, and with shift and control together they generate
\c{ESC [w} through to \c{ESC [\{}.

If you don't know what any of this means, you probably don't need to
fiddle with it.

\S{config-appcursor} Controlling Application Cursor Keys mode

Application Cursor Keys mode is a way for the server to change the
control sequences sent by the arrow keys. In normal mode, the arrow
keys send \c{ESC [A} through to \c{ESC [D}. In application mode,
they send \c{ESC OA} through to \c{ESC OD}.

Application Cursor Keys mode can be turned on and off by the server,
depending on the application. PuTTY allows you to configure the
initial state, and also allows you to disable application mode
completely.

\S{config-appkeypad} Controlling Application Keypad mode

Application Keypad mode is a way for the server to change the
behaviour of the numeric keypad.

In normal mode, the keypad behaves like a normal Windows keypad:
with NumLock on, the number keys generate numbers, and with NumLock
off they act like the arrow keys and Home, End etc.

In application mode, all the keypad keys send special control
sequences, \e{including} Num Lock. Num Lock stops behaving like Num
Lock and becomes another function key.

Depending on which version of Windows you run, you may find the Num
Lock light still flashes on and off every time you press Num Lock,
even when application mode is active and Num Lock is acting like a
function key. This is unavoidable.

Application keypad mode can be turned on and off by the server,
depending on the application. PuTTY allows you to configure the
initial state, and also allows you to disable application mode
completely.

\S{config-nethack} Using NetHack keypad mode

PuTTY has a special mode for playing NetHack. You can enable it by
selecting \q{NetHack} in the \q{Initial state of numeric keypad}
control.

In this mode, the numeric keypad keys 1-9 generate the NetHack
movement commands (\cw{hjklyubn}). The 5 key generates the \c{.}
command (do nothing).

Better still, pressing Shift with the keypad keys generates the
capital forms of the commands (\cw{HJKLYUBN}), which tells NetHack
to keep moving you in the same direction until you encounter
something interesting.

For some reason, this feature only works properly when Num Lock is
on. We don't know why.

\S{config-compose} Enabling a DEC-like Compose key

DEC terminals have a Compose key, which provides an easy-to-remember
way of typing accented characters. You press Compose and then type
two more characters. The two characters are \q{combined} to produce
an accented character. The choices of character are designed to be
easy to remember; for example, composing \q{e} and \q{`} produces
the \q{\u00e8{e-grave}} character.

If you enable the \q{Application and AltGr act as Compose key}
option, the Windows Application key and the AltGr key will both have
this behaviour.

\S{config-ctrlalt} \q{Control-Alt is different from AltGr}

Some old keyboards do not have an AltGr key, which can make it
difficult to type some characters. PuTTY can be configured to treat
the key combination Ctrl + Left Alt the same way as the AltGr key.

By default, this checkbox is checked, and the key combination Ctrl +
Left Alt does something completely different. PuTTY's usual handling
of the left Alt key is to prefix the Escape (Control-\cw{[})
character to whatever character sequence the rest of the keypress
would generate. For example, Alt-A generates Escape followed by
\c{a}. So Alt-Ctrl-A would generate Escape, followed by Control-A.

If you uncheck this box, Ctrl-Alt will become a synonym for AltGr,
so you can use it to type extra graphic characters if your keyboard
has any.

\H{config-window} The Window panel

The Window configuration panel allows you to control aspects of the
PuTTY window and its behaviour.

\S{config-winsize} Setting the size of the PuTTY window

The \q{Rows} and \q{Columns} boxes let you set the PuTTY window to a
precise size. Of course you can also drag the window to a new size
while a session is running.

\S{config-winsizelock} Locking the size of the PuTTY window

These options allow you to control what happens when the user tries
to resize the PuTTY window.

When you resize the PuTTY window, one of three things can happen:

\b Nothing (if you have completely disabled resizes).

\b The font size can stay the same and the number of rows and
columns in the terminal can change.

\b The number of rows and columns in the terminal can stay the same,
and the font size can change.

