| 1 | \versionid $Id: config.but,v 1.15 2001/11/25 19:22:47 simon Exp $ |
| 2 | |
| 3 | \C{config} Configuring PuTTY |
| 4 | |
| 5 | This chapter describes all the configuration options in PuTTY. |
| 6 | |
| 7 | PuTTY is configured using the control panel that comes up before you |
| 8 | start a session. Some options can also be changed in the middle of a |
| 9 | session, by selecting \q{Change Settings} from the window menu. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | \H{config-session} The Session panel |
| 12 | |
| 13 | The Session configuration panel contains the basic options you need |
| 14 | to specify in order to open a session at all, and also allows you to |
| 15 | save your settings to be reloaded later. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | \S{config-hostname} The host name section |
| 18 | |
| 19 | The top box on the Session panel, labelled \q{Specify your |
| 20 | connection by host name}, contains the details that need to be |
| 21 | filled in before PuTTY can open a session at all. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | \b The \q{Host Name} box is where you type the name, or the IP |
| 24 | address, of the server you want to connect to. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | \b The \q{Protocol} radio buttons let you choose what type of |
| 27 | connection you want to make: a raw connection, a Telnet connection, an |
| 28 | rlogin connection or an SSH connection. (See \k{which-one} for a |
| 29 | summary of the differences between SSH, Telnet and rlogin.) |
| 30 | |
| 31 | \b The \q{Port} box lets you specify which port number on the server |
| 32 | to connect to. If you select Telnet, Rlogin, or SSH, this box will be |
| 33 | filled in automatically to the usual value, and you will only need to |
| 34 | change it if you have an unusual server. If you select Raw mode, you |
| 35 | will almost certainly need to fill in the \q{Port} box. |
| 36 | |
| 37 | \S{config-saving} Loading and storing saved sessions |
| 38 | |
| 39 | The next part of the Session configuration panel allows you to save |
| 40 | your preferred PuTTY options so they will appear automatically the |
| 41 | next time you start PuTTY. It also allows you to create \e{saved |
| 42 | sessions}, which contain a full set of configuration options plus a |
| 43 | host name and protocol. A saved session contains all the information |
| 44 | PuTTY needs to start exactly the session you want. |
| 45 | |
| 46 | \b To save your default settings: first set up the settings the way |
| 47 | you want them saved. Then come back to the Session panel. Select the |
| 48 | \q{Default Settings} entry in the saved sessions list, with a single |
| 49 | click. Then press the \q{Save} button. |
| 50 | |
| 51 | Note that PuTTY does not allow you to save a host name into the |
| 52 | Default Settings entry. This ensures that when PuTTY is started up, |
| 53 | the host name box is always empty, so a user can always just type in |
| 54 | a host name and connect. |
| 55 | |
| 56 | If there is a specific host you want to store the details of how to |
| 57 | connect to, you should create a saved session, which will be |
| 58 | separate from the Default Settings. |
| 59 | |
| 60 | \b To save a session: first go through the rest of the configuration |
| 61 | box setting up all the options you want. Then come back to the |
| 62 | Session panel. Enter a name for the saved session in the \q{Saved |
| 63 | Sessions} input box. (The server name is often a good choice for a |
| 64 | saved session name.) Then press the \q{Save} button. Your saved |
| 65 | session name should now appear in the list box. |
| 66 | |
| 67 | \b To reload a saved session: single-click to select the session |
| 68 | name in the list box, and then press the \q{Load} button. Your saved |
| 69 | settings should all appear in the configuration panel. |
| 70 | |
| 71 | \b To modify a saved session: first load it as described above. Then |
| 72 | make the changes you want. Come back to the Session panel, |
| 73 | single-click to select the session name in the list box, and press |
| 74 | the \q{Save} button. The new settings will be saved over the top of |
| 75 | the old ones. |
| 76 | |
| 77 | \b To start a saved session immediately: double-click on the session |
| 78 | name in the list box. |
| 79 | |
| 80 | \b To delete a saved session: single-click to select the session |
| 81 | name in the list box, and then press the \q{Delete} button. |
| 82 | |
| 83 | Each saved session is independent of the Default Settings |
| 84 | configuration. If you change your preferences and update Default |
| 85 | Settings, you must also update every saved session separately. |
| 86 | |
| 87 | \S{config-closeonexit} \q{Close Window on Exit} |
| 88 | |
| 89 | Finally in the Session panel, there is an option labelled \q{Close |
| 90 | Window on Exit}. This controls whether the PuTTY session window |
| 91 | disappears as soon as the session inside it terminates. If you are |
| 92 | likely to want to copy and paste text out of the session after it |
| 93 | has terminated, you should arrange this option to be off. |
| 94 | |
| 95 | \q{Close Window On Exit} has three settings. \q{Always} means always |
| 96 | close the window on exit; \q{Never} means never close on exit |
| 97 | (always leave the window open). The third setting, and the default |
| 98 | one, is \q{Only on clean exit}. In this mode, a session which |
| 99 | terminates normally will cause its window to close, but one which is |
| 100 | aborted unexpectedly by network trouble or a confusing message from |
| 101 | the server will leave the window up. |
| 102 | |
| 103 | \H{config-logging} The Logging panel |
| 104 | |
| 105 | The Logging configuration panel allows you to save log files of your |
| 106 | PuTTY sessions, for debugging, analysis or future reference. |
| 107 | |
| 108 | The main option is a radio-button set that specifies whether PuTTY |
| 109 | will log anything at all. The options are |
| 110 | |
| 111 | \b \q{Logging turned off completely}. This is the default option; in |
| 112 | this mode PuTTY will not create a log file at all. |
| 113 | |
| 114 | \b \q{Log printable output only}. In this mode, a log file will be |
| 115 | created and written to, but only printable text will be saved into |
| 116 | it. The various terminal control codes that are typically sent down |
| 117 | an interactive session alongside the printable text will be omitted. |
| 118 | This might be a useful mode if you want to read a log file in a text |
| 119 | editor and hope to be able to make sense of it. |
| 120 | |
| 121 | \b \q{Log all session output}. In this mode, \e{everything} sent by |
| 122 | the server into your terminal session is logged. If you view the log |
| 123 | file in a text editor, therefore, you may well find it full of |
| 124 | strange control characters. This is a particularly useful mode if |
| 125 | you are experiencing problems with PuTTY's terminal handling: you |
| 126 | can record everything that went to the terminal, so that someone |
| 127 | else can replay the session later in slow motion and watch to see |
| 128 | what went wrong. |
| 129 | |
| 130 | \S{config-logfilename} \q{Log file name} |
| 131 | |
| 132 | In this edit box you enter the name of the file you want to log the |
| 133 | session to. The \q{Browse} button will let you look around your file |
| 134 | system to find the right place to put the file; or if you already |
| 135 | know exactly where you want it to go, you can just type a pathname |
| 136 | into the edit box. |
| 137 | |
| 138 | There are a few special features in this box. If you use the \c{&} |
| 139 | character in the file name box, PuTTY will insert details of the |
| 140 | current session in the name of the file it actually opens. The |
| 141 | precise replacements it will do are: |
| 142 | |
| 143 | \b \c{&Y} will be replaced by the current year, as four digits. |
| 144 | |
| 145 | \b \c{&M} will be replaced by the current month, as two digits. |
| 146 | |
| 147 | \b \c{&D} will be replaced by the current day of the month, as two |
| 148 | digits. |
| 149 | |
| 150 | \b \c{&T} will be replaced by the current time, as six digits |
| 151 | (HHMMSS) with no punctuation. |
| 152 | |
| 153 | \b \c{&H} will be replaced by the host name you are connecting to. |
| 154 | |
| 155 | For example, if you enter the host name |
| 156 | \c{c:\\puttylogs\\log-&h-&y&m&d-&t.dat}, you will end up with files looking |
| 157 | like |
| 158 | |
| 159 | \c log-server1.example.com-20010528-110859.dat |
| 160 | \c log-unixbox.somewhere.org-20010611-221001.dat |
| 161 | |
| 162 | \S{config-logfileexists} \q{What to do if the log file already exists} |
| 163 | |
| 164 | This control allows you to specify what PuTTY should do if it tries |
| 165 | to start writing to a log file and it finds the file already exists. |
| 166 | You might want to automatically destroy the existing log file and |
| 167 | start a new one with the same name. Alternatively, you might want to |
| 168 | open the existing log file and add data to the \e{end} of it. |
| 169 | Finally (the default option), you might not want to have any |
