Add a bug-compatibility flag to disable the
[u/mdw/putty] / doc / config.but
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1\define{versionidconfig} \versionid $Id$
2
3\C{config} Configuring PuTTY
4
5This chapter describes all the \i{configuration options} in PuTTY.
6
7PuTTY is configured using the control panel that comes up before you
8start a session. Some options can also be changed in the middle of a
9session, by selecting \q{Change Settings} from the window menu.
10
11\H{config-session} The Session panel
12
13The Session configuration panel contains the basic options you need
14to specify in order to open a session at all, and also allows you to
15save your settings to be reloaded later.
16
17\S{config-hostname} The \i{host name} section
18
19\cfg{winhelp-topic}{session.hostname}
20
21The top box on the Session panel, labelled \q{Specify your
22connection by host name}, contains the details that need to be
23filled in before PuTTY can open a session at all.
24
25\b The \q{Host Name} box is where you type the name, or the \i{IP
26address}, of the server you want to connect to.
27
28\b The \q{Connection type} radio buttons let you choose what type of
29connection you want to make: a \I{raw TCP connections}raw
30connection, a \i{Telnet} connection, an \i{Rlogin} connection, an
31\i{SSH} connection, or a connection to a local \i{serial line}. (See
32\k{which-one} for a summary of the differences between SSH, Telnet
33and rlogin; see \k{using-rawprot} for an explanation of \q{raw}
34connections; see \k{using-serial} for information about using a
35serial line.)
36
37\b The \q{Port} box lets you specify which \i{port number} on the
38server to connect to. If you select Telnet, Rlogin, or SSH, this box
39will be filled in automatically to the usual value, and you will
40only need to change it if you have an unusual server. If you select
41Raw mode, you will almost certainly need to fill in the \q{Port} box
42yourself.
43
44If you select \q{Serial} from the \q{Connection type} radio buttons,
45the \q{Host Name} and \q{Port} boxes are replaced by \q{Serial line}
46and \q{Speed}; see \k{config-serial} for more details of these.
47
48\S{config-saving} \ii{Loading and storing saved sessions}
49
50\cfg{winhelp-topic}{session.saved}
51
52The next part of the Session configuration panel allows you to save
53your preferred PuTTY options so they will appear automatically the
54next time you start PuTTY. It also allows you to create \e{saved
55sessions}, which contain a full set of configuration options plus a
56host name and protocol. A saved session contains all the information
57PuTTY needs to start exactly the session you want.
58
59\b To save your default settings: first set up the settings the way
60you want them saved. Then come back to the Session panel. Select the
61\q{\i{Default Settings}} entry in the saved sessions list, with a single
62click. Then press the \q{Save} button.
63
64If there is a specific host you want to store the details of how to
65connect to, you should create a saved session, which will be
66separate from the Default Settings.
67
68\b To save a session: first go through the rest of the configuration
69box setting up all the options you want. Then come back to the
70Session panel. Enter a name for the saved session in the \q{Saved
71Sessions} input box. (The server name is often a good choice for a
72saved session name.) Then press the \q{Save} button. Your saved
73session name should now appear in the list box.
74
75\lcont{
76You can also save settings in mid-session, from the \q{Change Settings}
77dialog. Settings changed since the start of the session will be saved
78with their current values; as well as settings changed through the
79dialog, this includes changes in window size, window title changes
80sent by the server, and so on.
81}
82
83\b To reload a saved session: single-click to select the session
84name in the list box, and then press the \q{Load} button. Your saved
85settings should all appear in the configuration panel.
86
87\b To modify a saved session: first load it as described above. Then
88make the changes you want. Come back to the Session panel, and press
89the \q{Save} button. The new settings will be saved over the top of
90the old ones.
91
92\lcont{
93To save the new settings under a different name, you can enter the new
94name in the \q{Saved Sessions} box, or single-click to select a
95session name in the list box to overwrite that session. To save
96\q{Default Settings}, you must single-click the name before saving.
97}
98
99\b To start a saved session immediately: double-click on the session
100name in the list box.
101
102\b To delete a saved session: single-click to select the session
103name in the list box, and then press the \q{Delete} button.
104
105Each saved session is independent of the Default Settings
106configuration. If you change your preferences and update Default
107Settings, you must also update every saved session separately.
108
109Saved sessions are stored in the \i{Registry}, at the location
110
111\c HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY\Sessions
112
113If you need to store them in a file, you could try the method
114described in \k{config-file}.
115
116\S{config-closeonexit} \q{\ii{Close Window} on Exit}
117
118\cfg{winhelp-topic}{session.coe}
119
120Finally in the Session panel, there is an option labelled \q{Close
121Window on Exit}. This controls whether the PuTTY \i{terminal window}
122disappears as soon as the session inside it terminates. If you are
123likely to want to copy and paste text out of the session after it
124has terminated, or restart the session, you should arrange for this
125option to be off.
126
127\q{Close Window On Exit} has three settings. \q{Always} means always
128close the window on exit; \q{Never} means never close on exit
129(always leave the window open, but \I{inactive window}inactive). The
130third setting, and the default one, is \q{Only on clean exit}. In this
131mode, a session which terminates normally will cause its window to
132close, but one which is aborted unexpectedly by network trouble or a
133confusing message from the server will leave the window up.
134
135\H{config-logging} The Logging panel
136
137\cfg{winhelp-topic}{logging.main}
138
139The Logging configuration panel allows you to save \i{log file}s of your
140PuTTY sessions, for debugging, analysis or future reference.
141
142The main option is a radio-button set that specifies whether PuTTY
143will log anything at all. The options are:
144
145\b \q{None}. This is the default option; in this mode PuTTY will not
146create a log file at all.
147
148\b \q{Printable output}. In this mode, a log file will be
149created and written to, but only printable text will be saved into
150it. The various terminal control codes that are typically sent down
151an interactive session alongside the printable text will be omitted.
152This might be a useful mode if you want to read a log file in a text
153editor and hope to be able to make sense of it.
154
155\b \q{All session output}. In this mode, \e{everything} sent by
156the server into your terminal session is logged. If you view the log
157file in a text editor, therefore, you may well find it full of
158strange control characters. This is a particularly useful mode if
159you are experiencing problems with PuTTY's terminal handling: you
160can record everything that went to the terminal, so that someone
161else can replay the session later in slow motion and watch to see
162what went wrong.
163
164\b \I{SSH packet log}\q{SSH packets}. In this mode (which is only used
165by SSH connections), the SSH message packets sent over the encrypted
166connection are written to the log file (as well as \i{Event Log}
167entries). You might need this to debug a network-level problem, or
168more likely to send to the PuTTY authors as part of a bug report.
169\e{BE WARNED} that if you log in using a password, the password can
170appear in the log file; see \k{config-logssh} for options that may
171help to remove sensitive material from the log file before you send it
172to anyone else.
173
174\b \q{SSH packets and raw data}. In this mode, as well as the
175decrypted packets (as in the previous mode), the \e{raw} (encrypted,
176compressed, etc) packets are \e{also} logged. This could be useful to
177diagnose corruption in transit. (The same caveats as the previous mode
178apply, of course.)
179
180Note that the non-SSH logging options (\q{Printable output} and
181\q{All session output}) only work with PuTTY proper; in programs
182without terminal emulation (such as Plink), they will have no effect,
183even if enabled via saved settings.
184
185\S{config-logfilename} \q{Log file name}
186
187\cfg{winhelp-topic}{logging.filename}
188
189In this edit box you enter the name of the file you want to log the
190session to. The \q{Browse} button will let you look around your file
191system to find the right place to put the file; or if you already
192know exactly where you want it to go, you can just type a pathname
193into the edit box.
194
195There are a few special features in this box. If you use the \c{&}
196character in the file name box, PuTTY will insert details of the
197current session in the name of the file it actually opens. The
198precise replacements it will do are:
199
200\b \c{&Y} will be replaced by the current year, as four digits.
201
202\b \c{&M} will be replaced by the current month, as two digits.
203
204\b \c{&D} will be replaced by the current day of the month, as two
205digits.
206
207\b \c{&T} will be replaced by the current time, as six digits
208(HHMMSS) with no punctuation.
209
210\b \c{&H} will be replaced by the host name you are connecting to.
211
212For example, if you enter the host name
213\c{c:\\puttylogs\\log-&h-&y&m&d-&t.dat}, you will end up with files looking
214like
215
216\c log-server1.example.com-20010528-110859.dat
217\c log-unixbox.somewhere.org-20010611-221001.dat
218
219\S{config-logfileexists} \q{What to do if the log file already exists}
220
221\cfg{winhelp-topic}{logging.exists}
222
223This control allows you to specify what PuTTY should do if it tries
224to start writing to a log file and it finds the file already exists.
225You might want to automatically destroy the existing log file and
226start a new one with the same name. Alternatively, you might want to
227open the existing log file and add data to the \e{end} of it.
228Finally (the default option), you might not want to have any
229automatic behaviour, but to ask the user every time the problem
230comes up.
231
232\S{config-logflush} \I{log file, flushing}\q{Flush log file frequently}
233
234\cfg{winhelp-topic}{logging.flush}
235
236This option allows you to control how frequently logged data is
237flushed to disc. By default, PuTTY will flush data as soon as it is
238displayed, so that if you view the log file while a session is still
239open, it will be up to date; and if the client system crashes, there's
240a greater chance that the data will be preserved.
241
242However, this can incur a performance penalty. If PuTTY is running
243slowly with logging enabled, you could try unchecking this option. Be
244warned that the log file may not always be up to date as a result
245(although it will of course be flushed when it is closed, for instance
246at the end of a session).
247
248\S{config-logssh} Options specific to \i{SSH packet log}ging
249
250These options only apply if SSH packet data is being logged.
251
252The following options allow particularly sensitive portions of
253unencrypted packets to be automatically left out of the log file.
254They are only intended to deter casual nosiness; an attacker could
255glean a lot of useful information from even these obfuscated logs
256(e.g., length of password).
257
258\S2{config-logssh-omitpw} \q{Omit known password fields}
259
260\cfg{winhelp-topic}{logging.ssh.omitpassword}
261
262When checked, decrypted password fields are removed from the log of
263transmitted packets. (This includes any user responses to
264challenge-response authentication methods such as
265\q{keyboard-interactive}.) This does not include X11 authentication
266data if using X11 forwarding.
267
268Note that this will only omit data that PuTTY \e{knows} to be a
269password. However, if you start another login session within your
270PuTTY session, for instance, any password used will appear in the
271clear in the packet log. The next option may be of use to protect
272against this.
273
274This option is enabled by default.
275
276\S2{config-logssh-omitdata} \q{Omit session data}
277
278\cfg{winhelp-topic}{logging.ssh.omitdata}
279
280When checked, all decrypted \q{session data} is omitted; this is
281defined as data in terminal sessions and in forwarded channels (TCP,
282X11, and authentication agent). This will usually substantially reduce
283the size of the resulting log file.
284
285This option is disabled by default.
286
287\H{config-terminal} The Terminal panel
288
289The Terminal configuration panel allows you to control the behaviour
290of PuTTY's \i{terminal emulation}.
291
292\S{config-autowrap} \q{Auto wrap mode initially on}
293
294\cfg{winhelp-topic}{terminal.autowrap}
295
296\ii{Auto wrap mode} controls what happens when text printed in a PuTTY
297window reaches the right-hand edge of the window.
298
299With auto wrap mode on, if a long line of text reaches the
300right-hand edge, it will wrap over on to the next line so you can
301still see all the text. With auto wrap mode off, the cursor will
302stay at the right-hand edge of the screen, and all the characters in
303the line will be printed on top of each other.
304
305If you are running a full-screen application and you occasionally
306find the screen scrolling up when it looks as if it shouldn't, you
307could try turning this option off.
308
309Auto wrap mode can be turned on and off by \i{control sequence}s sent by
310the server. This configuration option controls the \e{default}
311state, which will be restored when you reset the terminal (see
312\k{reset-terminal}). However, if you modify this option in
313mid-session using \q{Change Settings}, it will take effect
314immediately.
315
316\S{config-decom} \q{DEC Origin Mode initially on}
317
318\cfg{winhelp-topic}{terminal.decom}
319
320\i{DEC Origin Mode} is a minor option which controls how PuTTY
321interprets cursor-position \i{control sequence}s sent by the server.
322
323The server can send a control sequence that restricts the \i{scrolling
324region} of the display. For example, in an editor, the server might
325reserve a line at the top of the screen and a line at the bottom,
326and might send a control sequence that causes scrolling operations
327to affect only the remaining lines.