You can control which of these happens using the \q{Lock terminal
size against resizing} and \q{Lock font size against resizing}
options. If you lock both, the window will refuse to be resized at
all. If you lock just the terminal size, the font size will change
when you resize the window. If you lock just the font size, the
terminal size will change when you resize the window.

\S{config-scrollback} Controlling scrollback

These options let you configure the way PuTTY keeps text after it
scrolls off the top of the screen (see \k{using-scrollback}).

The \q{Lines of scrollback} box lets you configure how many lines of
text PuTTY keeps. The \q{Display scrollbar} option allows you to
hide the scrollbar (although you can still view the scrollback using
Shift-PgUp and Shift-PgDn).

If you are viewing part of the scrollback when the server sends more
text to PuTTY, the screen will revert to showing the current
terminal contents. You can disable this behaviour by turning off
\q{Reset scrollback on display activity}. You can also make the
screen revert when you press a key, by turning on \q{Reset
scrollback on keypress}.

\S{config-warnonclose} \q{Warn before closing window}

If you press the Close button in a PuTTY window that contains a
running session, PuTTY will put up a warning window asking if you
really meant to close the window. A window whose session has already
terminated can always be closed without a warning.

If you want to be able to close a window quickly, you can disable
the \q{Warn before closing window} option.

\S{config-altf4} \q{Window closes on ALT-F4}

By default, pressing ALT-F4 causes the window to close (or a warning
box to appear; see \k{config-warnonclose}). If you disable the
\q{Window closes on ALT-F4} option, then pressing ALT-F4 will simply
send a key sequence to the server.

\S{config-altspace} \q{System menu appears on ALT-Space}

If this option is enabled, then pressing ALT-Space will bring up the
PuTTY window's menu, like clicking on the top left corner. If it is
disabled, then pressing ALT-Space will just send \c{ESC SPACE} to
the server.

Some accessibility programs for Windows may need this option
enabling to be able to control PuTTY's window successfully. For
instance, Dragon NaturallySpeaking requires it both to open the
system menu via voice, and to close, minimise, maximise and restore
the window.

\S{config-altonly} \q{System menu appears on Alt alone}

If this option is enabled, then pressing and releasing ALT will
bring up the PuTTY window's menu, like clicking on the top left
corner. If it is disabled, then pressing and releasing ALT will have
no effect.

\S{config-alwaysontop} \q{Ensure window is always on top}

If this option is enabled, the PuTTY window will stay on top of all
other windows.

\S{config-fullscreen} \q{Full screen on Alt-Enter}

If this option is enabled, then pressing Alt-Enter will cause the
PuTTY window to become full-screen - that is, it will not only
maximise itself, it will expand so that the title bar goes off the
top of the screen, and place itself on top of the Windows taskbar,
so that \e{nothing} is visible on the screen except PuTTY. Pressing
Alt-Enter again will restore the previous window size.

\H{config-appearance} The Appearance panel

The Appearance configuration panel allows you to control aspects of
PuTTY's appearance.

\S{config-cursor} Controlling the appearance of the cursor

The \q{Cursor appearance} option lets you configure the cursor to be
a block, an underline, or a vertical line. A block cursor becomes an
empty box when the window loses focus; an underline or a vertical
line becomes dotted.

The \q{Cursor blinks} option makes the cursor blink on and off. This
works in any of the cursor modes.

\S{config-font} Controlling the font used in the terminal window

This option allows you to choose what font, in what size, the PuTTY
terminal window uses to display the text in the session. You will be
offered a choice from all the fixed-width fonts installed on the
system. (VT100-style terminal handling can only deal with fixed-
width fonts.)

\S{config-title} Controlling the window title

The \q{Window title} edit box allows you to set the title of the
PuTTY window. By default the window title will contain the host name
followed by \q{PuTTY}, for example \c{server1.example.com - PuTTY}.
If you want a different window title, this is where to set it.