| 170 | automatic behaviour, but to ask the user every time the problem |
| 171 | comes up. |
| 172 | |
| 173 | \H{config-terminal} The Terminal panel |
| 174 | |
| 175 | The Terminal configuration panel allows you to control the behaviour |
| 176 | of PuTTY's terminal emulation. |
| 177 | |
| 178 | \S{config-autowrap} \q{Auto wrap mode initially on} |
| 179 | |
| 180 | Auto wrap mode controls what happens when text printed in a PuTTY |
| 181 | window reaches the right-hand edge of the window. |
| 182 | |
| 183 | With auto wrap mode on, if a long line of text reaches the |
| 184 | right-hand edge, it will wrap over on to the next line so you can |
| 185 | still see all the text. With auto wrap mode off, the cursor will |
| 186 | stay at the right-hand edge of the screen, and all the characters in |
| 187 | the line will be printed on top of each other. |
| 188 | |
| 189 | If you are running a full-screen application and you occasionally |
| 190 | find the screen scrolling up when it looks as if it shouldn't, you |
| 191 | could try turning this option off. |
| 192 | |
| 193 | Auto wrap mode can be turned on and off by control sequences sent by |
| 194 | the server. This configuration option only controls the \e{default} |
| 195 | state. If you modify this option in mid-session using \q{Change |
| 196 | Settings}, you will need to reset the terminal \#{ FIXME } before |
| 197 | the change takes effect. |
| 198 | |
| 199 | \S{config-decom} \q{DEC Origin Mode initially on} |
| 200 | |
| 201 | DEC Origin Mode is a minor option which controls how PuTTY |
| 202 | interprets cursor-position control sequences sent by the server. |
| 203 | |
| 204 | The server can send a control sequence that restricts the scrolling |
| 205 | region of the display. For example, in an editor, the server might |
| 206 | reserve a line at the top of the screen and a line at the bottom, |
| 207 | and might send a control sequence that causes scrolling operations |
| 208 | to affect only the remaining lines. |
| 209 | |
| 210 | With DEC Origin Mode on, cursor coordinates are counted from the top |
| 211 | of the scrolling region. With it turned off, cursor coordinates are |
| 212 | counted from the top of the whole screen regardless of the scrolling |
| 213 | region. |
| 214 | |
| 215 | It is unlikely you would need to change this option, but if you find |
| 216 | a full-screen application is displaying pieces of text in what looks |
| 217 | like the wrong part of the screen, you could try turning DEC Origin |
| 218 | Mode on to see whether that helps. |
| 219 | |
| 220 | DEC Origin Mode can be turned on and off by control sequences sent by |
| 221 | the server. This configuration option only controls the \e{default} |
| 222 | state. If you modify this option in mid-session using \q{Change |
| 223 | Settings}, you will need to reset the terminal \#{ FIXME } before |
| 224 | the change takes effect. |
| 225 | |
| 226 | \S{config-crlf} \q{Implicit CR in every LF} |
| 227 | |
| 228 | Most servers send two control characters, CR and LF, to start a new |
| 229 | line of the screen. The CR character makes the cursor return to the |
| 230 | left-hand side of the screen. The LF character makes the cursor move |
| 231 | one line down (and might make the screen scroll). |
| 232 | |
| 233 | Some servers only send LF, and expect the terminal to move the |
| 234 | cursor over to the left automatically. If you come across a server |
| 235 | that does this, you will see a stepped effect on the screen, like |
| 236 | this: |
| 237 | |
| 238 | \c First line of text |
| 239 | \c Second line |
| 240 | \c Third line |
| 241 | |
| 242 | If this happens to you, try enabling the \q{Implicit CR in every LF} |
| 243 | option, and things might go back to normal: |
| 244 | |
| 245 | \c First line of text |
| 246 | \c Second line |
| 247 | \c Third line |
| 248 | |
| 249 | \S{config-erase} \q{Use background colour to erase screen} |
| 250 | |
| 251 | Not all terminals agree on what colour to turn the screen when the |
| 252 | server sends a \q{clear screen} sequence. Some terminals believe the |
| 253 | screen should always be cleared to the \e{default} background |
| 254 | colour. Others believe the screen should be cleared to whatever the |
| 255 | server has selected as a background colour. |
| 256 | |
| 257 | There exist applications that expect both kinds of behaviour. |
| 258 | Therefore, PuTTY can be configured to do either. |
| 259 | |
| 260 | With this option disabled, screen clearing is always done in the |
| 261 | default background colour. With this option enabled, it is done in |
| 262 | the \e{current} background colour. |
| 263 | |
| 264 | \S{config-blink} \q{Enable blinking text} |
| 265 | |
| 266 | The server can ask PuTTY to display text that blinks on and off. |
| 267 | This is very distracting, so PuTTY allows you to turn blinking text |
| 268 | off completely. |
| 269 | |
| 270 | \S{config-answerback} \q{Answerback to ^E} |
| 271 | |
| 272 | This option controls what PuTTY will send back to the server if the |
| 273 | server sends it the ^E enquiry character. Normally it just sends |
| 274 | the string \q{PuTTY}. |
| 275 | |
| 276 | \S{config-localecho} \q{Local echo} |
| 277 | |
| 278 | With local echo disabled, characters you type into the PuTTY window |
| 279 | are not echoed in the window \e{by PuTTY}. They are simply sent to |
| 280 | the server. (The \e{server} might choose to echo them back to you; |
| 281 | this can't be controlled from the PuTTY control panel.) |
| 282 | |
| 283 | Some types of session need local echo, and many do not. In its |
| 284 | default mode, PuTTY will automatically attempt to deduce whether or |
| 285 | not local echo is appropriate for the session you are working in. If |
| 286 | you find it has made the wrong decision, you can use this |
| 287 | configuration option to override its choice: you can force local |
| 288 | echo to be turned on, or force it to be turned off, instead of |
| 289 | relying on the automatic detection. |
| 290 | |
| 291 | \S{config-localedit} \q{Local line editing} |
| 292 | |
| 293 | Normally, every character you type into the PuTTY window is sent |
| 294 | immediately to the server the moment you type it. |
| 295 | |
| 296 | If you enable local line editing, this changes. PuTTY will let you |
| 297 | edit a whole line at a time locally, and the line will only be sent |
| 298 | to the server when you press Return. If you make a mistake, you can |
| 299 | use the Backspace key to correct it before you press Return, and the |
| 300 | server will never see the mistake. |
| 301 | |
| 302 | Since it is hard to edit a line locally without being able to see |
| 303 | it, local line editing is mostly used in conjunction with local echo |
| 304 | (\k{config-localecho}). This makes it ideal for use in raw mode |
| 305 | \#{FIXME} or when connecting to MUDs or talkers. (Although some more |
| 306 | advanced MUDs do occasionally turn local line editing on and turn |
| 307 | local echo off, in order to accept a password from the user.) |
| 308 | |
| 309 | Some types of session need local line editing, and many do not. In |
| 310 | its default mode, PuTTY will automatically attempt to deduce whether |
| 311 | or not local line editing is appropriate for the session you are |
| 312 | working in. If you find it has made the wrong decision, you can use |
| 313 | this configuration option to override its choice: you can force |
| 314 | local line editing to be turned on, or force it to be turned off, |
| 315 | instead of relying on the automatic detection. |
| 316 | |
| 317 | \H{config-keyboard} The Keyboard panel |
| 318 | |
| 319 | The Keyboard configuration panel allows you to control the behaviour |
| 320 | of the keyboard in PuTTY. |
| 321 | |
| 322 | \S{config-backspace} Changing the action of the Backspace key |
| 323 | |
| 324 | Some terminals believe that the Backspace key should send the same |
| 325 | thing to the server as Control-H (ASCII code 8). Other terminals |
| 326 | believe that the Backspace key should send ASCII code 127 (usually |
| 327 | known as Control-?) so that it can be distinguished from Control-H. |
| 328 | This option allows you to choose which code PuTTY generates when you |
| 329 | press Backspace. |
| 330 | |
| 331 | If you are connecting to a Unix system, you will probably find that |
| 332 | the Unix \c{stty} command lets you configure which the server |
| 333 | expects to see, so you might not need to change which one PuTTY |
| 334 | generates. On other systems, the server's expectation might be fixed |
| 335 | and you might have no choice but to configure PuTTY. |
| 336 | |
| 337 | If you do have the choice, we recommend configuring PuTTY to |
| 338 | generate Control-? and configuring the server to expect it, because |
| 339 | that allows applications such as \c{emacs} to use Control-H for |
| 340 | help. |
| 341 | |
| 342 | \S{config-homeend} Changing the action of the Home and End keys |
| 343 | |
| 344 | The Unix terminal emulator \c{rxvt} disagrees with the rest of the |
| 345 | world about what character sequences should be sent to the server by |
| 346 | the Home and End keys. |