328
329With DEC Origin Mode on, \i{cursor coordinates} are counted from the top
330of the scrolling region. With it turned off, cursor coordinates are
331counted from the top of the whole screen regardless of the scrolling
332region.
333
334It is unlikely you would need to change this option, but if you find
335a full-screen application is displaying pieces of text in what looks
336like the wrong part of the screen, you could try turning DEC Origin
337Mode on to see whether that helps.
338
339DEC Origin Mode can be turned on and off by control sequences sent
340by the server. This configuration option controls the \e{default}
341state, which will be restored when you reset the terminal (see
342\k{reset-terminal}). However, if you modify this option in
343mid-session using \q{Change Settings}, it will take effect
344immediately.
345
346\S{config-crlf} \q{Implicit CR in every LF}
347
348\cfg{winhelp-topic}{terminal.lfhascr}
349
350Most servers send two control characters, \i{CR} and \i{LF}, to start a
351\i{new line} of the screen. The CR character makes the cursor return to the
352left-hand side of the screen. The LF character makes the cursor move
353one line down (and might make the screen scroll).
354
355Some servers only send LF, and expect the terminal to move the
356cursor over to the left automatically. If you come across a server
357that does this, you will see a \I{stair-stepping}stepped effect on the
358screen, like this:
359
360\c First line of text
361\c Second line
362\c Third line
363
364If this happens to you, try enabling the \q{Implicit CR in every LF}
365option, and things might go back to normal:
366
367\c First line of text
368\c Second line
369\c Third line
370
371\S{config-lfcr} \q{Implicit LF in every CR}
372
373\cfg{winhelp-topic}{terminal.crhaslf}
374
375Most servers send two control characters, \i{CR} and \i{LF}, to start a
376\i{new line} of the screen. The CR character makes the cursor return to the
377left-hand side of the screen. The LF character makes the cursor move
378one line down (and might make the screen scroll).
379
380Some servers only send CR, and so the newly
381written line is overwritten by the following line. This option causes
382a line feed so that all lines are displayed.
383
384\S{config-erase} \q{Use \i{background colour} to erase screen}
385
386\cfg{winhelp-topic}{terminal.bce}
387
388Not all terminals agree on what colour to turn the screen when the
389server sends a \q{\i{clear screen}} sequence. Some terminals believe the
390screen should always be cleared to the \e{default} background
391colour. Others believe the screen should be cleared to whatever the
392server has selected as a background colour.
393
394There exist applications that expect both kinds of behaviour.
395Therefore, PuTTY can be configured to do either.
396
397With this option disabled, screen clearing is always done in the
398default background colour. With this option enabled, it is done in
399the \e{current} background colour.
400
401Background-colour erase can be turned on and off by \i{control
402sequences} sent by the server. This configuration option controls the
403\e{default} state, which will be restored when you reset the
404terminal (see \k{reset-terminal}). However, if you modify this
405option in mid-session using \q{Change Settings}, it will take effect
406immediately.
407
408\S{config-blink} \q{Enable \i{blinking text}}
409
410\cfg{winhelp-topic}{terminal.blink}
411
412The server can ask PuTTY to display text that blinks on and off.
413This is very distracting, so PuTTY allows you to turn blinking text
414off completely.
415
416When blinking text is disabled and the server attempts to make some
417text blink, PuTTY will instead display the text with a \I{background
418colour, bright}bolded background colour.
419
420Blinking text can be turned on and off by \i{control sequence}s sent by
421the server. This configuration option controls the \e{default}
422state, which will be restored when you reset the terminal (see
423\k{reset-terminal}). However, if you modify this option in
424mid-session using \q{Change Settings}, it will take effect
425immediately.
426
427\S{config-answerback} \q{\ii{Answerback} to ^E}
428
429\cfg{winhelp-topic}{terminal.answerback}
430
431This option controls what PuTTY will send back to the server if the
432server sends it the ^E \i{enquiry character}. Normally it just sends
433the string \q{PuTTY}.
434
435If you accidentally write the contents of a binary file to your
436terminal, you will probably find that it contains more than one ^E
437character, and as a result your next command line will probably read
438\q{PuTTYPuTTYPuTTY...} as if you had typed the answerback string
439multiple times at the keyboard. If you set the answerback string to
440be empty, this problem should go away, but doing so might cause
441other problems.
442
443Note that this is \e{not} the feature of PuTTY which the server will
444typically use to determine your terminal type. That feature is the
445\q{\ii{Terminal-type} string} in the Connection panel; see
446\k{config-termtype} for details.
447
448You can include control characters in the answerback string using
449\c{^C} notation. (Use \c{^~} to get a literal \c{^}.)
450
451\S{config-localecho} \q{\ii{Local echo}}
452
453\cfg{winhelp-topic}{terminal.localecho}
454
455With local echo disabled, characters you type into the PuTTY window
456are not echoed in the window \e{by PuTTY}. They are simply sent to
457the server. (The \e{server} might choose to \I{remote echo}echo them
458back to you; this can't be controlled from the PuTTY control panel.)
459
460Some types of session need local echo, and many do not. In its
461default mode, PuTTY will automatically attempt to deduce whether or
462not local echo is appropriate for the session you are working in. If
463you find it has made the wrong decision, you can use this
464configuration option to override its choice: you can force local
465echo to be turned on, or force it to be turned off, instead of
466relying on the automatic detection.
467
468\S{config-localedit} \q{\ii{Local line editing}}
469
470\cfg{winhelp-topic}{terminal.localedit}
471
472Normally, every character you type into the PuTTY window is sent
473immediately to the server the moment you type it.
474
475If you enable local line editing, this changes. PuTTY will let you
476edit a whole line at a time locally, and the line will only be sent
477to the server when you press Return. If you make a mistake, you can
478use the Backspace key to correct it before you press Return, and the
479server will never see the mistake.
480
481Since it is hard to edit a line locally without being able to see
482it, local line editing is mostly used in conjunction with \i{local echo}
483(\k{config-localecho}). This makes it ideal for use in raw mode
484\#{FIXME} or when connecting to \i{MUD}s or \i{talker}s. (Although some more
485advanced MUDs do occasionally turn local line editing on and turn
486local echo off, in order to accept a password from the user.)
487
488Some types of session need local line editing, and many do not. In
489its default mode, PuTTY will automatically attempt to deduce whether
490or not local line editing is appropriate for the session you are
491working in. If you find it has made the wrong decision, you can use
492this configuration option to override its choice: you can force
493local line editing to be turned on, or force it to be turned off,
494instead of relying on the automatic detection.
495
496\S{config-printing} \ii{Remote-controlled printing}
497
498\cfg{winhelp-topic}{terminal.printing}
499
500A lot of VT100-compatible terminals support printing under control
501of the remote server. PuTTY supports this feature as well, but it is
502turned off by default.
503
504To enable remote-controlled printing, choose a printer from the
505\q{Printer to send ANSI printer output to} drop-down list box. This
506should allow you to select from all the printers you have installed
507drivers for on your computer. Alternatively, you can type the
508network name of a networked printer (for example,
509\c{\\\\printserver\\printer1}) even if you haven't already
510installed a driver for it on your own machine.
511
512When the remote server attempts to print some data, PuTTY will send
513that data to the printer \e{raw} - without translating it,
514attempting to format it, or doing anything else to it. It is up to
515you to ensure your remote server knows what type of printer it is
516talking to.
517
518Since PuTTY sends data to the printer raw, it cannot offer options
519such as portrait versus landscape, print quality, or paper tray
520selection. All these things would be done by your PC printer driver
521(which PuTTY bypasses); if you need them done, you will have to find
522a way to configure your remote server to do them.
523
524To disable remote printing again, choose \q{None (printing
525disabled)} from the printer selection list. This is the default
526state.
527
528\H{config-keyboard} The Keyboard panel
529
530The Keyboard configuration panel allows you to control the behaviour
531of the \i{keyboard} in PuTTY. The correct state for many of these
532settings depends on what the server to which PuTTY is connecting
533expects. With a \i{Unix} server, this is likely to depend on the
534\i\c{termcap} or \i\c{terminfo} entry it uses, which in turn is likely to
535be controlled by the \q{\ii{Terminal-type} string} setting in the Connection
536panel; see \k{config-termtype} for details. If none of the settings here
537seems to help, you may find \k{faq-keyboard} to be useful.
538
539\S{config-backspace} Changing the action of the \ii{Backspace key}
540
541\cfg{winhelp-topic}{keyboard.backspace}
542
543Some terminals believe that the Backspace key should send the same
544thing to the server as \i{Control-H} (ASCII code 8). Other terminals
545believe that the Backspace key should send ASCII code 127 (usually
546known as \i{Control-?}) so that it can be distinguished from Control-H.
547This option allows you to choose which code PuTTY generates when you
548press Backspace.
549
550If you are connecting over SSH, PuTTY by default tells the server
551the value of this option (see \k{config-ttymodes}), so you may find
552that the Backspace key does the right thing either way. Similarly,
553if you are connecting to a \i{Unix} system, you will probably find that
554the Unix \i\c{stty} command lets you configure which the server
555expects to see, so again you might not need to change which one PuTTY
556generates. On other systems, the server's expectation might be fixed
557and you might have no choice but to configure PuTTY.
558
559If you do have the choice, we recommend configuring PuTTY to
560generate Control-? and configuring the server to expect it, because
561that allows applications such as \c{emacs} to use Control-H for
562help.
563
564(Typing \i{Shift-Backspace} will cause PuTTY to send whichever code
565isn't configured here as the default.)
566
567\S{config-homeend} Changing the action of the \i{Home and End keys}
568
569\cfg{winhelp-topic}{keyboard.homeend}
570
571The Unix terminal emulator \i\c{rxvt} disagrees with the rest of the
572world about what character sequences should be sent to the server by
573the Home and End keys.
574
575\i\c{xterm}, and other terminals, send \c{ESC [1~} for the Home key,
576and \c{ESC [4~} for the End key. \c{rxvt} sends \c{ESC [H} for the
577Home key and \c{ESC [Ow} for the End key.
578
579If you find an application on which the Home and End keys aren't
580working, you could try switching this option to see if it helps.
581
582\S{config-funkeys} Changing the action of the \i{function keys} and
583\i{keypad}
584
585\cfg{winhelp-topic}{keyboard.funkeys}
586
587This option affects the function keys (F1 to F12) and the top row of
588the numeric keypad.
589
590\b In the default mode, labelled \c{ESC [n~}, the function keys
591generate sequences like \c{ESC [11~}, \c{ESC [12~} and so on. This
592matches the general behaviour of Digital's terminals.
593
594\b In Linux mode, F6 to F12 behave just like the default mode, but
595F1 to F5 generate \c{ESC [[A} through to \c{ESC [[E}. This mimics the
596\i{Linux virtual console}.
597
598\b In \I{xterm}Xterm R6 mode, F5 to F12 behave like the default mode, but F1
599to F4 generate \c{ESC OP} through to \c{ESC OS}, which are the
600sequences produced by the top row of the \e{keypad} on Digital's
601terminals.
602
603\b In \i{VT400} mode, all the function keys behave like the default
604mode, but the actual top row of the numeric keypad generates \c{ESC
605OP} through to \c{ESC OS}.
606
607\b In \i{VT100+} mode, the function keys generate \c{ESC OP} through to
608\c{ESC O[}
609
610\b In \i{SCO} mode, the function keys F1 to F12 generate \c{ESC [M}
611through to \c{ESC [X}. Together with shift, they generate \c{ESC [Y}
612through to \c{ESC [j}. With control they generate \c{ESC [k} through
613to \c{ESC [v}, and with shift and control together they generate
614\c{ESC [w} through to \c{ESC [\{}.
615
616If you don't know what any of this means, you probably don't need to
617fiddle with it.
618
619\S{config-appcursor} Controlling \i{Application Cursor Keys} mode
620
621\cfg{winhelp-topic}{keyboard.appcursor}
622
623Application Cursor Keys mode is a way for the server to change the
624control sequences sent by the arrow keys. In normal mode, the arrow
625keys send \c{ESC [A} through to \c{ESC [D}. In application mode,
626they send \c{ESC OA} through to \c{ESC OD}.
627
628Application Cursor Keys mode can be turned on and off by the server,
629depending on the application. PuTTY allows you to configure the
630initial state.
631
632You can also disable application cursor keys mode completely, using
633the \q{Features} configuration panel; see
634\k{config-features-application}.
635
636\S{config-appkeypad} Controlling \i{Application Keypad} mode
637
638\cfg{winhelp-topic}{keyboard.appkeypad}
639
640Application Keypad mode is a way for the server to change the
641behaviour of the numeric keypad.