PuTTY allows the server to send \c{xterm} control sequences which
modify the title of the window in mid-session. There is also an
\c{xterm} sequence to modify the title of the window's \e{icon}.
This makes sense in a windowing system where the window becomes an
icon when minimised, such as Windows 3.1 or most X Window System
setups; but in the Windows 95-like user interface it isn't as
applicable. By default PuTTY's window title and Taskbar caption will
change into the server-supplied icon title if you minimise the PuTTY
window, and change back to the server-supplied window title if you
restore it. (If the server has not bothered to supply a window or
icon title, none of this will happen.) By checking the box marked
\q{Avoid ever using icon title}, you can arrange that PuTTY will
always display the window title, and completely ignore any icon
titles the server sends it.

\S{config-mouseptr} \q{Hide mouse pointer when typing in window}

If you enable this option, the mouse pointer will disappear if the
PuTTY window is selected and you press a key. This way, it will not
obscure any of the text in the window while you work in your
session. As soon as you move the mouse, the pointer will reappear.

This option is disabled by default, so the mouse pointer remains
visible at all times.

\S{config-winborder} Controlling the window border

PuTTY allows you to configure the appearance of the window border to
some extent.

The checkbox marked \q{Sunken-edge border} changes the appearance of
the window border to something more like a DOS box: the inside edge
of the border is highlighted as if it sank down to meet the surface
inside the window. This makes the border a little bit thicker as
well. It's hard to describe well. Try it and see if you like it.

You can also configure a completely blank gap between the text in
the window and the border, using the \q{Gap between text and window
edge} control. By default this is set at one pixel. You can reduce
it to zero, or increase it further.

\H{config-translation} The Translation panel

The Translation configuration panel allows you to control the
translation between the character set understood by the server and
the character set understood by PuTTY.

\S{config-charset} Controlling character set translation

During an interactive session, PuTTY receives a stream of 8-bit
bytes from the server, and in order to display them on the screen it
needs to know what character set to interpret them in.

There are a lot of character sets to choose from. The \q{Received
data assumed to be in which character set} option lets you select
one. By default PuTTY will attempt to choose a character set that is
right for your locale as reported by Windows; if it gets it wrong,
you can select a different one using this control.

A few notable character sets are:

\b The ISO-8859 series are all standard character sets that include
various accented characters appropriate for different sets of
languages.

\b The Win125x series are defined by Microsoft, for similar
purposes. In particular Win1252 is almost equivalent to ISO-8859-1,
but contains a few extra characters such as matched quotes and the
Euro symbol.

\b If you want the old IBM PC character set with block graphics and
line-drawing characters, you can select \q{CP437}.

\b PuTTY also supports Unicode mode, in which the data coming from
the server is interpreted as being in the UTF-8 encoding of Unicode.
If you select \q{UTF-8} as a character set you can use this mode.
Not all server-side applications will support it.

\S{config-cyr} \q{Caps Lock acts as Cyrillic switch}

This feature allows you to switch between a US/UK keyboard layout
and a Cyrillic keyboard layout by using the Caps Lock key, if you
need to type (for example) Russian and English side by side in the
same document.

Currently this feature is not expected to work properly if your
native keyboard layout is not US or UK.

\S{config-linedraw} Controlling display of line drawing characters

VT100-series terminals allow the server to send control sequences
that shift temporarily into a separate character set for drawing
lines and boxes. PuTTY has a variety of ways to support this
capability. In general you should probably try lots of options until
you find one that your particular font supports.

\b \q{Font has XWindows encoding} is for use with fonts that have a
special encoding, where the lowest 32 character positions (below the
ASCII printable range) contain the line-drawing characters. This is
unlikely to be the case with any standard Windows font; it will
probably only apply to custom-built fonts or fonts that have been
automatically converted from the X Window System.

\b \q{Use font in both ANSI and OEM modes} tries to use the same
font in two different character sets, to obtain a wider range of
characters. This doesn't always work; some fonts claim to be a
different size depending on which character set you try to use.

\b \q{Use font in OEM mode only} is more reliable than that, but can
miss out other characters from the main character set.