| 347 | |
| 348 | \c{xterm}, and other terminals, send \c{ESC [1~} for the Home key, |
| 349 | and \c{ESC [4~} for the End key. \c{rxvt} sends \c{ESC [H} for the |
| 350 | Home key and \c{ESC [Ow} for the End key. |
| 351 | |
| 352 | If you find an application on which the Home and End keys aren't |
| 353 | working, you could try switching this option to see if it helps. |
| 354 | |
| 355 | \S{config-funkeys} Changing the action of the function keys and keypad |
| 356 | |
| 357 | This option affects the function keys (F1 to F12) and the top row of |
| 358 | the numeric keypad. |
| 359 | |
| 360 | \b In the default mode, labelled \c{ESC [n~}, the function keys |
| 361 | generate sequences like \c{ESC [11~}, \c{ESC [12~} and so on. This |
| 362 | matches the general behaviour of Digital's terminals. |
| 363 | |
| 364 | \b In Linux mode, F6 to F12 behave just like the default mode, but |
| 365 | F1 to F5 generate \c{ESC [[A} through to \c{ESC [[E}. This mimics the |
| 366 | Linux virtual console. |
| 367 | |
| 368 | \b In Xterm R6 mode, F5 to F12 behave like the default mode, but F1 |
| 369 | to F4 generate \c{ESC OP} through to \c{ESC OS}, which are the |
| 370 | sequences produced by the top row of the \e{keypad} on Digital's |
| 371 | terminals. |
| 372 | |
| 373 | \b In VT400 mode, all the function keys behave like the default |
| 374 | mode, but the actual top row of the numeric keypad generates \c{ESC |
| 375 | OP} through to \c{ESC OS}. |
| 376 | |
| 377 | \b In VT100+ mode, the function keys generate \c{ESC OP} through to |
| 378 | \c{ESC O[} |
| 379 | |
| 380 | \b In SCO mode, the function keys F1 to F12 generate \c{ESC [M} |
| 381 | through to \c{ESC [X}. Together with shift, they generate \c{ESC [Y} |
| 382 | through to \c{ESC [j}. With control they generate \c{ESC [k} through |
| 383 | to \c{ESC [v}, and with shift and control together they generate |
| 384 | \c{ESC [w} through to \c{ESC [\{}. |
| 385 | |
| 386 | If you don't know what any of this means, you probably don't need to |
| 387 | fiddle with it. |
| 388 | |
| 389 | \S{config-appcursor} Controlling Application Cursor Keys mode |
| 390 | |
| 391 | Application Cursor Keys mode is a way for the server to change the |
| 392 | control sequences sent by the arrow keys. In normal mode, the arrow |
| 393 | keys send \c{ESC [A} through to \c{ESC [D}. In application mode, |
| 394 | they send \c{ESC OA} through to \c{ESC OD}. |
| 395 | |
| 396 | Application Cursor Keys mode can be turned on and off by the server, |
| 397 | depending on the application. PuTTY allows you to configure the |
| 398 | initial state, and also allows you to disable application mode |
| 399 | completely. |
| 400 | |
| 401 | \S{config-appkeypad} Controlling Application Keypad mode |
| 402 | |
| 403 | Application Keypad mode is a way for the server to change the |
| 404 | behaviour of the numeric keypad. |
| 405 | |
| 406 | In normal mode, the keypad behaves like a normal Windows keypad: |
| 407 | with NumLock on, the number keys generate numbers, and with NumLock |
| 408 | off they act like the arrow keys and Home, End etc. |
| 409 | |
| 410 | In application mode, all the keypad keys send special control |
| 411 | sequences, \e{including} Num Lock. Num Lock stops behaving like Num |
| 412 | Lock and becomes another function key. |
| 413 | |
| 414 | Depending on which version of Windows you run, you may find the Num |
| 415 | Lock light still flashes on and off every time you press Num Lock, |
| 416 | even when application mode is active and Num Lock is acting like a |
| 417 | function key. This is unavoidable. |
| 418 | |
| 419 | Application keypad mode can be turned on and off by the server, |
| 420 | depending on the application. PuTTY allows you to configure the |
| 421 | initial state, and also allows you to disable application mode |
| 422 | completely. |
| 423 | |
| 424 | \S{config-nethack} Using NetHack keypad mode |
| 425 | |
| 426 | PuTTY has a special mode for playing NetHack. You can enable it by |
| 427 | selecting \q{NetHack} in the \q{Initial state of numeric keypad} |
| 428 | control. |
| 429 | |
| 430 | In this mode, the numeric keypad keys 1-9 generate the NetHack |
| 431 | movement commands (\cw{hjklyubn}). The 5 key generates the \c{.} |
| 432 | command (do nothing). |
| 433 | |
| 434 | Better still, pressing Shift with the keypad keys generates the |
| 435 | capital forms of the commands (\cw{HJKLYUBN}), which tells NetHack |
| 436 | to keep moving you in the same direction until you encounter |
| 437 | something interesting. |
| 438 | |
| 439 | For some reason, this feature only works properly when Num Lock is |
| 440 | on. We don't know why. |
| 441 | |
| 442 | \S{config-compose} Enabling a DEC-like Compose key |
| 443 | |
| 444 | DEC terminals have a Compose key, which provides an easy-to-remember |
| 445 | way of typing accented characters. You press Compose and then type |
| 446 | two more characters. The two characters are \q{combined} to produce |
| 447 | an accented character. The choices of character are designed to be |
| 448 | easy to remember; for example, composing \q{e} and \q{`} produces |
| 449 | the \q{\u00e8{e-grave}} character. |
| 450 | |
| 451 | If you enable the \q{Application and AltGr act as Compose key} |
| 452 | option, the Windows Application key and the AltGr key will both have |
| 453 | this behaviour. |
| 454 | |
| 455 | \S{config-ctrlalt} \q{Control-Alt is different from AltGr} |
| 456 | |
| 457 | Some old keyboards do not have an AltGr key, which can make it |
| 458 | difficult to type some characters. PuTTY can be configured to treat |
| 459 | the key combination Ctrl + Left Alt the same way as the AltGr key. |
| 460 | |
| 461 | By default, this checkbox is checked, and the key combination Ctrl + |
| 462 | Left Alt does something completely different. PuTTY's usual handling |
| 463 | of the left Alt key is to prefix the Escape (Control-\cw{[}) |
| 464 | character to whatever character sequence the rest of the keypress |
| 465 | would generate. For example, Alt-A generates Escape followed by |
| 466 | \c{a}. So Alt-Ctrl-A would generate Escape, followed by Control-A. |
| 467 | |
| 468 | If you uncheck this box, Ctrl-Alt will become a synonym for AltGr, |
| 469 | so you can use it to type extra graphic characters if your keyboard |
| 470 | has any. |
| 471 | |
| 472 | \H{config-bell} The Bell panel |
| 473 | |
| 474 | The Bell panel controls the terminal bell feature: the server's |
| 475 | ability to cause PuTTY to beep at you. |
| 476 | |
| 477 | In the default configuration, when the server sends the character |
| 478 | with ASCII code 7 (Control-G), PuTTY will play the Windows Default |
| 479 | Beep sound. This is not always what you want the terminal bell |
| 480 | feature to do; the Bell panel allows you to configure alternative |
| 481 | actions. |
| 482 | |
| 483 | \S{config-bellstyle} \q{Set the style of bell} |
| 484 | |
| 485 | This control allows you to select various different actions to occur |
| 486 | on a terminal bell: |
| 487 | |
| 488 | \b Selecting \q{None} disables the bell completely. In this mode, |
| 489 | the server can send as many Control-G characters as it likes and |
| 490 | nothing at all will happen. |
| 491 | |
| 492 | \b \q{Play Windows Default Sound} is the default setting. It causes |
| 493 | the Windows \q{Default Beep} sound to be played. To change what this |
| 494 | sound is, or to test it if nothing seems to be happening, use the |
| 495 | Sound configurer in the Windows Control Panel. |
| 496 | |
| 497 | \b \q{Play a custom sound file} allows you to specify a particular |
| 498 | sound file to be used by PuTTY alone, or even by a particular |
| 499 | individual PuTTY session. This allows you to distinguish your PuTTY |
| 500 | beeps from any other beeps on the system. If you select this option, |
| 501 | you will also need to enter the name of your sound file in the edit |
| 502 | control \q{Custom sound file to play as a bell}. |
| 503 | |
| 504 | \b \q{Visual bell} is a silent alternative to a beeping computer. In |
| 505 | this mode, when the server sends a Control-G, the whole PuTTY window |
| 506 | will flash white for a fraction of a second. |
| 507 | |
| 508 | \S{config-belltaskbar} \q{Taskbar/caption indication on bell} |
| 509 | |
| 510 | This feature controls what happens to the PuTTY window's entry in |
| 511 | the Windows Taskbar if a bell occurs while the window does not have |
| 512 | the input focus. |
| 513 | |
| 514 | In the default state (\q{Disabled}) nothing unusual happens. |
| 515 | |
| 516 | If you select \q{Steady}, then when a bell occurs and the window is |
| 517 | not in focus, the window's Taskbar entry and its title bar will |
| 518 | change colour to let you know that PuTTY session is asking for your |
| 519 | attention. The change of colour will persist until you select the |
| 520 | window, so you can leave several PuTTY windows minimised in your |
| 521 | terminal, go away from your keyboard, and be sure not to have missed |
| 522 | any important beeps when you get back. |
| 523 | |
| 524 | \q{Flashing} is even more eye-catching: the Taskbar entry will |