642
643In normal mode, the keypad behaves like a normal Windows keypad:
644with \i{NumLock} on, the number keys generate numbers, and with NumLock
645off they act like the arrow keys and Home, End etc.
646
647In application mode, all the keypad keys send special control
648sequences, \e{including} Num Lock. Num Lock stops behaving like Num
649Lock and becomes another function key.
650
651Depending on which version of Windows you run, you may find the Num
652Lock light still flashes on and off every time you press Num Lock,
653even when application mode is active and Num Lock is acting like a
654function key. This is unavoidable.
655
656Application keypad mode can be turned on and off by the server,
657depending on the application. PuTTY allows you to configure the
658initial state.
659
660You can also disable application keypad mode completely, using the
661\q{Features} configuration panel; see
662\k{config-features-application}.
663
664\S{config-nethack} Using \i{NetHack keypad mode}
665
666\cfg{winhelp-topic}{keyboard.nethack}
667
668PuTTY has a special mode for playing NetHack. You can enable it by
669selecting \q{NetHack} in the \q{Initial state of numeric keypad}
670control.
671
672In this mode, the numeric keypad keys 1-9 generate the NetHack
673movement commands (\cw{hjklyubn}). The 5 key generates the \c{.}
674command (do nothing).
675
676In addition, pressing Shift or Ctrl with the keypad keys generate
677the Shift- or Ctrl-keys you would expect (e.g. keypad-7 generates
678\cq{y}, so Shift-keypad-7 generates \cq{Y} and Ctrl-keypad-7
679generates Ctrl-Y); these commands tell NetHack to keep moving you in
680the same direction until you encounter something interesting.
681
682For some reason, this feature only works properly when \i{Num Lock} is
683on. We don't know why.
684
685\S{config-compose} Enabling a DEC-like \ii{Compose key}
686
687\cfg{winhelp-topic}{keyboard.compose}
688
689DEC terminals have a Compose key, which provides an easy-to-remember
690way of typing \i{accented characters}. You press Compose and then type
691two more characters. The two characters are \q{combined} to produce
692an accented character. The choices of character are designed to be
693easy to remember; for example, composing \q{e} and \q{`} produces
694the \q{\u00e8{e-grave}} character.
695
696If your keyboard has a Windows \i{Application key}, it acts as a Compose
697key in PuTTY. Alternatively, if you enable the \q{\i{AltGr} acts as
698Compose key} option, the AltGr key will become a Compose key.
699
700\S{config-ctrlalt} \q{Control-Alt is different from \i{AltGr}}
701
702\cfg{winhelp-topic}{keyboard.ctrlalt}
703
704Some old keyboards do not have an AltGr key, which can make it
705difficult to type some characters. PuTTY can be configured to treat
706the key combination Ctrl + Left Alt the same way as the AltGr key.
707
708By default, this checkbox is checked, and the key combination Ctrl +
709Left Alt does something completely different. PuTTY's usual handling
710of the left Alt key is to prefix the Escape (Control-\cw{[})
711character to whatever character sequence the rest of the keypress
712would generate. For example, Alt-A generates Escape followed by
713\c{a}. So Alt-Ctrl-A would generate Escape, followed by Control-A.
714
715If you uncheck this box, Ctrl-Alt will become a synonym for AltGr,
716so you can use it to type extra graphic characters if your keyboard
717has any.
718
719(However, Ctrl-Alt will never act as a Compose key, regardless of the
720setting of \q{AltGr acts as Compose key} described in
721\k{config-compose}.)
722
723\H{config-bell} The Bell panel
724
725The Bell panel controls the \i{terminal bell} feature: the server's
726ability to cause PuTTY to beep at you.
727
728In the default configuration, when the server sends the character
729with ASCII code 7 (Control-G), PuTTY will play the \i{Windows Default
730Beep} sound. This is not always what you want the terminal bell
731feature to do; the Bell panel allows you to configure alternative
732actions.
733
734\S{config-bellstyle} \q{Set the style of bell}
735
736\cfg{winhelp-topic}{bell.style}
737
738This control allows you to select various different actions to occur
739on a terminal bell:
740
741\b Selecting \q{None} \I{terminal bell, disabling}disables the bell
742completely. In this mode, the server can send as many Control-G
743characters as it likes and nothing at all will happen.
744
745\b \q{Make default system alert sound} is the default setting. It
746causes the Windows \q{Default Beep} sound to be played. To change
747what this sound is, or to test it if nothing seems to be happening,
748use the Sound configurer in the Windows Control Panel.
749
750\b \q{\ii{Visual bell}} is a silent alternative to a beeping computer. In
751this mode, when the server sends a Control-G, the whole PuTTY window
752will flash white for a fraction of a second.
753
754\b \q{Beep using the \i{PC speaker}} is self-explanatory.
755
756\b \q{Play a custom \i{sound file}} allows you to specify a particular
757sound file to be used by PuTTY alone, or even by a particular
758individual PuTTY session. This allows you to distinguish your PuTTY
759beeps from any other beeps on the system. If you select this option,
760you will also need to enter the name of your sound file in the edit
761control \q{Custom sound file to play as a bell}.
762
763\S{config-belltaskbar} \q{\ii{Taskbar}/\I{window caption}caption
764indication on bell}
765
766\cfg{winhelp-topic}{bell.taskbar}
767
768This feature controls what happens to the PuTTY window's entry in
769the Windows Taskbar if a bell occurs while the window does not have
770the input focus.
771
772In the default state (\q{Disabled}) nothing unusual happens.
773
774If you select \q{Steady}, then when a bell occurs and the window is
775not in focus, the window's Taskbar entry and its title bar will
776change colour to let you know that PuTTY session is asking for your
777attention. The change of colour will persist until you select the
778window, so you can leave several PuTTY windows minimised in your
779terminal, go away from your keyboard, and be sure not to have missed
780any important beeps when you get back.
781
782\q{Flashing} is even more eye-catching: the Taskbar entry will
783continuously flash on and off until you select the window.
784
785\S{config-bellovl} \q{Control the \i{bell overload} behaviour}
786
787\cfg{winhelp-topic}{bell.overload}
788
789A common user error in a terminal session is to accidentally run the
790Unix command \c{cat} (or equivalent) on an inappropriate file type,
791such as an executable, image file, or ZIP file. This produces a huge
792stream of non-text characters sent to the terminal, which typically
793includes a lot of bell characters. As a result of this the terminal
794often doesn't stop beeping for ten minutes, and everybody else in
795the office gets annoyed.
796
797To try to avoid this behaviour, or any other cause of excessive
798beeping, PuTTY includes a bell overload management feature. In the
799default configuration, receiving more than five bell characters in a
800two-second period will cause the overload feature to activate. Once
801the overload feature is active, further bells will \I{terminal bell,
802disabling} have no effect at all, so the rest of your binary file
803will be sent to the screen in silence. After a period of five seconds
804during which no further bells are received, the overload feature will
805turn itself off again and bells will be re-enabled.
806
807If you want this feature completely disabled, you can turn it off
808using the checkbox \q{Bell is temporarily disabled when over-used}.
809
810Alternatively, if you like the bell overload feature but don't agree
811with the settings, you can configure the details: how many bells
812constitute an overload, how short a time period they have to arrive
813in to do so, and how much silent time is required before the
814overload feature will deactivate itself.
815
816Bell overload mode is always deactivated by any keypress in the
817terminal. This means it can respond to large unexpected streams of
818data, but does not interfere with ordinary command-line activities
819that generate beeps (such as filename completion).
820
821\H{config-features} The Features panel
822
823PuTTY's \i{terminal emulation} is very highly featured, and can do a lot
824of things under remote server control. Some of these features can
825cause problems due to buggy or strangely configured server
826applications.
827
828The Features configuration panel allows you to disable some of
829PuTTY's more advanced terminal features, in case they cause trouble.
830
831\S{config-features-application} Disabling application keypad and cursor keys
832
833\cfg{winhelp-topic}{features.application}
834
835\I{Application Keypad}Application keypad mode (see
836\k{config-appkeypad}) and \I{Application Cursor Keys}application
837cursor keys mode (see \k{config-appcursor}) alter the behaviour of
838the keypad and cursor keys. Some applications enable these modes but
839then do not deal correctly with the modified keys. You can force
840these modes to be permanently disabled no matter what the server
841tries to do.
842
843\S{config-features-mouse} Disabling \cw{xterm}-style \i{mouse reporting}
844
845\cfg{winhelp-topic}{features.mouse}
846
847PuTTY allows the server to send \i{control codes} that let it take over
848the mouse and use it for purposes other than \i{copy and paste}.
849Applications which use this feature include the text-mode web
850browser \i\c{links}, the Usenet newsreader \i\c{trn} version 4, and the
851file manager \i\c{mc} (Midnight Commander).
852
853If you find this feature inconvenient, you can disable it using the
854\q{Disable xterm-style mouse reporting} control. With this box
855ticked, the mouse will \e{always} do copy and paste in the normal
856way.
857
858Note that even if the application takes over the mouse, you can
859still manage PuTTY's copy and paste by holding down the Shift key
860while you select and paste, unless you have deliberately turned this
861feature off (see \k{config-mouseshift}).
862
863\S{config-features-resize} Disabling remote \i{terminal resizing}
864
865\cfg{winhelp-topic}{features.resize}
866
867PuTTY has the ability to change the terminal's size and position in
868response to commands from the server. If you find PuTTY is doing
869this unexpectedly or inconveniently, you can tell PuTTY not to
870respond to those server commands.
871
872\S{config-features-altscreen} Disabling switching to the \i{alternate screen}
873
874\cfg{winhelp-topic}{features.altscreen}
875
876Many terminals, including PuTTY, support an \q{alternate screen}.
877This is the same size as the ordinary terminal screen, but separate.
878Typically a screen-based program such as a text editor might switch
879the terminal to the alternate screen before starting up. Then at the
880end of the run, it switches back to the primary screen, and you see
881the screen contents just as they were before starting the editor.
882
883Some people prefer this not to happen. If you want your editor to
884run in the same screen as the rest of your terminal activity, you
885can disable the alternate screen feature completely.
886
887\S{config-features-retitle} Disabling remote \i{window title} changing
888
889\cfg{winhelp-topic}{features.retitle}
890
891PuTTY has the ability to change the window title in response to
892commands from the server. If you find PuTTY is doing this
893unexpectedly or inconveniently, you can tell PuTTY not to respond to
894those server commands.
895
896\S{config-features-qtitle} Response to remote \i{window title} querying
897
898\cfg{winhelp-topic}{features.qtitle}
899
900PuTTY can optionally provide the xterm service of allowing server
901applications to find out the local window title. This feature is
902disabled by default, but you can turn it on if you really want it.
903
904NOTE that this feature is a \e{potential \i{security hazard}}. If a
905malicious application can write data to your terminal (for example,
906if you merely \c{cat} a file owned by someone else on the server
907machine), it can change your window title (unless you have disabled
908this as mentioned in \k{config-features-retitle}) and then use this
909service to have the new window title sent back to the server as if
910typed at the keyboard. This allows an attacker to fake keypresses
911and potentially cause your server-side applications to do things you
912didn't want. Therefore this feature is disabled by default, and we
913recommend you do not set it to \q{Window title} unless you \e{really}
914know what you are doing.
915
916There are three settings for this option:
917
918\dt \q{None}
919
920\dd PuTTY makes no response whatsoever to the relevant escape
921sequence. This may upset server-side software that is expecting some
922sort of response.
923
924\dt \q{Empty string}
925
926\dd PuTTY makes a well-formed response, but leaves it blank. Thus,
927server-side software that expects a response is kept happy, but an
928attacker cannot influence the response string. This is probably the
929setting you want if you have no better ideas.
930
931\dt \q{Window title}
932
933\dd PuTTY responds with the actual window title. This is dangerous for
934the reasons described above.
935
936\S{config-features-dbackspace} Disabling \i{destructive backspace}
937
938\cfg{winhelp-topic}{features.dbackspace}
939
940Normally, when PuTTY receives character 127 (^?) from the server, it
941will perform a \q{destructive backspace}: move the cursor one space
942left and delete the character under it. This can apparently cause
943problems in some applications, so PuTTY provides the ability to
944configure character 127 to perform a normal backspace (without
945deleting a character) instead.
946
947\S{config-features-charset} Disabling remote \i{character set}
948configuration
949
950\cfg{winhelp-topic}{features.charset}
951
952PuTTY has the ability to change its character set configuration in
953response to commands from the server. Some programs send these
954commands unexpectedly or inconveniently. In particular, \i{BitchX} (an
955IRC client) seems to have a habit of reconfiguring the character set
956to something other than the user intended.