\b \q{Poor man's line drawing} assumes that the font \e{cannot}
generate the line and box characters at all, so it will use the
\c{+}, \c{-} and \c{|} characters to draw approximations to boxes.
You should use this option if none of the other options works.

\b \q{Unicode mode} tries to use the box characters that are present
in Unicode. For good Unicode-supporting fonts this is probably the
most reliable and functional option.

\H{config-selection} The Selection panel

The Selection panel allows you to control the way copy and paste
work in the PuTTY window.

\S{config-linedrawpaste} Controlling the pasting of line drawing
characters

By default, when you copy and paste a piece of the PuTTY screen that
contains VT100 line and box drawing characters, PuTTY will translate
them into the \q{poor man's} line-drawing characters \c{+}, \c{-}
and \c{|}. The checkbox \q{Don't translate line drawing chars}
disables this feature, so line-drawing characters will be pasted as
if they were in the normal character set. This will typically mean
they come out mostly as \c{q} and \c{x}, with a scattering of
\c{jklmntuvw} at the corners. This might be useful if you were
trying to recreate the same box layout in another program, for
example.

\S{config-mouse} Changing the actions of the mouse buttons

PuTTY's copy and paste mechanism is modelled on the Unix \c{xterm}
application. The X Window System uses a three-button mouse, and the
convention is that the left button selects, the right button extends
an existing selection, and the middle button pastes.

Windows typically only has two mouse buttons, so in PuTTY's default
configuration, the \e{right} button pastes, and the \e{middle}
button (if you have one) extends a selection.

If you have a three-button mouse and you are already used to the
\c{xterm} arrangement, you can select it using the \q{Action of
mouse buttons} control.

\S{config-mouseshift} \q{Shift overrides application's use of mouse}

PuTTY allows the server to send control codes that let it take over
the mouse and use it for purposes other than copy and paste.
Applications which use this feature include the text-mode web
browser \c{links}, the Usenet newsreader \c{trn} version 4, and the
file manager \c{mc} (Midnight Commander).

When running one of these applications, pressing the mouse buttons
no longer performs copy and paste. If you do need to copy and paste,
you can still do so if you hold down Shift while you do your mouse
clicks.

However, it is possible in theory for applications to even detect
and make use of Shift + mouse clicks. We don't know of any
applications that do this, but in case someone ever writes one,
unchecking the \q{Shift overrides application's use of mouse}
checkbox will cause Shift + mouse clicks to go to the server as well
(so that mouse-driven copy and paste will be completely disabled).

\S{config-charclasses} Configuring word-by-word selection

PuTTY will select a word at a time in the terminal window if you
double-click to begin the drag. This panel allows you to control
precisely what is considered to be a word.

Each character is given a \e{class}, which is a small number
(typically 0, 1 or 2). PuTTY considers a single word to be any
number of adjacent characters in the same class. So by modifying the
assignment of characters to classes, you can modify the word-by-word
selection behaviour.

In the default configuration, the character classes are:

\b Class 0 contains white space and control characters.

\b Class 1 contains most punctuation.

\b Class 2 contains letters, numbers and a few pieces of punctuation
(the double quote, minus sign, period, forward slash and
underscore).

So, for example, if you assign the \c{@} symbol into character class
2, you will be able to select an e-mail address with just a double
click.

In order to adjust these assignments, you start by selecting a group
of characters in the list box. Then enter a class number in the edit
box below, and press the \q{Set} button.

This mechanism currently only covers ASCII characters, because it
isn't feasible to expand the list to cover the whole of Unicode.

\H{config-colours} The Colours panel

The Colours panel allows you to control PuTTY's use of colour.

\S{config-boldcolour} \q{Bolded text is a different colour}

When the server sends a control sequence indicating that some text
should be displayed in bold, PuTTY can handle this two ways. It can
either change the font for a bold version, or use the same font in a
brighter colour. This control lets you choose which.

By default the box is checked, so non-bold text is displayed in
light grey and bold text is displayed in bright white (and similarly
in other colours). If you uncheck the box, bold and non-bold text
will be displayed in the same colour, and instead the font will
change to indicate the difference.