| 525 | continuously flash on and off until you select the window. |
| 526 | |
| 527 | \S{config-bellovl} \q{Control the bell overload behaviour} |
| 528 | |
| 529 | A common user error in a terminal session is to accidentally run the |
| 530 | Unix command \c{cat} (or equivalent) on an inappropriate file type, |
| 531 | such as an executable, image file, or ZIP file. This produces a huge |
| 532 | stream of non-text characters sent to the terminal, which typically |
| 533 | includes a lot of bell characters. As a result of this the terminal |
| 534 | often doesn't stop beeping for ten minutes, and everybody else in |
| 535 | the office gets annoyed. |
| 536 | |
| 537 | To try to avoid this behaviour, or any other cause of excessive |
| 538 | beeping, PuTTY includes a bell overload management feature. In the |
| 539 | default configuration, receiving more than five bell characters in a |
| 540 | two-second period will cause the overload feature to activate. Once |
| 541 | the overload feature is active, further bells will have no effect at |
| 542 | all, so the rest of your binary file will be sent to the screen in |
| 543 | silence. After a period of five seconds during which no further |
| 544 | bells are received, the overload feature will turn itself off again |
| 545 | and bells will be re-enabled. |
| 546 | |
| 547 | If you want this feature completely disabled, you can turn it off |
| 548 | using the checkbox \q{Bell is temporarily disabled when over-used}. |
| 549 | |
| 550 | Alternatively, if you like the bell overload feature but don't agree |
| 551 | with the settings, you can configure the details: how many bells |
| 552 | constitute an overload, how short a time period they have to arrive |
| 553 | in to do so, and how much silent time is required before the |
| 554 | overload feature will deactivate itself. |
| 555 | |
| 556 | \H{config-window} The Window panel |
| 557 | |
| 558 | The Window configuration panel allows you to control aspects of the |
| 559 | PuTTY window. |
| 560 | |
| 561 | \S{config-winsize} Setting the size of the PuTTY window |
| 562 | |
| 563 | The \q{Rows} and \q{Columns} boxes let you set the PuTTY window to a |
| 564 | precise size. Of course you can also drag the window to a new size |
| 565 | while a session is running. |
| 566 | |
| 567 | \S{config-winsizelock} What to do when the window is resized |
| 568 | |
| 569 | These options allow you to control what happens when the user tries |
| 570 | to resize the PuTTY window. |
| 571 | |
| 572 | When you resize the PuTTY window, one of four things can happen: |
| 573 | |
| 574 | \b Nothing (if you have completely disabled resizes). |
| 575 | |
| 576 | \b The font size can stay the same and the number of rows and |
| 577 | columns in the terminal can change. |
| 578 | |
| 579 | \b The number of rows and columns in the terminal can stay the same, |
| 580 | and the font size can change. |
| 581 | |
| 582 | \b You can allow PuTTY to change \e{either} the terminal size or the |
| 583 | font size. In this mode it will change the terminal size most of the |
| 584 | time, but enlarge the font when you maximise the window. |
| 585 | |
| 586 | You can control which of these happens using the \q{Lock terminal |
| 587 | size against resizing} and \q{Lock font size against resizing} |
| 588 | options. If you lock both, the window will refuse to be resized at |
| 589 | all. If you lock just the terminal size, the font size will change |
| 590 | when you resize the window. If you lock just the font size, the |
| 591 | terminal size will change when you resize the window. |
| 592 | |
| 593 | \S{config-scrollback} Controlling scrollback |
| 594 | |
| 595 | These options let you configure the way PuTTY keeps text after it |
| 596 | scrolls off the top of the screen (see \k{using-scrollback}). |
| 597 | |
| 598 | The \q{Lines of scrollback} box lets you configure how many lines of |
| 599 | text PuTTY keeps. The \q{Display scrollbar} options allow you to |
| 600 | hide the scrollbar (although you can still view the scrollback using |
| 601 | Shift-PgUp and Shift-PgDn). You can separately configure whether the |
| 602 | scrollbar is shown in full-screen mode and in normal modes. |
| 603 | |
| 604 | If you are viewing part of the scrollback when the server sends more |
| 605 | text to PuTTY, the screen will revert to showing the current |
| 606 | terminal contents. You can disable this behaviour by turning off |
| 607 | \q{Reset scrollback on display activity}. You can also make the |
| 608 | screen revert when you press a key, by turning on \q{Reset |
| 609 | scrollback on keypress}. |
| 610 | |
| 611 | \H{config-appearance} The Appearance panel |
| 612 | |
| 613 | The Appearance configuration panel allows you to control aspects of |
| 614 | the appearance of PuTTY's window. |
| 615 | |
| 616 | \S{config-cursor} Controlling the appearance of the cursor |
| 617 | |
| 618 | The \q{Cursor appearance} option lets you configure the cursor to be |
| 619 | a block, an underline, or a vertical line. A block cursor becomes an |
| 620 | empty box when the window loses focus; an underline or a vertical |
| 621 | line becomes dotted. |
| 622 | |
| 623 | The \q{Cursor blinks} option makes the cursor blink on and off. This |
| 624 | works in any of the cursor modes. |
| 625 | |
| 626 | \S{config-font} Controlling the font used in the terminal window |
| 627 | |
| 628 | This option allows you to choose what font, in what size, the PuTTY |
| 629 | terminal window uses to display the text in the session. You will be |
| 630 | offered a choice from all the fixed-width fonts installed on the |
| 631 | system. (VT100-style terminal handling can only deal with fixed- |
| 632 | width fonts.) |
| 633 | |
| 634 | \S{config-title} Controlling the window title |
| 635 | |
| 636 | The \q{Window title} edit box allows you to set the title of the |
| 637 | PuTTY window. By default the window title will contain the host name |
| 638 | followed by \q{PuTTY}, for example \c{server1.example.com - PuTTY}. |
| 639 | If you want a different window title, this is where to set it. |
| 640 | |
| 641 | PuTTY allows the server to send \c{xterm} control sequences which |
| 642 | modify the title of the window in mid-session. There is also an |
| 643 | \c{xterm} sequence to modify the title of the window's \e{icon}. |
| 644 | This makes sense in a windowing system where the window becomes an |
| 645 | icon when minimised, such as Windows 3.1 or most X Window System |
| 646 | setups; but in the Windows 95-like user interface it isn't as |
| 647 | applicable. By default PuTTY's window title and Taskbar caption will |
| 648 | change into the server-supplied icon title if you minimise the PuTTY |
| 649 | window, and change back to the server-supplied window title if you |
| 650 | restore it. (If the server has not bothered to supply a window or |
| 651 | icon title, none of this will happen.) By checking the box marked |
| 652 | \q{Avoid ever using icon title}, you can arrange that PuTTY will |
| 653 | always display the window title, and completely ignore any icon |
| 654 | titles the server sends it. |
| 655 | |
| 656 | \S{config-mouseptr} \q{Hide mouse pointer when typing in window} |
| 657 | |
| 658 | If you enable this option, the mouse pointer will disappear if the |
| 659 | PuTTY window is selected and you press a key. This way, it will not |
| 660 | obscure any of the text in the window while you work in your |
| 661 | session. As soon as you move the mouse, the pointer will reappear. |
| 662 | |
| 663 | This option is disabled by default, so the mouse pointer remains |
| 664 | visible at all times. |
| 665 | |
| 666 | \S{config-winborder} Controlling the window border |
| 667 | |
| 668 | PuTTY allows you to configure the appearance of the window border to |
| 669 | some extent. |
| 670 | |
| 671 | The checkbox marked \q{Sunken-edge border} changes the appearance of |
| 672 | the window border to something more like a DOS box: the inside edge |
| 673 | of the border is highlighted as if it sank down to meet the surface |
| 674 | inside the window. This makes the border a little bit thicker as |
| 675 | well. It's hard to describe well. Try it and see if you like it. |
| 676 | |
| 677 | You can also configure a completely blank gap between the text in |
| 678 | the window and the border, using the \q{Gap between text and window |
| 679 | edge} control. By default this is set at one pixel. You can reduce |
| 680 | it to zero, or increase it further. |
| 681 | |
| 682 | \H{config-behaviour} The Behaviour panel |
| 683 | |
| 684 | The Behaviour configuration panel allows you to control aspects of |
| 685 | the behaviour of PuTTY's window. |
| 686 | |
| 687 | \S{config-warnonclose} \q{Warn before closing window} |
| 688 | |
| 689 | If you press the Close button in a PuTTY window that contains a |
| 690 | running session, PuTTY will put up a warning window asking if you |
| 691 | really meant to close the window. A window whose session has already |
| 692 | terminated can always be closed without a warning. |
| 693 | |
| 694 | If you want to be able to close a window quickly, you can disable |
| 695 | the \q{Warn before closing window} option. |