957
958If you find that accented characters are not showing up the way you
959expect them to, particularly if you're running BitchX, you could try
960disabling the remote character set configuration commands.
961
962\S{config-features-shaping} Disabling \i{Arabic text shaping}
963
964\cfg{winhelp-topic}{features.arabicshaping}
965
966PuTTY supports shaping of Arabic text, which means that if your
967server sends text written in the basic \i{Unicode} Arabic alphabet then
968it will convert it to the correct display forms before printing it
969on the screen.
970
971If you are using full-screen software which was not expecting this
972to happen (especially if you are not an Arabic speaker and you
973unexpectedly find yourself dealing with Arabic text files in
974applications which are not Arabic-aware), you might find that the
975\i{display becomes corrupted}. By ticking this box, you can disable
976Arabic text shaping so that PuTTY displays precisely the characters
977it is told to display.
978
979You may also find you need to disable bidirectional text display;
980see \k{config-features-bidi}.
981
982\S{config-features-bidi} Disabling \i{bidirectional text} display
983
984\cfg{winhelp-topic}{features.bidi}
985
986PuTTY supports bidirectional text display, which means that if your
987server sends text written in a language which is usually displayed
988from right to left (such as \i{Arabic} or \i{Hebrew}) then PuTTY will
989automatically flip it round so that it is displayed in the right
990direction on the screen.
991
992If you are using full-screen software which was not expecting this
993to happen (especially if you are not an Arabic speaker and you
994unexpectedly find yourself dealing with Arabic text files in
995applications which are not Arabic-aware), you might find that the
996\i{display becomes corrupted}. By ticking this box, you can disable
997bidirectional text display, so that PuTTY displays text from left to
998right in all situations.
999
1000You may also find you need to disable Arabic text shaping;
1001see \k{config-features-shaping}.
1002
1003\H{config-window} The Window panel
1004
1005The Window configuration panel allows you to control aspects of the
1006\i{PuTTY window}.
1007
1008\S{config-winsize} Setting the \I{window size}size of the PuTTY window
1009
1010\cfg{winhelp-topic}{window.size}
1011
1012The \q{\ii{Columns}} and \q{\ii{Rows}} boxes let you set the PuTTY
1013window to a precise size. Of course you can also \I{window resizing}drag
1014the window to a new size while a session is running.
1015
1016\S{config-winsizelock} What to do when the window is resized
1017
1018\cfg{winhelp-topic}{window.resize}
1019
1020These options allow you to control what happens when the user tries
1021to \I{window resizing}resize the PuTTY window using its window furniture.
1022
1023There are four options here:
1024
1025\b \q{Change the number of rows and columns}: the font size will not
1026change. (This is the default.)
1027
1028\b \q{Change the size of the font}: the number of rows and columns in
1029the terminal will stay the same, and the \i{font size} will change.
1030
1031\b \q{Change font size when maximised}: when the window is resized,
1032the number of rows and columns will change, \e{except} when the window
1033is \i{maximise}d (or restored), when the font size will change. (In
1034this mode, holding down the Alt key while resizing will also cause the
1035font size to change.)
1036
1037\b \q{Forbid resizing completely}: the terminal will refuse to be
1038resized at all.
1039
1040\S{config-scrollback} Controlling \i{scrollback}
1041
1042\cfg{winhelp-topic}{window.scrollback}
1043
1044These options let you configure the way PuTTY keeps text after it
1045scrolls off the top of the screen (see \k{using-scrollback}).
1046
1047The \q{Lines of scrollback} box lets you configure how many lines of
1048text PuTTY keeps. The \q{Display scrollbar} options allow you to
1049hide the \i{scrollbar} (although you can still view the scrollback using
1050the keyboard as described in \k{using-scrollback}). You can separately
1051configure whether the scrollbar is shown in \i{full-screen} mode and in
1052normal modes.
1053
1054If you are viewing part of the scrollback when the server sends more
1055text to PuTTY, the screen will revert to showing the current
1056terminal contents. You can disable this behaviour by turning off
1057\q{Reset scrollback on display activity}. You can also make the
1058screen revert when you press a key, by turning on \q{Reset
1059scrollback on keypress}.
1060
1061\S{config-erasetoscrollback} \q{Push erased text into scrollback}
1062
1063\cfg{winhelp-topic}{window.erased}
1064
1065When this option is enabled, the contents of the terminal screen
1066will be pushed into the scrollback when a server-side application
1067clears the screen, so that your scrollback will contain a better
1068record of what was on your screen in the past.
1069
1070If the application switches to the \i{alternate screen} (see
1071\k{config-features-altscreen} for more about this), then the
1072contents of the primary screen will be visible in the scrollback
1073until the application switches back again.
1074
1075This option is enabled by default.
1076
1077\H{config-appearance} The Appearance panel
1078
1079The Appearance configuration panel allows you to control aspects of
1080the appearance of \I{PuTTY window}PuTTY's window.
1081
1082\S{config-cursor} Controlling the appearance of the \i{cursor}
1083
1084\cfg{winhelp-topic}{appearance.cursor}
1085
1086The \q{Cursor appearance} option lets you configure the cursor to be
1087a block, an underline, or a vertical line. A block cursor becomes an
1088empty box when the window loses focus; an underline or a vertical
1089line becomes dotted.
1090
1091The \q{\ii{Cursor blinks}} option makes the cursor blink on and off. This
1092works in any of the cursor modes.
1093
1094\S{config-font} Controlling the \i{font} used in the terminal window
1095
1096\cfg{winhelp-topic}{appearance.font}
1097
1098This option allows you to choose what font, in what \I{font size}size,
1099the PuTTY terminal window uses to display the text in the session.
1100
1101By default, you will be offered a choice from all the fixed-width
1102fonts installed on the system, since VT100-style terminal handling
1103expects a fixed-width font. If you tick the box marked \q{Allow
1104selection of variable-pitch fonts}, however, PuTTY will offer
1105variable-width fonts as well: if you select one of these, the font
1106will be coerced into fixed-size character cells, which will probably
1107not look very good (but can work OK with some fonts).
1108
1109\S{config-mouseptr} \q{Hide \i{mouse pointer} when typing in window}
1110
1111\cfg{winhelp-topic}{appearance.hidemouse}
1112
1113If you enable this option, the mouse pointer will disappear if the
1114PuTTY window is selected and you press a key. This way, it will not
1115obscure any of the text in the window while you work in your
1116session. As soon as you move the mouse, the pointer will reappear.
1117
1118This option is disabled by default, so the mouse pointer remains
1119visible at all times.
1120
1121\S{config-winborder} Controlling the \i{window border}
1122
1123\cfg{winhelp-topic}{appearance.border}
1124
1125PuTTY allows you to configure the appearance of the window border to
1126some extent.
1127
1128The checkbox marked \q{Sunken-edge border} changes the appearance of
1129the window border to something more like a DOS box: the inside edge
1130of the border is highlighted as if it sank down to meet the surface
1131inside the window. This makes the border a little bit thicker as
1132well. It's hard to describe well. Try it and see if you like it.
1133
1134You can also configure a completely blank gap between the text in
1135the window and the border, using the \q{Gap between text and window
1136edge} control. By default this is set at one pixel. You can reduce
1137it to zero, or increase it further.
1138
1139\H{config-behaviour} The Behaviour panel
1140
1141The Behaviour configuration panel allows you to control aspects of
1142the behaviour of \I{PuTTY window}PuTTY's window.
1143
1144\S{config-title} Controlling the \i{window title}
1145
1146\cfg{winhelp-topic}{appearance.title}
1147
1148The \q{Window title} edit box allows you to set the title of the
1149PuTTY window. By default the window title will contain the \i{host name}
1150followed by \q{PuTTY}, for example \c{server1.example.com - PuTTY}.
1151If you want a different window title, this is where to set it.
1152
1153PuTTY allows the server to send \c{xterm} \i{control sequence}s which
1154modify the title of the window in mid-session (unless this is disabled -
1155see \k{config-features-retitle}); the title string set here
1156is therefore only the \e{initial} window title.
1157
1158As well as the \e{window} title, there is also an \c{xterm}
1159sequence to modify the \I{icon title}title of the window's \e{icon}.
1160This makes sense in a windowing system where the window becomes an
1161icon when minimised, such as Windows 3.1 or most X Window System
1162setups; but in the Windows 95-like user interface it isn't as
1163applicable.
1164
1165By default, PuTTY only uses the server-supplied \e{window} title, and
1166ignores the icon title entirely. If for some reason you want to see
1167both titles, check the box marked \q{Separate window and icon titles}.
1168If you do this, PuTTY's window title and Taskbar \I{window caption}caption will
1169change into the server-supplied icon title if you \i{minimise} the PuTTY
1170window, and change back to the server-supplied window title if you
1171restore it. (If the server has not bothered to supply a window or
1172icon title, none of this will happen.)
1173
1174\S{config-warnonclose} \q{Warn before \i{closing window}}
1175
1176\cfg{winhelp-topic}{behaviour.closewarn}
1177
1178If you press the \i{Close button} in a PuTTY window that contains a
1179running session, PuTTY will put up a warning window asking if you
1180really meant to close the window. A window whose session has already
1181terminated can always be closed without a warning.
1182
1183If you want to be able to close a window quickly, you can disable
1184the \q{Warn before closing window} option.
1185
1186\S{config-altf4} \q{Window closes on \i{ALT-F4}}
1187
1188\cfg{winhelp-topic}{behaviour.altf4}
1189
1190By default, pressing ALT-F4 causes the \I{closing window}window to
1191close (or a warning box to appear; see \k{config-warnonclose}). If you
1192disable the \q{Window closes on ALT-F4} option, then pressing ALT-F4
1193will simply send a key sequence to the server.
1194
1195\S{config-altspace} \q{\ii{System menu} appears on \i{ALT-Space}}
1196
1197\cfg{winhelp-topic}{behaviour.altspace}
1198
1199If this option is enabled, then pressing ALT-Space will bring up the
1200PuTTY window's menu, like clicking on the top left corner. If it is
1201disabled, then pressing ALT-Space will just send \c{ESC SPACE} to
1202the server.
1203
1204Some \i{accessibility} programs for Windows may need this option
1205enabling to be able to control PuTTY's window successfully. For
1206instance, \i{Dragon NaturallySpeaking} requires it both to open the
1207system menu via voice, and to close, minimise, maximise and restore
1208the window.
1209
1210\S{config-altonly} \q{\ii{System menu} appears on \i{Alt} alone}
1211
1212\cfg{winhelp-topic}{behaviour.altonly}
1213
1214If this option is enabled, then pressing and releasing ALT will
1215bring up the PuTTY window's menu, like clicking on the top left
1216corner. If it is disabled, then pressing and releasing ALT will have
1217no effect.
1218
1219\S{config-alwaysontop} \q{Ensure window is \i{always on top}}
1220
1221\cfg{winhelp-topic}{behaviour.alwaysontop}
1222
1223If this option is enabled, the PuTTY window will stay on top of all
1224other windows.
1225
1226\S{config-fullscreen} \q{\ii{Full screen} on Alt-Enter}
1227
1228\cfg{winhelp-topic}{behaviour.altenter}
1229
1230If this option is enabled, then pressing Alt-Enter will cause the
1231PuTTY window to become full-screen. Pressing Alt-Enter again will
1232restore the previous window size.
1233
1234The full-screen feature is also available from the \ii{System menu}, even
1235when it is configured not to be available on the Alt-Enter key. See
1236\k{using-fullscreen}.
1237
1238\H{config-translation} The Translation panel
1239
1240The Translation configuration panel allows you to control the
1241translation between the \i{character set} understood by the server and
1242the character set understood by PuTTY.
1243
1244\S{config-charset} Controlling character set translation
1245
1246\cfg{winhelp-topic}{translation.codepage}
1247
1248During an interactive session, PuTTY receives a stream of 8-bit
1249bytes from the server, and in order to display them on the screen it
1250needs to know what character set to interpret them in. Similarly,
1251PuTTY needs to know how to translate your keystrokes into the encoding
1252the server expects. Unfortunately, there is no satisfactory
1253mechanism for PuTTY and the server to communicate this information,
1254so it must usually be manually configured.
1255
1256There are a lot of character sets to choose from. The \q{Remote
1257character set} option lets you select one. By default PuTTY will
1258attempt to choose a character set that is right for your \i{locale} as
1259reported by Windows; if it gets it wrong, you can select a different
1260one using this control.