\S{config-logpalette} \q{Attempt to use logical palettes}

Logical palettes are a mechanism by which a Windows application
running on an 8-bit colour display can select precisely the colours
it wants instead of going with the Windows standard defaults.

If you are not getting the colours you ask for on an 8-bit display,
you can try enabling this option. However, be warned that it's never
worked very well.

\S{config-colourcfg} Adjusting the colours in the terminal window

The main colour control allows you to specify exactly what colours
things should be displayed in. To modify one of the PuTTY colours,
use the list box to select which colour you want to modify. The RGB
values for that colour will appear on the right-hand side of the
list box. Now, if you press the \q{Modify} button, you will be
presented with a colour selector, in which you can choose a new
colour to go in place of the old one.

PuTTY allows you to set the cursor colour, the default foreground
and background, and the precise shades of all the ANSI configurable
colours (black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white).
In addition, if you have selected \q{Bolded text is a different
colour}, you can also modify the precise shades used for the bold
versions of these colours.

\H{config-connection} The Connection panel

The Connection panel allows you to configure options that apply to
more than one type of connection.

\S{config-termtype} \q{Terminal-type string}

Most servers you might connect to with PuTTY are designed to be
connected to from lots of different types of terminal. In order to
send the right control sequences to each one, the server will need
to know what type of terminal it is dealing with. Therefore, each of
the SSH, Telnet and Rlogin protocols allow a text string to be sent
down the connection describing the terminal.

PuTTY attempts to emulate the Unix \c{xterm} program, and by default
it reflects this by sending \c{xterm} as a terminal-type string. If
you find this is not doing what you want - perhaps the remote
terminal reports \q{Unknown terminal type} - you could try setting
this to something different, such as \c{vt220}.

If you're not sure whether a problem is due to the terminal type
setting or not, you probably need to consult the manual for your
application or your server.

\S{config-username} \q{Auto-login username}

All three of the SSH, Telnet and Rlogin protocols allow you to
specify what user name you want to log in as, without having to type
it explicitly every time. (Some Telnet servers don't support this.)

In this box you can type that user name.

\S{config-keepalive} Using keepalives to prevent disconnection

If you find your sessions are closing unexpectedly (\q{Connection
reset by peer}) after they have been idle for a while, you might
want to try using this option.

Some network routers and firewalls need to keep track of all
connections through them. Usually, these firewalls will assume a
connection is dead if no data is transferred in either direction
after a certain time interval. This can cause PuTTY sessions to be
unexpectedly closed by the firewall if no traffic is seen in the
session for some time.

The keepalive option (\q{Seconds between keepalives}) allows you to
configure PuTTY to send data through the session at regular
intervals, in a way that does not disrupt the actual terminal
session. If you find your firewall is cutting idle connections off,
you can try entering a non-zero value in this field. The value is
measured in seconds; so, for example, if your firewall cuts
connections off after ten minutes then you might want to enter 300
seconds (5 minutes) in the box.

Note that keepalives are not always helpful. They help if you have a
firewall which drops your connection after an idle period; but if
the network between you and the server suffers from breaks in
connectivity then keepalives can actually make things worse. If a
session is idle, and connectivity is temporarily lost between the
endpoints, but the connectivity is restored before either side tries
to send anything, then there will be no problem - neither endpoint
will notice that anything was wrong. However, if one side does send
something during the break, it will repeatedly try to re-send, and
eventually give up and abandon the connection. Then when
connectivity is restored, the other side will find that the first
side doesn't believe there is an open connection any more.
Keepalives can make this sort of problem worse, because they
increase the probability that PuTTY will attempt to send data during
a break in connectivity. Therefore, you might find they help
connection loss, or you might find they make it worse, depending on
what \e{kind} of network problems you have between you and the
server.

Keepalives are only supported in Telnet and SSH; the Rlogin and Raw
protocols offer no way of implementing them.

\H{config-telnet} The Telnet panel

The Telnet panel allows you to configure options that only apply to
Telnet sessions.