| 696 | |
| 697 | \S{config-altf4} \q{Window closes on ALT-F4} |
| 698 | |
| 699 | By default, pressing ALT-F4 causes the window to close (or a warning |
| 700 | box to appear; see \k{config-warnonclose}). If you disable the |
| 701 | \q{Window closes on ALT-F4} option, then pressing ALT-F4 will simply |
| 702 | send a key sequence to the server. |
| 703 | |
| 704 | \S{config-altspace} \q{System menu appears on ALT-Space} |
| 705 | |
| 706 | If this option is enabled, then pressing ALT-Space will bring up the |
| 707 | PuTTY window's menu, like clicking on the top left corner. If it is |
| 708 | disabled, then pressing ALT-Space will just send \c{ESC SPACE} to |
| 709 | the server. |
| 710 | |
| 711 | Some accessibility programs for Windows may need this option |
| 712 | enabling to be able to control PuTTY's window successfully. For |
| 713 | instance, Dragon NaturallySpeaking requires it both to open the |
| 714 | system menu via voice, and to close, minimise, maximise and restore |
| 715 | the window. |
| 716 | |
| 717 | \S{config-altonly} \q{System menu appears on Alt alone} |
| 718 | |
| 719 | If this option is enabled, then pressing and releasing ALT will |
| 720 | bring up the PuTTY window's menu, like clicking on the top left |
| 721 | corner. If it is disabled, then pressing and releasing ALT will have |
| 722 | no effect. |
| 723 | |
| 724 | \S{config-alwaysontop} \q{Ensure window is always on top} |
| 725 | |
| 726 | If this option is enabled, the PuTTY window will stay on top of all |
| 727 | other windows. |
| 728 | |
| 729 | \S{config-fullscreen} \q{Full screen on Alt-Enter} |
| 730 | |
| 731 | If this option is enabled, then pressing Alt-Enter will cause the |
| 732 | PuTTY window to become full-screen. (See \k{using-fullscreen}). |
| 733 | Pressing Alt-Enter again will restore the previous window size. |
| 734 | |
| 735 | \H{config-translation} The Translation panel |
| 736 | |
| 737 | The Translation configuration panel allows you to control the |
| 738 | translation between the character set understood by the server and |
| 739 | the character set understood by PuTTY. |
| 740 | |
| 741 | \S{config-charset} Controlling character set translation |
| 742 | |
| 743 | During an interactive session, PuTTY receives a stream of 8-bit |
| 744 | bytes from the server, and in order to display them on the screen it |
| 745 | needs to know what character set to interpret them in. |
| 746 | |
| 747 | There are a lot of character sets to choose from. The \q{Received |
| 748 | data assumed to be in which character set} option lets you select |
| 749 | one. By default PuTTY will attempt to choose a character set that is |
| 750 | right for your locale as reported by Windows; if it gets it wrong, |
| 751 | you can select a different one using this control. |
| 752 | |
| 753 | A few notable character sets are: |
| 754 | |
| 755 | \b The ISO-8859 series are all standard character sets that include |
| 756 | various accented characters appropriate for different sets of |
| 757 | languages. |
| 758 | |
| 759 | \b The Win125x series are defined by Microsoft, for similar |
| 760 | purposes. In particular Win1252 is almost equivalent to ISO-8859-1, |
| 761 | but contains a few extra characters such as matched quotes and the |
| 762 | Euro symbol. |
| 763 | |
| 764 | \b If you want the old IBM PC character set with block graphics and |
| 765 | line-drawing characters, you can select \q{CP437}. |
| 766 | |
| 767 | \b PuTTY also supports Unicode mode, in which the data coming from |
| 768 | the server is interpreted as being in the UTF-8 encoding of Unicode. |
| 769 | If you select \q{UTF-8} as a character set you can use this mode. |
| 770 | Not all server-side applications will support it. |
| 771 | |
| 772 | \S{config-cyr} \q{Caps Lock acts as Cyrillic switch} |
| 773 | |
| 774 | This feature allows you to switch between a US/UK keyboard layout |
| 775 | and a Cyrillic keyboard layout by using the Caps Lock key, if you |
| 776 | need to type (for example) Russian and English side by side in the |
| 777 | same document. |
| 778 | |
| 779 | Currently this feature is not expected to work properly if your |
| 780 | native keyboard layout is not US or UK. |
| 781 | |
| 782 | \S{config-linedraw} Controlling display of line drawing characters |
| 783 | |
| 784 | VT100-series terminals allow the server to send control sequences |
| 785 | that shift temporarily into a separate character set for drawing |
| 786 | lines and boxes. PuTTY has a variety of ways to support this |
| 787 | capability. In general you should probably try lots of options until |
| 788 | you find one that your particular font supports. |
| 789 | |
| 790 | \b \q{Font has XWindows encoding} is for use with fonts that have a |
| 791 | special encoding, where the lowest 32 character positions (below the |
| 792 | ASCII printable range) contain the line-drawing characters. This is |
| 793 | unlikely to be the case with any standard Windows font; it will |
| 794 | probably only apply to custom-built fonts or fonts that have been |
| 795 | automatically converted from the X Window System. |
| 796 | |
| 797 | \b \q{Use font in both ANSI and OEM modes} tries to use the same |
| 798 | font in two different character sets, to obtain a wider range of |
| 799 | characters. This doesn't always work; some fonts claim to be a |
| 800 | different size depending on which character set you try to use. |
| 801 | |
| 802 | \b \q{Use font in OEM mode only} is more reliable than that, but can |
| 803 | miss out other characters from the main character set. |
| 804 | |
| 805 | \b \q{Poor man's line drawing} assumes that the font \e{cannot} |
| 806 | generate the line and box characters at all, so it will use the |
| 807 | \c{+}, \c{-} and \c{|} characters to draw approximations to boxes. |
| 808 | You should use this option if none of the other options works. |
| 809 | |
| 810 | \b \q{Unicode mode} tries to use the box characters that are present |
| 811 | in Unicode. For good Unicode-supporting fonts this is probably the |
| 812 | most reliable and functional option. |
| 813 | |
| 814 | \H{config-selection} The Selection panel |
| 815 | |
| 816 | The Selection panel allows you to control the way copy and paste |
| 817 | work in the PuTTY window. |
| 818 | |
| 819 | \S{config-linedrawpaste} Controlling the pasting of line drawing |
| 820 | characters |
| 821 | |
| 822 | By default, when you copy and paste a piece of the PuTTY screen that |
| 823 | contains VT100 line and box drawing characters, PuTTY will translate |
| 824 | them into the \q{poor man's} line-drawing characters \c{+}, \c{-} |
| 825 | and \c{|}. The checkbox \q{Don't translate line drawing chars} |
| 826 | disables this feature, so line-drawing characters will be pasted as |
| 827 | if they were in the normal character set. This will typically mean |
| 828 | they come out mostly as \c{q} and \c{x}, with a scattering of |
| 829 | \c{jklmntuvw} at the corners. This might be useful if you were |
| 830 | trying to recreate the same box layout in another program, for |
| 831 | example. |
| 832 | |
| 833 | \S{config-rtfpaste} Pasting in Rich Text Format |
| 834 | |
| 835 | If you enable \q{Paste to clipboard in RTF as well as plain text}, |
| 836 | PuTTY will write formatting information to the clipboard as well as |
| 837 | the actual text you copy. Currently the only effect of this will be |
| 838 | that if you paste into (say) a word processor, the text will appear |
| 839 | in the word processor in the same font PuTTY was using to display |
| 840 | it. In future it is likely that other formatting information (bold, |
| 841 | underline, colours) will be copied as well. |
| 842 | |
| 843 | This option can easily be inconvenient, so by default it is |
| 844 | disabled. |
| 845 | |
| 846 | \S{config-mouse} Changing the actions of the mouse buttons |
| 847 | |
| 848 | PuTTY's copy and paste mechanism is modelled on the Unix \c{xterm} |
| 849 | application. The X Window System uses a three-button mouse, and the |
| 850 | convention is that the left button selects, the right button extends |
| 851 | an existing selection, and the middle button pastes. |
| 852 | |
| 853 | Windows typically only has two mouse buttons, so in PuTTY's default |
| 854 | configuration, the \e{right} button pastes, and the \e{middle} |
| 855 | button (if you have one) extends a selection. |
| 856 | |
| 857 | If you have a three-button mouse and you are already used to the |
| 858 | \c{xterm} arrangement, you can select it using the \q{Action of |
| 859 | mouse buttons} control. |
| 860 | |
| 861 | \S{config-mouseshift} \q{Shift overrides application's use of mouse} |
| 862 | |
| 863 | PuTTY allows the server to send control codes that let it take over |
| 864 | the mouse and use it for purposes other than copy and paste. |
| 865 | Applications which use this feature include the text-mode web |
| 866 | browser \c{links}, the Usenet newsreader \c{trn} version 4, and the |
| 867 | file manager \c{mc} (Midnight Commander). |
| 868 | |
| 869 | When running one of these applications, pressing the mouse buttons |
| 870 | no longer performs copy and paste. If you do need to copy and paste, |