1261
1262A few notable character sets are:
1263
1264\b The \i{ISO-8859} series are all standard character sets that include
1265various accented characters appropriate for different sets of
1266languages.
1267
1268\b The \i{Win125x} series are defined by Microsoft, for similar
1269purposes. In particular Win1252 is almost equivalent to ISO-8859-1,
1270but contains a few extra characters such as matched quotes and the
1271Euro symbol.
1272
1273\b If you want the old IBM PC character set with block graphics and
1274line-drawing characters, you can select \q{\i{CP437}}.
1275
1276\b PuTTY also supports \i{Unicode} mode, in which the data coming from
1277the server is interpreted as being in the \i{UTF-8} encoding of Unicode,
1278and keystrokes are sent UTF-8 encoded. If you select \q{UTF-8} as a
1279character set you can use this mode. Not all server-side applications
1280will support it.
1281
1282If you need support for a numeric \i{code page} which is not listed in
1283the drop-down list, such as code page 866, then you can try entering
1284its name manually (\c{\i{CP866}} for example) in the list box. If the
1285underlying version of Windows has the appropriate translation table
1286installed, PuTTY will use it.
1287
1288\S{config-cjk-ambig-wide} \q{Treat \i{CJK} ambiguous characters as wide}
1289
1290\cfg{winhelp-topic}{translation.cjkambigwide}
1291
1292There are \I{East Asian Ambiguous characters}some Unicode characters
1293whose \I{character width}width is not well-defined. In most contexts, such
1294characters should be treated as single-width for the purposes of \I{wrapping,
1295terminal}wrapping and so on; however, in some CJK contexts, they are better
1296treated as double-width for historical reasons, and some server-side
1297applications may expect them to be displayed as such. Setting this option
1298will cause PuTTY to take the double-width interpretation.
1299
1300If you use legacy CJK applications, and you find your lines are
1301wrapping in the wrong places, or you are having other display
1302problems, you might want to play with this setting.
1303
1304This option only has any effect in \i{UTF-8} mode (see \k{config-charset}).
1305
1306\S{config-cyr} \q{\i{Caps Lock} acts as \i{Cyrillic} switch}
1307
1308\cfg{winhelp-topic}{translation.cyrillic}
1309
1310This feature allows you to switch between a US/UK keyboard layout
1311and a Cyrillic keyboard layout by using the Caps Lock key, if you
1312need to type (for example) \i{Russian} and English side by side in the
1313same document.
1314
1315Currently this feature is not expected to work properly if your
1316native keyboard layout is not US or UK.
1317
1318\S{config-linedraw} Controlling display of \i{line-drawing characters}
1319
1320\cfg{winhelp-topic}{translation.linedraw}
1321
1322VT100-series terminals allow the server to send \i{control sequence}s that
1323shift temporarily into a separate character set for drawing simple
1324lines and boxes. However, there are a variety of ways in which PuTTY
1325can attempt to find appropriate characters, and the right one to use
1326depends on the locally configured \i{font}. In general you should probably
1327try lots of options until you find one that your particular font
1328supports.
1329
1330\b \q{Use Unicode line drawing code points} tries to use the box
1331characters that are present in \i{Unicode}. For good Unicode-supporting
1332fonts this is probably the most reliable and functional option.
1333
1334\b \q{Poor man's line drawing} assumes that the font \e{cannot}
1335generate the line and box characters at all, so it will use the
1336\c{+}, \c{-} and \c{|} characters to draw approximations to boxes.
1337You should use this option if none of the other options works.
1338
1339\b \q{Font has XWindows encoding} is for use with fonts that have a
1340special encoding, where the lowest 32 character positions (below the
1341ASCII printable range) contain the line-drawing characters. This is
1342unlikely to be the case with any standard Windows font; it will
1343probably only apply to custom-built fonts or fonts that have been
1344automatically converted from the X Window System.
1345
1346\b \q{Use font in both ANSI and OEM modes} tries to use the same
1347font in two different character sets, to obtain a wider range of
1348characters. This doesn't always work; some fonts claim to be a
1349different size depending on which character set you try to use.
1350
1351\b \q{Use font in OEM mode only} is more reliable than that, but can
1352miss out other characters from the main character set.
1353
1354\S{config-linedrawpaste} Controlling \i{copy and paste} of line drawing
1355characters
1356
1357\cfg{winhelp-topic}{selection.linedraw}
1358
1359By default, when you copy and paste a piece of the PuTTY screen that
1360contains VT100 line and box drawing characters, PuTTY will paste
1361them in the form they appear on the screen: either \i{Unicode} line
1362drawing code points, or the \q{poor man's} line-drawing characters
1363\c{+}, \c{-} and \c{|}. The checkbox \q{Copy and paste VT100 line
1364drawing chars as lqqqk} disables this feature, so line-drawing
1365characters will be pasted as the \i{ASCII} characters that were printed
1366to produce them. This will typically mean they come out mostly as
1367\c{q} and \c{x}, with a scattering of \c{jklmntuvw} at the corners.
1368This might be useful if you were trying to recreate the same box
1369layout in another program, for example.
1370
1371Note that this option only applies to line-drawing characters which
1372\e{were} printed by using the VT100 mechanism. Line-drawing
1373characters that were received as Unicode code points will paste as
1374Unicode always.
1375
1376\H{config-selection} The Selection panel
1377
1378The Selection panel allows you to control the way \i{copy and paste}
1379work in the PuTTY window.
1380
1381\S{config-rtfpaste} Pasting in \i{Rich Text Format}
1382
1383\cfg{winhelp-topic}{selection.rtf}
1384
1385If you enable \q{Paste to clipboard in RTF as well as plain text},
1386PuTTY will write formatting information to the clipboard as well as
1387the actual text you copy. The effect of this is
1388that if you paste into (say) a word processor, the text will appear
1389in the word processor in the same \i{font}, \i{colour}, and style
1390(e.g. bold, underline) PuTTY was using to display it.
1391
1392This option can easily be inconvenient, so by default it is
1393disabled.
1394
1395\S{config-mouse} Changing the actions of the mouse buttons
1396
1397\cfg{winhelp-topic}{selection.buttons}
1398
1399PuTTY's copy and paste mechanism is by default modelled on the Unix
1400\c{xterm} application. The X Window System uses a three-button mouse,
1401and the convention is that the \i{left button} \I{selecting text}selects,
1402the \i{right button} extends an existing selection, and the
1403\i{middle button} pastes.
1404
1405Windows often only has two mouse buttons, so in PuTTY's default
1406configuration (\q{Compromise}), the \e{right} button pastes, and the
1407\e{middle} button (if you have one) \I{adjusting a selection}extends
1408a selection.
1409
1410If you have a \i{three-button mouse} and you are already used to the
1411\c{xterm} arrangement, you can select it using the \q{Action of
1412mouse buttons} control.
1413
1414Alternatively, with the \q{Windows} option selected, the middle
1415button extends, and the right button brings up a \i{context menu} (on
1416which one of the options is \q{Paste}). (This context menu is always
1417available by holding down Ctrl and right-clicking, regardless of the
1418setting of this option.)
1419
1420\S{config-mouseshift} \q{Shift overrides application's use of mouse}
1421
1422\cfg{winhelp-topic}{selection.shiftdrag}
1423
1424PuTTY allows the server to send \i{control codes} that let it
1425\I{mouse reporting}take over the mouse and use it for purposes other
1426than \i{copy and paste}.
1427Applications which use this feature include the text-mode web
1428browser \c{links}, the Usenet newsreader \c{trn} version 4, and the
1429file manager \c{mc} (Midnight Commander).
1430
1431When running one of these applications, pressing the mouse buttons
1432no longer performs copy and paste. If you do need to copy and paste,
1433you can still do so if you hold down Shift while you do your mouse
1434clicks.
1435
1436However, it is possible in theory for applications to even detect
1437and make use of Shift + mouse clicks. We don't know of any
1438applications that do this, but in case someone ever writes one,
1439unchecking the \q{Shift overrides application's use of mouse}
1440checkbox will cause Shift + mouse clicks to go to the server as well
1441(so that mouse-driven copy and paste will be completely disabled).
1442
1443If you want to prevent the application from taking over the mouse at
1444all, you can do this using the Features control panel; see
1445\k{config-features-mouse}.
1446
1447\S{config-rectselect} Default selection mode
1448
1449\cfg{winhelp-topic}{selection.rect}
1450
1451As described in \k{using-selection}, PuTTY has two modes of
1452selecting text to be copied to the clipboard. In the default mode
1453(\q{Normal}), dragging the mouse from point A to point B selects to
1454the end of the line containing A, all the lines in between, and from
1455the very beginning of the line containing B. In the other mode
1456(\q{Rectangular block}), dragging the mouse between two points
1457defines a rectangle, and everything within that rectangle is copied.
1458
1459Normally, you have to hold down Alt while dragging the mouse to
1460select a rectangular block. Using the \q{Default selection mode}
1461control, you can set \i{rectangular selection} as the default, and then
1462you have to hold down Alt to get the \e{normal} behaviour.
1463
1464\S{config-charclasses} Configuring \i{word-by-word selection}
1465
1466\cfg{winhelp-topic}{selection.charclasses}
1467
1468PuTTY will select a word at a time in the terminal window if you
1469\i{double-click} to begin the drag. This panel allows you to control
1470precisely what is considered to be a word.
1471
1472Each character is given a \e{class}, which is a small number
1473(typically 0, 1 or 2). PuTTY considers a single word to be any
1474number of adjacent characters in the same class. So by modifying the
1475assignment of characters to classes, you can modify the word-by-word
1476selection behaviour.
1477
1478In the default configuration, the \i{character classes} are:
1479
1480\b Class 0 contains \i{white space} and control characters.
1481
1482\b Class 1 contains most \i{punctuation}.
1483
1484\b Class 2 contains letters, numbers and a few pieces of punctuation
1485(the double quote, minus sign, period, forward slash and
1486underscore).
1487
1488So, for example, if you assign the \c{@} symbol into character class
14892, you will be able to select an e-mail address with just a double
1490click.
1491
1492In order to adjust these assignments, you start by selecting a group
1493of characters in the list box. Then enter a class number in the edit
1494box below, and press the \q{Set} button.
1495
1496This mechanism currently only covers ASCII characters, because it
1497isn't feasible to expand the list to cover the whole of Unicode.
1498
1499Character class definitions can be modified by \i{control sequence}s
1500sent by the server. This configuration option controls the
1501\e{default} state, which will be restored when you reset the
1502terminal (see \k{reset-terminal}). However, if you modify this
1503option in mid-session using \q{Change Settings}, it will take effect
1504immediately.
1505
1506\H{config-colours} The Colours panel
1507
1508The Colours panel allows you to control PuTTY's use of \i{colour}.
1509
1510\S{config-ansicolour} \q{Allow terminal to specify \i{ANSI colours}}
1511
1512\cfg{winhelp-topic}{colours.ansi}
1513
1514This option is enabled by default. If it is disabled, PuTTY will
1515ignore any \i{control sequence}s sent by the server to request coloured
1516text.
1517
1518If you have a particularly garish application, you might want to
1519turn this option off and make PuTTY only use the default foreground
1520and background colours.
1521
1522\S{config-xtermcolour} \q{Allow terminal to use xterm \i{256-colour mode}}
1523
1524\cfg{winhelp-topic}{colours.xterm256}
1525
1526This option is enabled by default. If it is disabled, PuTTY will
1527ignore any control sequences sent by the server which use the
1528extended 256-colour mode supported by recent versions of \cw{xterm}.
1529
1530If you have an application which is supposed to use 256-colour mode
1531and it isn't working, you may find you need to tell your server that
1532your terminal supports 256 colours. On Unix, you do this by ensuring
1533that the setting of \i\cw{TERM} describes a 256-colour-capable
1534terminal. You can check this using a command such as \c{infocmp}:
1535
1536\c $ infocmp | grep colors
1537\c colors#256, cols#80, it#8, lines#24, pairs#256,
1538\e bbbbbbbbbb
1539
1540If you do not see \cq{colors#256} in the output, you may need to
1541change your terminal setting. On modern Linux machines, you could
1542try \cq{xterm-256color}.
1543
1544\S{config-boldcolour} \q{Indicate bolded text by changing}
1545
1546\cfg{winhelp-topic}{colours.bold}
1547
1548When the server sends a \i{control sequence} indicating that some text
1549should be displayed in \i{bold}, PuTTY can handle this in several
1550ways. It can either change the \i{font} for a bold version, or use the
1551same font in a brighter colour, or it can do both (brighten the colour
1552\e{and} embolden the font). This control lets you choose which.