\S{config-termspeed} \q{Terminal-speed string}

Telnet allows the client to send a text string that describes the
terminal speed. PuTTY lets you configure this, in case you find the
server is reacting badly to the default value. (I'm not aware of any
servers that do have a problem with it.)

\S{config-environ} Setting environment variables on the server

The Telnet protocol also provides a means for the client to pass
environment variables to the server. Many Telnet servers have
stopped supporting this feature due to security flaws, but PuTTY
still supports it for the benefit of any servers which have found
other ways around the security problems than just disabling the
whole mechanism.

To add an environment variable to the list transmitted down the
connection, you enter the variable name in the \q{Variable} box,
enter its value in the \q{Value} box, and press the \q{Add} button.
To remove one from the list, select it in the list box and press
\q{Remove}.

\S{config-oldenviron} \q{Handling of OLD_ENVIRON ambiguity}

The original Telnet mechanism for passing environment variables was
badly specified. At the time the standard (RFC 1408) was written,
BSD telnet implementations were already supporting the feature, and
the intention of the standard was to describe the behaviour the BSD
implementations were already using.

Sadly there was a typing error in the standard when it was issued,
and two vital function codes were specified the wrong way round. BSD
implementations did not change, and the standard was not corrected.
Therefore, it's possible you might find either BSD or RFC-compliant
implementations out there. This switch allows you to choose which
one PuTTY claims to be.

The problem was solved by issuing a second standard, defining a new
Telnet mechanism called \cw{NEW_ENVIRON}, which behaved exactly like
the original \cw{OLD_ENVIRON} but was not encumbered by existing
implementations. Most Telnet servers now support this, and it's
unambiguous. This feature should only be needed if you have trouble
passing environment variables to quite an old server.

\S{config-ptelnet} Passive and active Telnet negotiation modes

In a Telnet connection, there are two types of data passed between
the client and the server: actual text, and \e{negotiations} about
which Telnet extra features to use.

PuTTY can use two different strategies for negotiation:

\b In \e{active} mode, PuTTY starts to send negotiations as soon as
the connection is opened.

\b In \e{passive} mode, PuTTY will wait to negotiate until it sees a
negotiation from the server.

The obvious disadvantage of passive mode is that if the server is
also operating in a passive mode, then negotiation will never begin
at all. For this reason PuTTY defaults to active mode.

However, sometimes passive mode is required in order to successfully
get through certain types of firewall and Telnet proxy server. If
you have confusing trouble with a firewall, you could try enabling
passive mode to see if it helps.

\S{config-telnetkey} \q{Keyboard sends telnet Backspace and Interrupt}

If this box is checked, the Backspace key on the keyboard will send
the Telnet special backspace code, and Control-C will send the
Telnet special interrupt code. You probably shouldn't enable this
unless you know what you're doing.

\H{config-rlogin} The Rlogin panel

The Rlogin panel allows you to configure options that only apply to
Rlogin sessions.

\S{config-rlogin-termspeed} \q{Terminal-speed string}

Like Telnet, Rlogin allows the client to send a text string that
describes the terminal speed. PuTTY lets you configure this, in case
you find the server is reacting badly to the default value. (I'm not
aware of any servers that do have a problem with it.)

\S{config-rlogin-localuser} \q{Local username}

Rlogin allows an automated (password-free) form of login by means of
a file called \c{.rhosts} on the server. You put a line in your
\c{.rhosts} file saying something like \c{jbloggs@pc1.example.com},
and then when you make an Rlogin connection the client transmits the
username of the user running the Rlogin client. The server checks
the username and hostname against \c{.rhosts}, and if they match it
does not ask for a password.

This only works because Unix systems contain a safeguard to stop a
user from pretending to be another user in an Rlogin connection.
Rlogin connections have to come from port numbers below 1024, and
Unix systems prohibit this to unprivileged processes; so when the
server sees a connection from a low-numbered port, it assumes the
client end of the connection is held by a privileged (and therefore
trusted) process, so it believes the claim of who the user is.