| 871 | you can still do so if you hold down Shift while you do your mouse |
| 872 | clicks. |
| 873 | |
| 874 | However, it is possible in theory for applications to even detect |
| 875 | and make use of Shift + mouse clicks. We don't know of any |
| 876 | applications that do this, but in case someone ever writes one, |
| 877 | unchecking the \q{Shift overrides application's use of mouse} |
| 878 | checkbox will cause Shift + mouse clicks to go to the server as well |
| 879 | (so that mouse-driven copy and paste will be completely disabled). |
| 880 | |
| 881 | \S{config-rectselect} Default selection mode |
| 882 | |
| 883 | As described in \k{using-selection}, PuTTY has two modes of |
| 884 | selecting text to be copied to the clipboard. In the default mode |
| 885 | (\q{Normal}), dragging the mouse from point A to point B selects to |
| 886 | the end of the line containing A, all the lines in between, and from |
| 887 | the very beginning of the line containing B. In the other mode |
| 888 | (\q{Rectangular block}), dragging the mouse between two points |
| 889 | defines a rectangle, and everything within that rectangle is copied. |
| 890 | |
| 891 | Normally, you have to hold down Alt while dragging the mouse to |
| 892 | select a rectangular block. Using the \q{Default selection mode} |
| 893 | control, you can set rectangular selection as the default, and then |
| 894 | you have to hold down Alt to get the \e{normal} behaviour. |
| 895 | |
| 896 | \S{config-charclasses} Configuring word-by-word selection |
| 897 | |
| 898 | PuTTY will select a word at a time in the terminal window if you |
| 899 | double-click to begin the drag. This panel allows you to control |
| 900 | precisely what is considered to be a word. |
| 901 | |
| 902 | Each character is given a \e{class}, which is a small number |
| 903 | (typically 0, 1 or 2). PuTTY considers a single word to be any |
| 904 | number of adjacent characters in the same class. So by modifying the |
| 905 | assignment of characters to classes, you can modify the word-by-word |
| 906 | selection behaviour. |
| 907 | |
| 908 | In the default configuration, the character classes are: |
| 909 | |
| 910 | \b Class 0 contains white space and control characters. |
| 911 | |
| 912 | \b Class 1 contains most punctuation. |
| 913 | |
| 914 | \b Class 2 contains letters, numbers and a few pieces of punctuation |
| 915 | (the double quote, minus sign, period, forward slash and |
| 916 | underscore). |
| 917 | |
| 918 | So, for example, if you assign the \c{@} symbol into character class |
| 919 | 2, you will be able to select an e-mail address with just a double |
| 920 | click. |
| 921 | |
| 922 | In order to adjust these assignments, you start by selecting a group |
| 923 | of characters in the list box. Then enter a class number in the edit |
| 924 | box below, and press the \q{Set} button. |
| 925 | |
| 926 | This mechanism currently only covers ASCII characters, because it |
| 927 | isn't feasible to expand the list to cover the whole of Unicode. |
| 928 | |
| 929 | \H{config-colours} The Colours panel |
| 930 | |
| 931 | The Colours panel allows you to control PuTTY's use of colour. |
| 932 | |
| 933 | \S{config-boldcolour} \q{Bolded text is a different colour} |
| 934 | |
| 935 | When the server sends a control sequence indicating that some text |
| 936 | should be displayed in bold, PuTTY can handle this two ways. It can |
| 937 | either change the font for a bold version, or use the same font in a |
| 938 | brighter colour. This control lets you choose which. |
| 939 | |
| 940 | By default the box is checked, so non-bold text is displayed in |
| 941 | light grey and bold text is displayed in bright white (and similarly |
| 942 | in other colours). If you uncheck the box, bold and non-bold text |
| 943 | will be displayed in the same colour, and instead the font will |
| 944 | change to indicate the difference. |
| 945 | |
| 946 | \S{config-logpalette} \q{Attempt to use logical palettes} |
| 947 | |
| 948 | Logical palettes are a mechanism by which a Windows application |
| 949 | running on an 8-bit colour display can select precisely the colours |
| 950 | it wants instead of going with the Windows standard defaults. |
| 951 | |
| 952 | If you are not getting the colours you ask for on an 8-bit display, |
| 953 | you can try enabling this option. However, be warned that it's never |
| 954 | worked very well. |
| 955 | |
| 956 | \S{config-colourcfg} Adjusting the colours in the terminal window |
| 957 | |
| 958 | The main colour control allows you to specify exactly what colours |
| 959 | things should be displayed in. To modify one of the PuTTY colours, |
| 960 | use the list box to select which colour you want to modify. The RGB |
| 961 | values for that colour will appear on the right-hand side of the |
| 962 | list box. Now, if you press the \q{Modify} button, you will be |
| 963 | presented with a colour selector, in which you can choose a new |
| 964 | colour to go in place of the old one. |
| 965 | |
| 966 | PuTTY allows you to set the cursor colour, the default foreground |
| 967 | and background, and the precise shades of all the ANSI configurable |
| 968 | colours (black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white). |
| 969 | In addition, if you have selected \q{Bolded text is a different |
| 970 | colour}, you can also modify the precise shades used for the bold |
| 971 | versions of these colours. |
| 972 | |
| 973 | \H{config-connection} The Connection panel |
| 974 | |
| 975 | The Connection panel allows you to configure options that apply to |
| 976 | more than one type of connection. |
| 977 | |
| 978 | \S{config-termtype} \q{Terminal-type string} |
| 979 | |
| 980 | Most servers you might connect to with PuTTY are designed to be |
| 981 | connected to from lots of different types of terminal. In order to |
| 982 | send the right control sequences to each one, the server will need |
| 983 | to know what type of terminal it is dealing with. Therefore, each of |
| 984 | the SSH, Telnet and Rlogin protocols allow a text string to be sent |
| 985 | down the connection describing the terminal. |
| 986 | |
| 987 | PuTTY attempts to emulate the Unix \c{xterm} program, and by default |
| 988 | it reflects this by sending \c{xterm} as a terminal-type string. If |
| 989 | you find this is not doing what you want - perhaps the remote |
| 990 | terminal reports \q{Unknown terminal type} - you could try setting |
| 991 | this to something different, such as \c{vt220}. |
| 992 | |
| 993 | If you're not sure whether a problem is due to the terminal type |
| 994 | setting or not, you probably need to consult the manual for your |
| 995 | application or your server. |
| 996 | |
| 997 | \S{config-username} \q{Auto-login username} |
| 998 | |
| 999 | All three of the SSH, Telnet and Rlogin protocols allow you to |
| 1000 | specify what user name you want to log in as, without having to type |
| 1001 | it explicitly every time. (Some Telnet servers don't support this.) |
| 1002 | |
| 1003 | In this box you can type that user name. |
| 1004 | |
| 1005 | \S{config-keepalive} Using keepalives to prevent disconnection |
| 1006 | |
| 1007 | If you find your sessions are closing unexpectedly (\q{Connection |
| 1008 | reset by peer}) after they have been idle for a while, you might |
| 1009 | want to try using this option. |
| 1010 | |
| 1011 | Some network routers and firewalls need to keep track of all |
| 1012 | connections through them. Usually, these firewalls will assume a |
| 1013 | connection is dead if no data is transferred in either direction |
| 1014 | after a certain time interval. This can cause PuTTY sessions to be |
| 1015 | unexpectedly closed by the firewall if no traffic is seen in the |
| 1016 | session for some time. |
| 1017 | |
| 1018 | The keepalive option (\q{Seconds between keepalives}) allows you to |
| 1019 | configure PuTTY to send data through the session at regular |
| 1020 | intervals, in a way that does not disrupt the actual terminal |
| 1021 | session. If you find your firewall is cutting idle connections off, |
| 1022 | you can try entering a non-zero value in this field. The value is |
| 1023 | measured in seconds; so, for example, if your firewall cuts |
| 1024 | connections off after ten minutes then you might want to enter 300 |
| 1025 | seconds (5 minutes) in the box. |
| 1026 | |
| 1027 | Note that keepalives are not always helpful. They help if you have a |
| 1028 | firewall which drops your connection after an idle period; but if |
| 1029 | the network between you and the server suffers from breaks in |
| 1030 | connectivity then keepalives can actually make things worse. If a |
| 1031 | session is idle, and connectivity is temporarily lost between the |
| 1032 | endpoints, but the connectivity is restored before either side tries |
| 1033 | to send anything, then there will be no problem - neither endpoint |
| 1034 | will notice that anything was wrong. However, if one side does send |
| 1035 | something during the break, it will repeatedly try to re-send, and |
| 1036 | eventually give up and abandon the connection. Then when |