1553
1554By default bold is indicated by colour, so non-bold text is displayed
1555in light grey and bold text is displayed in bright white (and
1556similarly in other colours). If you change the setting to \q{The font}
1557box, bold and non-bold text will be displayed in the same colour, and
1558instead the font will change to indicate the difference. If you select
1559\q{Both}, the font and the colour will both change.
1560
1561\S{config-logpalette} \q{Attempt to use \i{logical palettes}}
1562
1563\cfg{winhelp-topic}{colours.logpal}
1564
1565Logical palettes are a mechanism by which a Windows application
1566running on an \i{8-bit colour} display can select precisely the colours
1567it wants instead of going with the Windows standard defaults.
1568
1569If you are not getting the colours you ask for on an 8-bit display,
1570you can try enabling this option. However, be warned that it's never
1571worked very well.
1572
1573\S{config-syscolour} \q{Use \i{system colours}}
1574
1575\cfg{winhelp-topic}{colours.system}
1576
1577Enabling this option will cause PuTTY to ignore the configured colours
1578for \I{default background}\I{default foreground}\q{Default
1579Background/Foreground} and \I{cursor colour}\q{Cursor Colour/Text} (see
1580\k{config-colourcfg}), instead going with the system-wide defaults.
1581
1582Note that non-bold and \i{bold text} will be the same colour if this
1583option is enabled. You might want to change to indicating bold text
1584by font changes (see \k{config-boldcolour}).
1585
1586\S{config-colourcfg} Adjusting the colours in the \i{terminal window}
1587
1588\cfg{winhelp-topic}{colours.config}
1589
1590The main colour control allows you to specify exactly what colours
1591things should be displayed in. To modify one of the PuTTY colours,
1592use the list box to select which colour you want to modify. The \i{RGB
1593values} for that colour will appear on the right-hand side of the
1594list box. Now, if you press the \q{Modify} button, you will be
1595presented with a colour selector, in which you can choose a new
1596colour to go in place of the old one. (You may also edit the RGB
1597values directly in the edit boxes, if you wish; each value is an
1598integer from 0 to 255.)
1599
1600PuTTY allows you to set the \i{cursor colour}, the \i{default foreground}
1601and \I{default background}background, and the precise shades of all the
1602\I{ANSI colours}ANSI configurable colours (black, red, green, yellow, blue,
1603magenta, cyan, and white). You can also modify the precise shades used for
1604the \i{bold} versions of these colours; these are used to display bold text
1605if you have selected \q{Bolded text is a different colour}, and can also be
1606used if the server asks specifically to use them. (Note that \q{Default
1607Bold Background} is \e{not} the background colour used for bold text;
1608it is only used if the server specifically asks for a bold
1609background.)
1610
1611\H{config-connection} The Connection panel
1612
1613The Connection panel allows you to configure options that apply to
1614more than one type of \i{connection}.
1615
1616\S{config-keepalive} Using \i{keepalives} to prevent disconnection
1617
1618\cfg{winhelp-topic}{connection.keepalive}
1619
1620If you find your sessions are closing unexpectedly (most often with
1621\q{Connection reset by peer}) after they have been idle for a while,
1622you might want to try using this option.
1623
1624Some network \i{routers} and \i{firewalls} need to keep track of all
1625connections through them. Usually, these firewalls will assume a
1626connection is dead if no data is transferred in either direction
1627after a certain time interval. This can cause PuTTY sessions to be
1628unexpectedly closed by the firewall if no traffic is seen in the
1629session for some time.
1630
1631The keepalive option (\q{Seconds between keepalives}) allows you to
1632configure PuTTY to send data through the session at regular
1633intervals, in a way that does not disrupt the actual terminal
1634session. If you find your firewall is cutting \i{idle connections} off,
1635you can try entering a non-zero value in this field. The value is
1636measured in seconds; so, for example, if your firewall cuts
1637connections off after ten minutes then you might want to enter 300
1638seconds (5 minutes) in the box.
1639
1640Note that keepalives are not always helpful. They help if you have a
1641firewall which drops your connection after an idle period; but if
1642the network between you and the server suffers from \i{breaks in
1643connectivity} then keepalives can actually make things worse. If a
1644session is idle, and connectivity is temporarily lost between the
1645endpoints, but the connectivity is restored before either side tries
1646to send anything, then there will be no problem - neither endpoint
1647will notice that anything was wrong. However, if one side does send
1648something during the break, it will repeatedly try to re-send, and
1649eventually give up and abandon the connection. Then when
1650connectivity is restored, the other side will find that the first
1651side doesn't believe there is an open connection any more.
1652Keepalives can make this sort of problem worse, because they
1653increase the probability that PuTTY will attempt to send data during
1654a break in connectivity. (Other types of periodic network activity
1655can cause this behaviour; in particular, SSH-2 re-keys can have
1656this effect. See \k{config-ssh-kex-rekey}.)
1657
1658Therefore, you might find that keepalives help
1659connection loss, or you might find they make it worse, depending on
1660what \e{kind} of network problems you have between you and the
1661server.
1662
1663Keepalives are only supported in Telnet and SSH; the Rlogin and Raw
1664protocols offer no way of implementing them. (For an alternative, see
1665\k{config-tcp-keepalives}.)
1666
1667Note that if you are using \i{SSH-1} and the server has a bug that makes
1668it unable to deal with SSH-1 ignore messages (see
1669\k{config-ssh-bug-ignore1}), enabling keepalives will have no effect.
1670
1671\S{config-nodelay} \q{Disable \i{Nagle's algorithm}}
1672
1673\cfg{winhelp-topic}{connection.nodelay}
1674
1675Nagle's algorithm is a detail of TCP/IP implementations that tries
1676to minimise the number of small data packets sent down a network
1677connection. With Nagle's algorithm enabled, PuTTY's \i{bandwidth} usage
1678will be slightly more efficient; with it disabled, you may find you
1679get a faster response to your keystrokes when connecting to some
1680types of server.
1681
1682The Nagle algorithm is disabled by default for \i{interactive connections}.
1683
1684\S{config-tcp-keepalives} \q{Enable \i{TCP keepalives}}
1685
1686\cfg{winhelp-topic}{connection.tcpkeepalive}
1687
1688\e{NOTE:} TCP keepalives should not be confused with the
1689application-level keepalives described in \k{config-keepalive}. If in
1690doubt, you probably want application-level keepalives; TCP keepalives
1691are provided for completeness.
1692
1693The idea of TCP keepalives is similar to application-level keepalives,
1694and the same caveats apply. The main differences are:
1695
1696\b TCP keepalives are available on \e{all} connection types, including
1697Raw and Rlogin.
1698
1699\b The interval between TCP keepalives is usually much longer,
1700typically two hours; this is set by the operating system, and cannot
1701be configured within PuTTY.
1702
1703\b If the operating system does not receive a response to a keepalive,
1704it may send out more in quick succession and terminate the connection
1705if no response is received.
1706
1707TCP keepalives may be more useful for ensuring that \i{half-open connections}
1708are terminated than for keeping a connection alive.
1709
1710TCP keepalives are disabled by default.
1711
1712\S{config-address-family} \I{Internet protocol version}\q{Internet protocol}
1713
1714\cfg{winhelp-topic}{connection.ipversion}
1715
1716This option allows the user to select between the old and new
1717Internet protocols and addressing schemes (\i{IPv4} and \i{IPv6}).
1718The selected protocol will be used for most outgoing network
1719connections (including connections to \I{proxy}proxies); however,
1720tunnels have their own configuration, for which see
1721\k{config-ssh-portfwd-address-family}.
1722
1723The default setting is \q{Auto}, which means PuTTY will do something
1724sensible and try to guess which protocol you wanted. (If you specify
1725a literal \i{Internet address}, it will use whichever protocol that
1726address implies. If you provide a \i{hostname}, it will see what kinds
1727of address exist for that hostname; it will use IPv6 if there is an
1728IPv6 address available, and fall back to IPv4 if not.)
1729
1730If you need to force PuTTY to use a particular protocol, you can
1731explicitly set this to \q{IPv4} or \q{IPv6}.
1732
1733\S{config-loghost} \I{logical host name}\q{Logical name of remote host}
1734
1735\cfg{winhelp-topic}{connection.loghost}
1736
1737This allows you to tell PuTTY that the host it will really end up
1738connecting to is different from where it thinks it is making a
1739network connection.
1740
1741You might use this, for instance, if you had set up an SSH port
1742forwarding in one PuTTY session so that connections to some
1743arbitrary port (say, \cw{localhost} port 10022) were forwarded to a
1744second machine's SSH port (say, \cw{foovax} port 22), and then
1745started a second PuTTY connecting to the forwarded port.
1746
1747In normal usage, the second PuTTY will access the host key cache
1748under the host name and port it actually connected to (i.e.
1749\cw{localhost} port 10022 in this example). Using the logical host
1750name option, however, you can configure the second PuTTY to cache
1751the host key under the name of the host \e{you} know that it's
1752\e{really} going to end up talking to (here \c{foovax}).
1753
1754This can be useful if you expect to connect to the same actual
1755server through many different channels (perhaps because your port
1756forwarding arrangements keep changing): by consistently setting the
1757logical host name, you can arrange that PuTTY will not keep asking
1758you to reconfirm its host key. Conversely, if you expect to use the
1759same local port number for port forwardings to lots of different
1760servers, you probably didn't want any particular server's host key
1761cached under that local port number.
1762
1763If you just enter a host name for this option, PuTTY will cache the
1764SSH host key under the default SSH port for that host, irrespective
1765of the port you really connected to (since the typical scenario is
1766like the above example: you connect to a silly real port number and
1767your connection ends up forwarded to the normal port-22 SSH server
1768of some other machine). To override this, you can append a port
1769number to the logical host name, separated by a colon. E.g. entering
1770\cq{foovax:2200} as the logical host name will cause the host key to
1771be cached as if you had connected to port 2200 of \c{foovax}.
1772
1773If you provide a host name using this option, it is also displayed
1774in other locations which contain the remote host name, such as the
1775default window title and the default SSH password prompt. This
1776reflects the fact that this is the host you're \e{really} connecting
1777to, which is more important than the mere means you happen to be
1778using to contact that host. (This applies even if you're using a
1779protocol other than SSH.)
1780
1781\H{config-data} The Data panel
1782
1783The Data panel allows you to configure various pieces of data which
1784can be sent to the server to affect your connection at the far end.
1785
1786Each option on this panel applies to more than one protocol.
1787Options which apply to only one protocol appear on that protocol's
1788configuration panels.
1789
1790\S{config-username} \q{\ii{Auto-login username}}
1791
1792\cfg{winhelp-topic}{connection.username}
1793
1794All three of the SSH, Telnet and Rlogin protocols allow you to
1795specify what user name you want to log in as, without having to type
1796it explicitly every time. (Some Telnet servers don't support this.)
1797
1798In this box you can type that user name.
1799
1800\S{config-username-from-env} Use of system username
1801
1802\cfg{winhelp-topic}{connection.usernamefromenv}
1803
1804When the previous box (\k{config-username}) is left blank, by default,
1805PuTTY will prompt for a username at the time you make a connection.
1806
1807In some environments, such as the networks of large organisations
1808implementing \i{single sign-on}, a more sensible default may be to use
1809the name of the user logged in to the local operating system (if any);
1810this is particularly likely to be useful with \i{GSSAPI} authentication
1811(see \k{config-ssh-auth-gssapi}). This control allows you to change
1812the default behaviour.
1813
1814The current system username is displayed in the dialog as a
1815convenience. It is not saved in the configuration; if a saved session
1816is later used by a different user, that user's name will be used.
1817
1818\S{config-termtype} \q{\ii{Terminal-type} string}
1819
1820\cfg{winhelp-topic}{connection.termtype}
1821
1822Most servers you might connect to with PuTTY are designed to be
1823connected to from lots of different types of terminal. In order to
1824send the right \i{control sequence}s to each one, the server will need
1825to know what type of terminal it is dealing with. Therefore, each of
1826the SSH, Telnet and Rlogin protocols allow a text string to be sent
1827down the connection describing the terminal. On a \i{Unix} server,
1828this selects an entry from the \i\c{termcap} or \i\c{terminfo} database
1829that tells applications what \i{control sequences} to send to the
1830terminal, and what character sequences to expect the \i{keyboard}
1831to generate.
1832
1833PuTTY attempts to emulate the Unix \i\c{xterm} program, and by default
1834it reflects this by sending \c{xterm} as a terminal-type string. If
1835you find this is not doing what you want - perhaps the remote
1836system reports \q{Unknown terminal type} - you could try setting
1837this to something different, such as \i\c{vt220}.