Windows does not have this restriction: \e{any} user can initiate an
outgoing connection from a low-numbered port. Hence, the Rlogin
\c{.rhosts} mechanism is completely useless for securely
distinguishing several different users on a Windows machine. If you
have a \c{.rhosts} entry pointing at a Windows PC, you should assume
that \e{anyone} using that PC can spoof your username in an Rlogin
connection and access your account on the server.

The \q{Local username} control allows you to specify what user name
PuTTY should claim you have, in case it doesn't match your Windows
user name (or in case you didn't bother to set up a Windows user
name).

\H{config-ssh} The SSH panel

The SSH panel allows you to configure options that only apply to
SSH sessions.

\S{config-command} Executing a specific command on the server

In SSH, you don't have to run a general shell session on the server.
Instead, you can choose to run a single specific command (such as a
mail user agent, for example). If you want to do this, enter the
command in the \q{Remote command} box.

\S{config-ssh-pty} \q{Don't allocate a pseudo-terminal}

When connecting to a Unix system, most interactive shell sessions
are run in a \e{pseudo-terminal}, which allows the Unix system to
pretend it's talking to a real physical terminal device but allows
the SSH server to catch all the data coming from that fake device
and send it back to the client.

Occasionally you might find you have a need to run a session \e{not}
in a pseudo-terminal. In PuTTY, this is generally only useful for
very specialist purposes; although in Plink (see \k{plink}) it is
the usual way of working.

\S{config-ssh-comp} \q{Enable compression}

This enables data compression in the SSH connection: data sent by
the server is compressed before sending, and decompressed at the
client end. Likewise, data sent by PuTTY to the server is compressed
first and the server decompresses it at the other end. This can help
make the most of a low-bandwidth connection.

\S{config-ssh-prot} \q{Preferred SSH protocol version}

This allows you to select whether you would like to use SSH protocol
version 1 or version 2. \#{FIXME: say something about this elsewhere?}

PuTTY will attempt to use protocol 1 if the server you connect to
does not offer protocol 2, and vice versa.

\S{config-ssh-macbug} \q{Imitate SSH 2 MAC bug}

This option \e{should} now be unnecessary. It existed in order to
work around a bug in early versions (2.3.0 and below) of the SSH
server software from \cw{ssh.com}. The symptom of this problem would
be that PuTTY would die unexpectedly at the beginning of the
session, saying \q{Incorrect MAC received on packet}.

Current versions of PuTTY attempt to detect these faulty servers and
enable the bug compatibility automatically, so you should never need
to use this option any more.

\S{config-ssh-encryption} Encryption algorithm selection

PuTTY supports a variety of different encryption algorithms, and
allows you to choose which one you prefer to use. You can do this by
dragging the algorithms up and down in the list box to specify a
preference order. When you make an SSH connection, PuTTY will search
down the list from the top until it finds an algorithm supported by
the server, and then use that.

If the algorithm PuTTY finds is below the \q{warn below here} line,
you will see a warning box when you make the connection:

\c The first cipher supported by the server
\c is single-DES, which is below the configured
\c warning threshold.
\c Do you want to continue with this connection?

This warns you that the first available encryption is not a very
secure one. Typically you would put the \q{warn below here} line
between the encryptions you consider secure and the ones you
consider substandard.

By default, PuTTY supplies a preference order intended to reflect a
reasonable preference in terms of security and speed.

\H{config-ssh-auth} The Auth panel

The Auth panel allows you to configure authentication options for
SSH sessions.

\S{config-ssh-tis} \q{Attempt TIS or CryptoCard authentication}

TIS and CryptoCard authentication are simple challenge/response
forms of authentication available in SSH protocol version 1 only.
You might use them if you were using S/Key one-time passwords, for
example, or if you had a physical security token that generated
responses to authentication challenges.

With this switch enabled, PuTTY will attempt these forms of
authentication if the server is willing to try them. You will be
presented with a challenge string (which will be different every
time) and must supply the correct response in order to log in. If
your server supports this, you should talk to your system
administrator about precisely what form these challenges and
responses take.