| 1037 | connectivity is restored, the other side will find that the first |
| 1038 | side doesn't believe there is an open connection any more. |
| 1039 | Keepalives can make this sort of problem worse, because they |
| 1040 | increase the probability that PuTTY will attempt to send data during |
| 1041 | a break in connectivity. Therefore, you might find they help |
| 1042 | connection loss, or you might find they make it worse, depending on |
| 1043 | what \e{kind} of network problems you have between you and the |
| 1044 | server. |
| 1045 | |
| 1046 | Keepalives are only supported in Telnet and SSH; the Rlogin and Raw |
| 1047 | protocols offer no way of implementing them. |
| 1048 | |
| 1049 | \H{config-telnet} The Telnet panel |
| 1050 | |
| 1051 | The Telnet panel allows you to configure options that only apply to |
| 1052 | Telnet sessions. |
| 1053 | |
| 1054 | \S{config-termspeed} \q{Terminal-speed string} |
| 1055 | |
| 1056 | Telnet allows the client to send a text string that describes the |
| 1057 | terminal speed. PuTTY lets you configure this, in case you find the |
| 1058 | server is reacting badly to the default value. (I'm not aware of any |
| 1059 | servers that do have a problem with it.) |
| 1060 | |
| 1061 | \S{config-environ} Setting environment variables on the server |
| 1062 | |
| 1063 | The Telnet protocol also provides a means for the client to pass |
| 1064 | environment variables to the server. Many Telnet servers have |
| 1065 | stopped supporting this feature due to security flaws, but PuTTY |
| 1066 | still supports it for the benefit of any servers which have found |
| 1067 | other ways around the security problems than just disabling the |
| 1068 | whole mechanism. |
| 1069 | |
| 1070 | To add an environment variable to the list transmitted down the |
| 1071 | connection, you enter the variable name in the \q{Variable} box, |
| 1072 | enter its value in the \q{Value} box, and press the \q{Add} button. |
| 1073 | To remove one from the list, select it in the list box and press |
| 1074 | \q{Remove}. |
| 1075 | |
| 1076 | \S{config-oldenviron} \q{Handling of OLD_ENVIRON ambiguity} |
| 1077 | |
| 1078 | The original Telnet mechanism for passing environment variables was |
| 1079 | badly specified. At the time the standard (RFC 1408) was written, |
| 1080 | BSD telnet implementations were already supporting the feature, and |
| 1081 | the intention of the standard was to describe the behaviour the BSD |
| 1082 | implementations were already using. |
| 1083 | |
| 1084 | Sadly there was a typing error in the standard when it was issued, |
| 1085 | and two vital function codes were specified the wrong way round. BSD |
| 1086 | implementations did not change, and the standard was not corrected. |
| 1087 | Therefore, it's possible you might find either BSD or RFC-compliant |
| 1088 | implementations out there. This switch allows you to choose which |
| 1089 | one PuTTY claims to be. |
| 1090 | |
| 1091 | The problem was solved by issuing a second standard, defining a new |
| 1092 | Telnet mechanism called \cw{NEW_ENVIRON}, which behaved exactly like |
| 1093 | the original \cw{OLD_ENVIRON} but was not encumbered by existing |
| 1094 | implementations. Most Telnet servers now support this, and it's |
| 1095 | unambiguous. This feature should only be needed if you have trouble |
| 1096 | passing environment variables to quite an old server. |
| 1097 | |
| 1098 | \S{config-ptelnet} Passive and active Telnet negotiation modes |
| 1099 | |
| 1100 | In a Telnet connection, there are two types of data passed between |
| 1101 | the client and the server: actual text, and \e{negotiations} about |
| 1102 | which Telnet extra features to use. |
| 1103 | |
| 1104 | PuTTY can use two different strategies for negotiation: |
| 1105 | |
| 1106 | \b In \e{active} mode, PuTTY starts to send negotiations as soon as |
| 1107 | the connection is opened. |
| 1108 | |
| 1109 | \b In \e{passive} mode, PuTTY will wait to negotiate until it sees a |
| 1110 | negotiation from the server. |
| 1111 | |
| 1112 | The obvious disadvantage of passive mode is that if the server is |
| 1113 | also operating in a passive mode, then negotiation will never begin |
| 1114 | at all. For this reason PuTTY defaults to active mode. |
| 1115 | |
| 1116 | However, sometimes passive mode is required in order to successfully |
| 1117 | get through certain types of firewall and Telnet proxy server. If |
| 1118 | you have confusing trouble with a firewall, you could try enabling |
| 1119 | passive mode to see if it helps. |
| 1120 | |
| 1121 | \S{config-telnetkey} \q{Keyboard sends telnet Backspace and Interrupt} |
| 1122 | |
| 1123 | If this box is checked, the Backspace key on the keyboard will send |
| 1124 | the Telnet special backspace code, and Control-C will send the |
| 1125 | Telnet special interrupt code. You probably shouldn't enable this |
| 1126 | unless you know what you're doing. |
| 1127 | |
| 1128 | \H{config-rlogin} The Rlogin panel |
| 1129 | |
| 1130 | The Rlogin panel allows you to configure options that only apply to |
| 1131 | Rlogin sessions. |
| 1132 | |
| 1133 | \S{config-rlogin-termspeed} \q{Terminal-speed string} |
| 1134 | |
| 1135 | Like Telnet, Rlogin allows the client to send a text string that |
| 1136 | describes the terminal speed. PuTTY lets you configure this, in case |
| 1137 | you find the server is reacting badly to the default value. (I'm not |
| 1138 | aware of any servers that do have a problem with it.) |
| 1139 | |
| 1140 | \S{config-rlogin-localuser} \q{Local username} |
| 1141 | |
| 1142 | Rlogin allows an automated (password-free) form of login by means of |
| 1143 | a file called \c{.rhosts} on the server. You put a line in your |
| 1144 | \c{.rhosts} file saying something like \c{jbloggs@pc1.example.com}, |
| 1145 | and then when you make an Rlogin connection the client transmits the |
| 1146 | username of the user running the Rlogin client. The server checks |
| 1147 | the username and hostname against \c{.rhosts}, and if they match it |
| 1148 | does not ask for a password. |
| 1149 | |
| 1150 | This only works because Unix systems contain a safeguard to stop a |
| 1151 | user from pretending to be another user in an Rlogin connection. |
| 1152 | Rlogin connections have to come from port numbers below 1024, and |
| 1153 | Unix systems prohibit this to unprivileged processes; so when the |
| 1154 | server sees a connection from a low-numbered port, it assumes the |
| 1155 | client end of the connection is held by a privileged (and therefore |
| 1156 | trusted) process, so it believes the claim of who the user is. |
| 1157 | |
| 1158 | Windows does not have this restriction: \e{any} user can initiate an |
| 1159 | outgoing connection from a low-numbered port. Hence, the Rlogin |
| 1160 | \c{.rhosts} mechanism is completely useless for securely |
| 1161 | distinguishing several different users on a Windows machine. If you |
| 1162 | have a \c{.rhosts} entry pointing at a Windows PC, you should assume |
| 1163 | that \e{anyone} using that PC can spoof your username in an Rlogin |
| 1164 | connection and access your account on the server. |
| 1165 | |
| 1166 | The \q{Local username} control allows you to specify what user name |
| 1167 | PuTTY should claim you have, in case it doesn't match your Windows |
| 1168 | user name (or in case you didn't bother to set up a Windows user |
| 1169 | name). |
| 1170 | |
| 1171 | \H{config-ssh} The SSH panel |
| 1172 | |
| 1173 | The SSH panel allows you to configure options that only apply to |
| 1174 | SSH sessions. |
| 1175 | |
| 1176 | \S{config-command} Executing a specific command on the server |
| 1177 | |
| 1178 | In SSH, you don't have to run a general shell session on the server. |
| 1179 | Instead, you can choose to run a single specific command (such as a |
| 1180 | mail user agent, for example). If you want to do this, enter the |
| 1181 | command in the \q{Remote command} box. |
| 1182 | |
| 1183 | \S{config-ssh-pty} \q{Don't allocate a pseudo-terminal} |
| 1184 | |
| 1185 | When connecting to a Unix system, most interactive shell sessions |
| 1186 | are run in a \e{pseudo-terminal}, which allows the Unix system to |
| 1187 | pretend it's talking to a real physical terminal device but allows |
| 1188 | the SSH server to catch all the data coming from that fake device |
| 1189 | and send it back to the client. |
| 1190 | |
| 1191 | Occasionally you might find you have a need to run a session \e{not} |
| 1192 | in a pseudo-terminal. In PuTTY, this is generally only useful for |
| 1193 | very specialist purposes; although in Plink (see \k{plink}) it is |
| 1194 | the usual way of working. |
| 1195 | |
| 1196 | \S{config-ssh-comp} \q{Enable compression} |
| 1197 | |
| 1198 | This enables data compression in the SSH connection: data sent by |
| 1199 | the server is compressed before sending, and decompressed at the |
| 1200 | client end. Likewise, data sent by PuTTY to the server is compressed |
| 1201 | first and the server decompresses it at the other end. This can help |
| 1202 | make the most of a low-bandwidth connection. |
| 1203 | |