1838
1839If you're not sure whether a problem is due to the terminal type
1840setting or not, you probably need to consult the manual for your
1841application or your server.
1842
1843\S{config-termspeed} \q{\ii{Terminal speed}s}
1844
1845\cfg{winhelp-topic}{connection.termspeed}
1846
1847The Telnet, Rlogin, and SSH protocols allow the client to specify
1848terminal speeds to the server.
1849
1850This parameter does \e{not} affect the actual speed of the connection,
1851which is always \q{as fast as possible}; it is just a hint that is
1852sometimes used by server software to modify its behaviour. For
1853instance, if a slow speed is indicated, the server may switch to a
1854less \i{bandwidth}-hungry display mode.
1855
1856The value is usually meaningless in a network environment, but
1857PuTTY lets you configure it, in case you find the server is reacting
1858badly to the default value.
1859
1860The format is a pair of numbers separated by a comma, for instance,
1861\c{38400,38400}. The first number represents the output speed
1862(\e{from} the server) in bits per second, and the second is the input
1863speed (\e{to} the server). (Only the first is used in the Rlogin
1864protocol.)
1865
1866This option has no effect on Raw connections.
1867
1868\S{config-environ} Setting \i{environment variables} on the server
1869
1870\cfg{winhelp-topic}{telnet.environ}
1871
1872The Telnet protocol provides a means for the client to pass
1873environment variables to the server. Many Telnet servers have
1874stopped supporting this feature due to security flaws, but PuTTY
1875still supports it for the benefit of any servers which have found
1876other ways around the security problems than just disabling the
1877whole mechanism.
1878
1879Version 2 of the SSH protocol also provides a similar mechanism,
1880which is easier to implement without security flaws. Newer \i{SSH-2}
1881servers are more likely to support it than older ones.
1882
1883This configuration data is not used in the SSH-1, rlogin or raw
1884protocols.
1885
1886To add an environment variable to the list transmitted down the
1887connection, you enter the variable name in the \q{Variable} box,
1888enter its value in the \q{Value} box, and press the \q{Add} button.
1889To remove one from the list, select it in the list box and press
1890\q{Remove}.
1891
1892\H{config-proxy} The Proxy panel
1893
1894\cfg{winhelp-topic}{proxy.main}
1895
1896The \ii{Proxy} panel allows you to configure PuTTY to use various types
1897of proxy in order to make its network connections. The settings in
1898this panel affect the primary network connection forming your PuTTY
1899session, and also any extra connections made as a result of SSH \i{port
1900forwarding} (see \k{using-port-forwarding}).
1901
1902Note that unlike some software (such as web browsers), PuTTY does not
1903attempt to automatically determine whether to use a proxy and (if so)
1904which one to use for a given destination. If you need to use a proxy,
1905it must always be explicitly configured.
1906
1907\S{config-proxy-type} Setting the proxy type
1908
1909\cfg{winhelp-topic}{proxy.type}
1910
1911The \q{Proxy type} radio buttons allow you to configure what type of
1912proxy you want PuTTY to use for its network connections. The default
1913setting is \q{None}; in this mode no proxy is used for any
1914connection.
1915
1916\b Selecting \I{HTTP proxy}\q{HTTP} allows you to proxy your connections
1917through a web server supporting the HTTP \cw{CONNECT} command, as documented
1918in \W{http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2817.txt}{RFC 2817}.
1919
1920\b Selecting \q{SOCKS 4} or \q{SOCKS 5} allows you to proxy your
1921connections through a \i{SOCKS server}.
1922
1923\b Many firewalls implement a less formal type of proxy in which a
1924user can make a Telnet connection directly to the firewall machine
1925and enter a command such as \c{connect myhost.com 22} to connect
1926through to an external host. Selecting \I{Telnet proxy}\q{Telnet}
1927allows you to tell PuTTY to use this type of proxy.
1928
1929\b Selecting \I{Local proxy}\q{Local} allows you to specify an arbitrary
1930command on the local machine to act as a proxy. When the session is
1931started, instead of creating a TCP connection, PuTTY runs the command
1932(specified in \k{config-proxy-command}), and uses its standard input and
1933output streams.
1934
1935\lcont{
1936This could be used, for instance, to talk to some kind of network proxy
1937that PuTTY does not natively support; or you could tunnel a connection
1938over something other than TCP/IP entirely.
1939
1940If you want your local proxy command to make a secondary SSH
1941connection to a proxy host and then tunnel the primary connection
1942over that, you might well want the \c{-nc} command-line option in
1943Plink. See \k{using-cmdline-ncmode} for more information.
1944}
1945
1946\S{config-proxy-exclude} Excluding parts of the network from proxying
1947
1948\cfg{winhelp-topic}{proxy.exclude}
1949
1950Typically you will only need to use a proxy to connect to non-local
1951parts of your network; for example, your proxy might be required for
1952connections outside your company's internal network. In the
1953\q{Exclude Hosts/IPs} box you can enter ranges of IP addresses, or
1954ranges of DNS names, for which PuTTY will avoid using the proxy and
1955make a direct connection instead.
1956
1957The \q{Exclude Hosts/IPs} box may contain more than one exclusion
1958range, separated by commas. Each range can be an IP address or a DNS
1959name, with a \c{*} character allowing wildcards. For example:
1960
1961\c *.example.com
1962
1963This excludes any host with a name ending in \c{.example.com} from
1964proxying.
1965
1966\c 192.168.88.*
1967
1968This excludes any host with an IP address starting with 192.168.88
1969from proxying.
1970
1971\c 192.168.88.*,*.example.com
1972
1973This excludes both of the above ranges at once.
1974
1975Connections to the local host (the host name \i\c{localhost}, and any
1976\i{loopback IP address}) are never proxied, even if the proxy exclude
1977list does not explicitly contain them. It is very unlikely that this
1978behaviour would ever cause problems, but if it does you can change
1979it by enabling \q{Consider proxying local host connections}.
1980
1981Note that if you are doing \I{proxy DNS}DNS at the proxy (see
1982\k{config-proxy-dns}), you should make sure that your proxy
1983exclusion settings do not depend on knowing the IP address of a
1984host. If the name is passed on to the proxy without PuTTY looking it
1985up, it will never know the IP address and cannot check it against
1986your list.
1987
1988\S{config-proxy-dns} \I{proxy DNS}\ii{Name resolution} when using a proxy
1989
1990\cfg{winhelp-topic}{proxy.dns}
1991
1992If you are using a proxy to access a private network, it can make a
1993difference whether \i{DNS} name resolution is performed by PuTTY itself
1994(on the client machine) or performed by the proxy.
1995
1996The \q{Do DNS name lookup at proxy end} configuration option allows
1997you to control this. If you set it to \q{No}, PuTTY will always do
1998its own DNS, and will always pass an IP address to the proxy. If you
1999set it to \q{Yes}, PuTTY will always pass host names straight to the
2000proxy without trying to look them up first.
2001
2002If you set this option to \q{Auto} (the default), PuTTY will do
2003something it considers appropriate for each type of proxy. Telnet,
2004HTTP, and SOCKS5 proxies will have host names passed straight to
2005them; SOCKS4 proxies will not.
2006
2007Note that if you are doing DNS at the proxy, you should make sure
2008that your proxy exclusion settings (see \k{config-proxy-exclude}) do
2009not depend on knowing the IP address of a host. If the name is
2010passed on to the proxy without PuTTY looking it up, it will never
2011know the IP address and cannot check it against your list.
2012
2013The original SOCKS 4 protocol does not support proxy-side DNS. There
2014is a protocol extension (SOCKS 4A) which does support it, but not
2015all SOCKS 4 servers provide this extension. If you enable proxy DNS
2016and your SOCKS 4 server cannot deal with it, this might be why.
2017
2018\S{config-proxy-auth} \I{proxy username}Username and \I{proxy password}password
2019
2020\cfg{winhelp-topic}{proxy.auth}
2021
2022If your proxy requires \I{proxy authentication}authentication, you can
2023enter a username and a password in the \q{Username} and \q{Password} boxes.
2024
2025\I{security hazard}Note that if you save your session, the proxy
2026password will be saved in plain text, so anyone who can access your PuTTY
2027configuration data will be able to discover it.
2028
2029Authentication is not fully supported for all forms of proxy:
2030
2031\b Username and password authentication is supported for HTTP
2032proxies and SOCKS 5 proxies.
2033
2034\lcont{
2035
2036\b With SOCKS 5, authentication is via \i{CHAP} if the proxy
2037supports it (this is not supported in \i{PuTTYtel}); otherwise the
2038password is sent to the proxy in \I{plaintext password}plain text.
2039
2040\b With HTTP proxying, the only currently supported authentication
2041method is \I{HTTP basic}\q{basic}, where the password is sent to the proxy
2042in \I{plaintext password}plain text.
2043
2044}
2045
2046\b SOCKS 4 can use the \q{Username} field, but does not support
2047passwords.
2048
2049\b You can specify a way to include a username and password in the
2050Telnet/Local proxy command (see \k{config-proxy-command}).
2051
2052\S{config-proxy-command} Specifying the Telnet or Local proxy command
2053
2054\cfg{winhelp-topic}{proxy.command}
2055
2056If you are using the \i{Telnet proxy} type, the usual command required
2057by the firewall's Telnet server is \c{connect}, followed by a host
2058name and a port number. If your proxy needs a different command,
2059you can enter an alternative here.
2060
2061If you are using the \i{Local proxy} type, the local command to run
2062is specified here.
2063
2064In this string, you can use \c{\\n} to represent a new-line, \c{\\r}
2065to represent a carriage return, \c{\\t} to represent a tab
2066character, and \c{\\x} followed by two hex digits to represent any
2067other character. \c{\\\\} is used to encode the \c{\\} character
2068itself.
2069
2070Also, the special strings \c{%host} and \c{%port} will be replaced
2071by the host name and port number you want to connect to. The strings
2072\c{%user} and \c{%pass} will be replaced by the proxy username and
2073password you specify. The strings \c{%proxyhost} and \c{%proxyport}
2074will be replaced by the host details specified on the \e{Proxy} panel,
2075if any (this is most likely to be useful for the Local proxy type).
2076To get a literal \c{%} sign, enter \c{%%}.
2077
2078If a Telnet proxy server prompts for a username and password
2079before commands can be sent, you can use a command such as:
2080
2081\c %user\n%pass\nconnect %host %port\n
2082
2083This will send your username and password as the first two lines to
2084the proxy, followed by a command to connect to the desired host and
2085port. Note that if you do not include the \c{%user} or \c{%pass}
2086tokens in the Telnet command, then the \q{Username} and \q{Password}
2087configuration fields will be ignored.
2088
2089\H{config-telnet} The \i{Telnet} panel
2090
2091The Telnet panel allows you to configure options that only apply to
2092Telnet sessions.
2093
2094\S{config-oldenviron} \q{Handling of OLD_ENVIRON ambiguity}
2095
2096\cfg{winhelp-topic}{telnet.oldenviron}
2097
2098The original Telnet mechanism for passing \i{environment variables} was
2099badly specified. At the time the standard (RFC 1408) was written,
2100BSD telnet implementations were already supporting the feature, and
2101the intention of the standard was to describe the behaviour the BSD
2102implementations were already using.
2103
2104Sadly there was a typing error in the standard when it was issued,
2105and two vital function codes were specified the wrong way round. BSD
2106implementations did not change, and the standard was not corrected.
2107Therefore, it's possible you might find either \i{BSD} or \i{RFC}-compliant
2108implementations out there. This switch allows you to choose which
2109one PuTTY claims to be.
2110
2111The problem was solved by issuing a second standard, defining a new
2112Telnet mechanism called \i\cw{NEW_ENVIRON}, which behaved exactly like
2113the original \i\cw{OLD_ENVIRON} but was not encumbered by existing
2114implementations. Most Telnet servers now support this, and it's
2115unambiguous. This feature should only be needed if you have trouble
2116passing environment variables to quite an old server.
2117
2118\S{config-ptelnet} Passive and active \i{Telnet negotiation} modes
2119
2120\cfg{winhelp-topic}{telnet.passive}
2121
2122In a Telnet connection, there are two types of data passed between
2123the client and the server: actual text, and \e{negotiations} about
2124which Telnet extra features to use.
2125
2126PuTTY can use two different strategies for negotiation:
2127
2128\b In \I{active Telnet negotiation}\e{active} mode, PuTTY starts to send
2129negotiations as soon as the connection is opened.
2130
2131\b In \I{passive Telnet negotiation}\e{passive} mode, PuTTY will wait to
2132negotiate until it sees a negotiation from the server.