\S{config-ssh-agentfwd} \q{Allow agent forwarding}

This option allows the SSH server to open forwarded connections back
to your local copy of Pageant. If you are not running Pageant, this
option will do nothing.

See \k{pageant} for general information on Pageant, and
\k{pageant-forward} for information on agent forwarding. Note that
there is a security risk involved with enabling this option; see
\k{pageant-security} for details.

\S{config-ssh-privkey} \q{Private key file for authentication}

This box is where you enter the name of your private key file if you
are using public key authentication. See \k{pubkey} for information
about public key authentication in SSH.

\H{config-ssh-tunnels} The Tunnels panel

The Tunnels panel allows you to configure tunnelling of other
connection types through an SSH connection.

\S{config-ssh-x11} X11 forwarding

If your server lets you run X Window System applications, X11
forwarding allows you to securely give those applications access to
a local X display on your PC.

This feature will only be useful if you have an X server on your PC,
such as Exceed or XWin32.

To enable X11 forwarding, check the \q{Enable X11 forwarding} box.
If your X display is not the primary display on your local machine
(which it almost certainly will be unless you have deliberately
arranged otherwise), you need to enter its location in the \q{X
display location} box.

\# FIXME: perhaps link to some more general X forwarding info?

\S{config-ssh-portfwd} Port forwarding

Port forwarding allows you to tunnel other types of network
connection down an SSH connection.

To set up a local port forwarding, make sure the \q{Local} radio
button is set. Then enter a local port number (on your PC) in the
\q{Source port} box, and a hostname and port number (separated by a
colon) in the \q{Destination} box, and finally press the \q{Add}
button. For example, you might select a source port of 10079, and a
destination of \c{server2.example.com:79}.

If you do this, and then start the session, you should find that
connecting to your local PC on port 10079 gives you a connection to
port 79 (the finger server) on \c{server2.example.com}. The
connection is actually going to PuTTY itself, which encrypts the
connection data and sends it down the secure channel to the SSH
server. The connection then proceeds in clear from there to the
eventual destination. So you might use this (for example) to forward
a connection between two non-hostile network zones that are only
connected by a hostile zone such as the open Internet.

You can forward ports on the SSH server machine in the other
direction, too (so the connection will start at the server end and
be sent down the secure connection to PuTTY, which will make the
real connection to the destination). To work this way round, just
click the \q{Remote} radio button instead of \q{Local}.

\# FIXME: perhaps move this to a general port-forwarding section and
\# just link to it here?

\H{config-file} Storing configuration in a file

PuTTY does not currently support storing its configuration in a file
instead of the Registry. However, you can work around this with a
couple of batch files.

You will need a file called (say) \c{PUTTY.BAT} which imports the
contents of a file into the Registry, then runs PuTTY, exports the
contents of the Registry back into the file, and deletes the
Registry entries. This can all be done using the Regedit command
line options, so it's all automatic. Here is what you need in
\c{PUTTY.BAT}:

\c @ECHO OFF
\c regedit /s putty.reg
\c regedit /s puttyrnd.reg
\c start /w putty.exe
\c regedit /e puttynew.reg HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY
\c copy puttynew.reg putty.reg
\c del puttynew.reg
\c regedit /s puttydel.reg

This batch file needs two auxiliary files: \c{PUTTYRND.REG} which
sets up an initial safe location for the \c{PUTTY.RND} random seed
file, and \c{PUTTYDEL.REG} which destroys everything in the Registry
once it's been successfully saved back to the file.

Here is \c{PUTTYDEL.REG}:

\c REGEDIT4
\c  
\c [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY]

Here is an example \c{PUTTYRND.REG} file:

\c REGEDIT4
\c  
\c [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY]
\c "RandSeedFile"="a:\putty.rnd"

You should replace \c{a:\\putty.rnd} with the location where you
want to store your random number data. If the aim is to carry around
PuTTY and its settings on one floppy, you probably want to store it
on the floppy.