| 1204 | \S{config-ssh-prot} \q{Preferred SSH protocol version} |
| 1205 | |
| 1206 | This allows you to select whether you would like to use SSH protocol |
| 1207 | version 1 or version 2. \#{FIXME: say something about this elsewhere?} |
| 1208 | |
| 1209 | PuTTY will attempt to use protocol 1 if the server you connect to |
| 1210 | does not offer protocol 2, and vice versa. |
| 1211 | |
| 1212 | \S{config-ssh-macbug} \q{Imitate SSH 2 MAC bug} |
| 1213 | |
| 1214 | This option \e{should} now be unnecessary. It existed in order to |
| 1215 | work around a bug in early versions (2.3.0 and below) of the SSH |
| 1216 | server software from \cw{ssh.com}. The symptom of this problem would |
| 1217 | be that PuTTY would die unexpectedly at the beginning of the |
| 1218 | session, saying \q{Incorrect MAC received on packet}. |
| 1219 | |
| 1220 | Current versions of PuTTY attempt to detect these faulty servers and |
| 1221 | enable the bug compatibility automatically, so you should never need |
| 1222 | to use this option any more. |
| 1223 | |
| 1224 | \S{config-ssh-encryption} Encryption algorithm selection |
| 1225 | |
| 1226 | PuTTY supports a variety of different encryption algorithms, and |
| 1227 | allows you to choose which one you prefer to use. You can do this by |
| 1228 | dragging the algorithms up and down in the list box (or moving them |
| 1229 | using the Up and Down buttons) to specify a preference order. When |
| 1230 | you make an SSH connection, PuTTY will search down the list from the |
| 1231 | top until it finds an algorithm supported by the server, and then |
| 1232 | use that. |
| 1233 | |
| 1234 | If the algorithm PuTTY finds is below the \q{warn below here} line, |
| 1235 | you will see a warning box when you make the connection: |
| 1236 | |
| 1237 | \c The first cipher supported by the server |
| 1238 | \c is single-DES, which is below the configured |
| 1239 | \c warning threshold. |
| 1240 | \c Do you want to continue with this connection? |
| 1241 | |
| 1242 | This warns you that the first available encryption is not a very |
| 1243 | secure one. Typically you would put the \q{warn below here} line |
| 1244 | between the encryptions you consider secure and the ones you |
| 1245 | consider substandard. By default, PuTTY supplies a preference order |
| 1246 | intended to reflect a reasonable preference in terms of security and |
| 1247 | speed. |
| 1248 | |
| 1249 | \H{config-ssh-auth} The Auth panel |
| 1250 | |
| 1251 | The Auth panel allows you to configure authentication options for |
| 1252 | SSH sessions. |
| 1253 | |
| 1254 | \S{config-ssh-tis} \q{Attempt TIS or CryptoCard authentication} |
| 1255 | |
| 1256 | TIS and CryptoCard authentication are simple challenge/response |
| 1257 | forms of authentication available in SSH protocol version 1 only. |
| 1258 | You might use them if you were using S/Key one-time passwords, for |
| 1259 | example, or if you had a physical security token that generated |
| 1260 | responses to authentication challenges. |
| 1261 | |
| 1262 | With this switch enabled, PuTTY will attempt these forms of |
| 1263 | authentication if the server is willing to try them. You will be |
| 1264 | presented with a challenge string (which will be different every |
| 1265 | time) and must supply the correct response in order to log in. If |
| 1266 | your server supports this, you should talk to your system |
| 1267 | administrator about precisely what form these challenges and |
| 1268 | responses take. |
| 1269 | |
| 1270 | \S{config-ssh-agentfwd} \q{Allow agent forwarding} |
| 1271 | |
| 1272 | This option allows the SSH server to open forwarded connections back |
| 1273 | to your local copy of Pageant. If you are not running Pageant, this |
| 1274 | option will do nothing. |
| 1275 | |
| 1276 | See \k{pageant} for general information on Pageant, and |
| 1277 | \k{pageant-forward} for information on agent forwarding. Note that |
| 1278 | there is a security risk involved with enabling this option; see |
| 1279 | \k{pageant-security} for details. |
| 1280 | |
| 1281 | \S{config-ssh-privkey} \q{Private key file for authentication} |
| 1282 | |
| 1283 | This box is where you enter the name of your private key file if you |
| 1284 | are using public key authentication. See \k{pubkey} for information |
| 1285 | about public key authentication in SSH. |
| 1286 | |
| 1287 | \H{config-ssh-tunnels} The Tunnels panel |
| 1288 | |
| 1289 | The Tunnels panel allows you to configure tunnelling of other |
| 1290 | connection types through an SSH connection. |
| 1291 | |
| 1292 | \S{config-ssh-x11} X11 forwarding |
| 1293 | |
| 1294 | If your server lets you run X Window System applications, X11 |
| 1295 | forwarding allows you to securely give those applications access to |
| 1296 | a local X display on your PC. |
| 1297 | |
| 1298 | This feature will only be useful if you have an X server on your PC, |
| 1299 | such as Exceed or XWin32. |
| 1300 | |
| 1301 | To enable X11 forwarding, check the \q{Enable X11 forwarding} box. |
| 1302 | If your X display is not the primary display on your local machine |
| 1303 | (which it almost certainly will be unless you have deliberately |
| 1304 | arranged otherwise), you need to enter its location in the \q{X |
| 1305 | display location} box. |
| 1306 | |
| 1307 | \# FIXME: perhaps link to some more general X forwarding info? |
| 1308 | |
| 1309 | \S{config-ssh-portfwd} Port forwarding |
| 1310 | |
| 1311 | Port forwarding allows you to tunnel other types of network |
| 1312 | connection down an SSH connection. |
| 1313 | |
| 1314 | To set up a local port forwarding, make sure the \q{Local} radio |
| 1315 | button is set. Then enter a local port number (on your PC) in the |
| 1316 | \q{Source port} box, and a hostname and port number (separated by a |
| 1317 | colon) in the \q{Destination} box, and finally press the \q{Add} |
| 1318 | button. For example, you might select a source port of 10079, and a |
| 1319 | destination of \c{server2.example.com:79}. |
| 1320 | |
| 1321 | If you do this, and then start the session, you should find that |
| 1322 | connecting to your local PC on port 10079 gives you a connection to |
| 1323 | port 79 (the finger server) on \c{server2.example.com}. The |
| 1324 | connection is actually going to PuTTY itself, which encrypts the |
| 1325 | connection data and sends it down the secure channel to the SSH |
| 1326 | server. The connection then proceeds in clear from there to the |
| 1327 | eventual destination. So you might use this (for example) to forward |
| 1328 | a connection between two non-hostile network zones that are only |
| 1329 | connected by a hostile zone such as the open Internet. |
| 1330 | |
| 1331 | You can forward ports on the SSH server machine in the other |
| 1332 | direction, too (so the connection will start at the server end and |
| 1333 | be sent down the secure connection to PuTTY, which will make the |
| 1334 | real connection to the destination). To work this way round, just |
| 1335 | click the \q{Remote} radio button instead of \q{Local}. |
| 1336 | |
| 1337 | \# FIXME: perhaps move this to a general port-forwarding section and |
| 1338 | \# just link to it here? |
| 1339 | |
| 1340 | \H{config-file} Storing configuration in a file |
| 1341 | |
| 1342 | PuTTY does not currently support storing its configuration in a file |
| 1343 | instead of the Registry. However, you can work around this with a |
| 1344 | couple of batch files. |
| 1345 | |
| 1346 | You will need a file called (say) \c{PUTTY.BAT} which imports the |
| 1347 | contents of a file into the Registry, then runs PuTTY, exports the |
| 1348 | contents of the Registry back into the file, and deletes the |
| 1349 | Registry entries. This can all be done using the Regedit command |
| 1350 | line options, so it's all automatic. Here is what you need in |
| 1351 | \c{PUTTY.BAT}: |
| 1352 | |
| 1353 | \c @ECHO OFF |
| 1354 | \c regedit /s putty.reg |
| 1355 | \c regedit /s puttyrnd.reg |
| 1356 | \c start /w putty.exe |
| 1357 | \c regedit /e puttynew.reg HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY |
| 1358 | \c copy puttynew.reg putty.reg |
| 1359 | \c del puttynew.reg |
| 1360 | \c regedit /s puttydel.reg |
| 1361 | |
| 1362 | This batch file needs two auxiliary files: \c{PUTTYRND.REG} which |
| 1363 | sets up an initial safe location for the \c{PUTTY.RND} random seed |
| 1364 | file, and \c{PUTTYDEL.REG} which destroys everything in the Registry |
| 1365 | once it's been successfully saved back to the file. |
| 1366 | |
| 1367 | Here is \c{PUTTYDEL.REG}: |
| 1368 | |
| 1369 | \c REGEDIT4 |
| 1370 | \c |
| 1371 | \c [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY] |
| 1372 | |
| 1373 | Here is an example \c{PUTTYRND.REG} file: |
| 1374 | |
| 1375 | \c REGEDIT4 |
| 1376 | \c |
| 1377 | \c [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY] |
| 1378 | \c "RandSeedFile"="a:\putty.rnd" |
| 1379 | |
| 1380 | You should replace \c{a:\\putty.rnd} with the location where you |
| 1381 | want to store your random number data. If the aim is to carry around |
| 1382 | PuTTY and its settings on one floppy, you probably want to store it |
| 1383 | on the floppy. |