2133
2134The obvious disadvantage of passive mode is that if the server is
2135also operating in a passive mode, then negotiation will never begin
2136at all. For this reason PuTTY defaults to active mode.
2137
2138However, sometimes passive mode is required in order to successfully
2139get through certain types of firewall and \i{Telnet proxy} server. If
2140you have confusing trouble with a \i{firewall}, you could try enabling
2141passive mode to see if it helps.
2142
2143\S{config-telnetkey} \q{Keyboard sends \i{Telnet special commands}}
2144
2145\cfg{winhelp-topic}{telnet.specialkeys}
2146
2147If this box is checked, several key sequences will have their normal
2148actions modified:
2149
2150\b the Backspace key on the keyboard will send the \I{Erase Character,
2151Telnet special command}Telnet special backspace code;
2152
2153\b Control-C will send the Telnet special \I{Interrupt Process, Telnet
2154special command}Interrupt Process code;
2155
2156\b Control-Z will send the Telnet special \I{Suspend Process, Telnet
2157special command}Suspend Process code.
2158
2159You probably shouldn't enable this
2160unless you know what you're doing.
2161
2162\S{config-telnetnl} \q{Return key sends \i{Telnet New Line} instead of ^M}
2163
2164\cfg{winhelp-topic}{telnet.newline}
2165
2166Unlike most other remote login protocols, the Telnet protocol has a
2167special \q{\i{new line}} code that is not the same as the usual line
2168endings of Control-M or Control-J. By default, PuTTY sends the
2169Telnet New Line code when you press Return, instead of sending
2170Control-M as it does in most other protocols.
2171
2172Most Unix-style Telnet servers don't mind whether they receive
2173Telnet New Line or Control-M; some servers do expect New Line, and
2174some servers prefer to see ^M. If you are seeing surprising
2175behaviour when you press Return in a Telnet session, you might try
2176turning this option off to see if it helps.
2177
2178\H{config-rlogin} The Rlogin panel
2179
2180The \i{Rlogin} panel allows you to configure options that only apply to
2181Rlogin sessions.
2182
2183\S{config-rlogin-localuser} \I{local username in Rlogin}\q{Local username}
2184
2185\cfg{winhelp-topic}{rlogin.localuser}
2186
2187Rlogin allows an automated (password-free) form of login by means of
2188a file called \i\c{.rhosts} on the server. You put a line in your
2189\c{.rhosts} file saying something like \c{jbloggs@pc1.example.com},
2190and then when you make an Rlogin connection the client transmits the
2191username of the user running the Rlogin client. The server checks
2192the username and hostname against \c{.rhosts}, and if they match it
2193\I{passwordless login}does not ask for a password.
2194
2195This only works because Unix systems contain a safeguard to stop a
2196user from pretending to be another user in an Rlogin connection.
2197Rlogin connections have to come from \I{privileged port}port numbers below
21981024, and Unix systems prohibit this to unprivileged processes; so when the
2199server sees a connection from a low-numbered port, it assumes the
2200client end of the connection is held by a privileged (and therefore
2201trusted) process, so it believes the claim of who the user is.
2202
2203Windows does not have this restriction: \e{any} user can initiate an
2204outgoing connection from a low-numbered port. Hence, the Rlogin
2205\c{.rhosts} mechanism is completely useless for securely
2206distinguishing several different users on a Windows machine. If you
2207have a \c{.rhosts} entry pointing at a Windows PC, you should assume
2208that \e{anyone} using that PC can \i{spoof} your username in
2209an Rlogin connection and access your account on the server.
2210
2211The \q{Local username} control allows you to specify what user name
2212PuTTY should claim you have, in case it doesn't match your \i{Windows
2213user name} (or in case you didn't bother to set up a Windows user
2214name).
2215
2216\H{config-ssh} The SSH panel
2217
2218The \i{SSH} panel allows you to configure options that only apply to
2219SSH sessions.
2220
2221\S{config-command} Executing a specific command on the server
2222
2223\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.command}
2224
2225In SSH, you don't have to run a general shell session on the server.
2226Instead, you can choose to run a single specific command (such as a
2227mail user agent, for example). If you want to do this, enter the
2228command in the \q{\ii{Remote command}} box.
2229
2230Note that most servers will close the session after executing the
2231command.
2232
2233\S{config-ssh-noshell} \q{Don't start a \I{remote shell}shell or
2234\I{remote command}command at all}
2235
2236\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.noshell}
2237
2238If you tick this box, PuTTY will not attempt to run a shell or
2239command after connecting to the remote server. You might want to use
2240this option if you are only using the SSH connection for \i{port
2241forwarding}, and your user account on the server does not have the
2242ability to run a shell.
2243
2244This feature is only available in \i{SSH protocol version 2} (since the
2245version 1 protocol assumes you will always want to run a shell).
2246
2247This feature can also be enabled using the \c{-N} command-line
2248option; see \k{using-cmdline-noshell}.
2249
2250If you use this feature in Plink, you will not be able to terminate
2251the Plink process by any graceful means; the only way to kill it
2252will be by pressing Control-C or sending a kill signal from another
2253program.
2254
2255\S{config-ssh-comp} \q{Enable \i{compression}}
2256
2257\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.compress}
2258
2259This enables data compression in the SSH connection: data sent by
2260the server is compressed before sending, and decompressed at the
2261client end. Likewise, data sent by PuTTY to the server is compressed
2262first and the server decompresses it at the other end. This can help
2263make the most of a low-\i{bandwidth} connection.
2264
2265\S{config-ssh-prot} \q{Preferred \i{SSH protocol version}}
2266
2267\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.protocol}
2268
2269This allows you to select whether you would like to use \i{SSH protocol
2270version 1} or \I{SSH-2}version 2. \#{FIXME: say something about this elsewhere?}
2271
2272PuTTY will attempt to use protocol 1 if the server you connect to
2273does not offer protocol 2, and vice versa.
2274
2275If you select \q{1 only} or \q{2 only} here, PuTTY will only connect
2276if the server you connect to offers the SSH protocol version you
2277have specified.
2278
2279\S{config-ssh-encryption} \ii{Encryption} algorithm selection
2280
2281\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.ciphers}
2282
2283PuTTY supports a variety of different \i{encryption algorithm}s, and
2284allows you to choose which one you prefer to use. You can do this by
2285dragging the algorithms up and down in the list box (or moving them
2286using the Up and Down buttons) to specify a preference order. When
2287you make an SSH connection, PuTTY will search down the list from the
2288top until it finds an algorithm supported by the server, and then
2289use that.
2290
2291PuTTY currently supports the following algorithms:
2292
2293\b \i{AES} (Rijndael) - 256, 192, or 128-bit SDCTR or CBC (SSH-2 only)
2294
2295\b \i{Arcfour} (RC4) - 256 or 128-bit stream cipher (SSH-2 only)
2296
2297\b \i{Blowfish} - 256-bit SDCTR (SSH-2 only) or 128-bit CBC
2298
2299\b \ii{Triple-DES} - 168-bit SDCTR (SSH-2 only) or CBC
2300
2301\b \ii{Single-DES} - 56-bit CBC (see below for SSH-2)
2302
2303If the algorithm PuTTY finds is below the \q{warn below here} line,
2304you will see a warning box when you make the connection:
2305
2306\c The first cipher supported by the server
2307\c is single-DES, which is below the configured
2308\c warning threshold.
2309\c Do you want to continue with this connection?
2310
2311This warns you that the first available encryption is not a very
2312secure one. Typically you would put the \q{warn below here} line
2313between the encryptions you consider secure and the ones you
2314consider substandard. By default, PuTTY supplies a preference order
2315intended to reflect a reasonable preference in terms of security and
2316speed.
2317
2318In SSH-2, the encryption algorithm is negotiated independently for
2319each direction of the connection, although PuTTY does not support
2320separate configuration of the preference orders. As a result you may
2321get two warnings similar to the one above, possibly with different
2322encryptions.
2323
2324Single-DES is not recommended in the SSH-2 protocol
2325standards, but one or two server implementations do support it.
2326PuTTY can use single-DES to interoperate with
2327these servers if you enable the \q{Enable legacy use of single-DES in
2328SSH-2} option; by default this is disabled and PuTTY will stick to
2329recommended ciphers.
2330
2331\H{config-ssh-kex} The Kex panel
2332
2333\# FIXME: This whole section is draft. Feel free to revise.
2334
2335The Kex panel (short for \q{\i{key exchange}}) allows you to configure
2336options related to SSH-2 key exchange.
2337
2338Key exchange occurs at the start of an SSH connection (and
2339occasionally thereafter); it establishes a \i{shared secret} that is used
2340as the basis for all of SSH's security features. It is therefore very
2341important for the security of the connection that the key exchange is
2342secure.
2343
2344Key exchange is a cryptographically intensive process; if either the
2345client or the server is a relatively slow machine, the slower methods
2346may take several tens of seconds to complete.
2347
2348If connection startup is too slow, or the connection hangs
2349periodically, you may want to try changing these settings.
2350
2351If you don't understand what any of this means, it's safe to leave
2352these settings alone.
2353
2354This entire panel is only relevant to SSH protocol version 2; none of
2355these settings affect SSH-1 at all.
2356
2357\S{config-ssh-kex-order} \ii{Key exchange algorithm} selection
2358
2359\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.kex.order}
2360
2361PuTTY supports a variety of SSH-2 key exchange methods, and allows you
2362to choose which one you prefer to use; configuration is similar to
2363cipher selection (see \k{config-ssh-encryption}).
2364
2365PuTTY currently supports the following varieties of \i{Diffie-Hellman key
2366exchange}:
2367
2368\b \q{Group 14}: a well-known 2048-bit group.
2369
2370\b \q{Group 1}: a well-known 1024-bit group. This is less secure
2371\#{FIXME better words} than group 14, but may be faster with slow
2372client or server machines, and may be the only method supported by
2373older server software.
2374
2375\b \q{\ii{Group exchange}}: with this method, instead of using a fixed
2376group, PuTTY requests that the server suggest a group to use for key
2377exchange; the server can avoid groups known to be weak, and possibly
2378invent new ones over time, without any changes required to PuTTY's
2379configuration. We recommend use of this method, if possible.
2380
2381In addition, PuTTY supports \i{RSA key exchange}, which requires much less
2382computational effort on the part of the client, and somewhat less on
2383the part of the server, than Diffie-Hellman key exchange.
2384
2385If the first algorithm PuTTY finds is below the \q{warn below here}
2386line, you will see a warning box when you make the connection, similar
2387to that for cipher selection (see \k{config-ssh-encryption}).
2388
2389\S{config-ssh-kex-rekey} \ii{Repeat key exchange}
2390
2391\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.kex.repeat}
2392
2393If the session key negotiated at connection startup is used too much
2394or for too long, it may become feasible to mount attacks against the
2395SSH connection. Therefore, the SSH-2 protocol specifies that a new key
2396exchange should take place every so often; this can be initiated by
2397either the client or the server.
2398
2399While this renegotiation is taking place, no data can pass through
2400the SSH connection, so it may appear to \q{freeze}. (The occurrence of
2401repeat key exchange is noted in the Event Log; see
2402\k{using-eventlog}.) Usually the same algorithm is used as at the
2403start of the connection, with a similar overhead.
2404
2405These options control how often PuTTY will initiate a repeat key
2406exchange (\q{rekey}). You can also force a key exchange at any time
2407from the Special Commands menu (see \k{using-specials}).
2408
2409\# FIXME: do we have any additions to the SSH-2 specs' advice on
2410these values? Do we want to enforce any limits?
2411
2412\b \q{Max minutes before rekey} specifies the amount of time that is
2413allowed to elapse before a rekey is initiated. If this is set to zero,
2414PuTTY will not rekey due to elapsed time. The SSH-2 protocol
2415specification recommends a timeout of at most 60 minutes.
2416
2417You might have a need to disable time-based rekeys completely for the same
2418reasons that \i{keepalives} aren't always helpful. If you anticipate
2419suffering a network dropout of several hours in the middle of an SSH
2420connection, but were not actually planning to send \e{data} down
2421that connection during those hours, then an attempted rekey in the
2422middle of the dropout will probably cause the connection to be
2423abandoned, whereas if rekeys are disabled then the connection should
2424in principle survive (in the absence of interfering \i{firewalls}). See
2425\k{config-keepalive} for more discussion of these issues; for these
2426purposes, rekeys have much the same properties as keepalives.
2427(Except that rekeys have cryptographic value in themselves, so you
2428should bear that in mind when deciding whether to turn them off.)
2429Note, however, the the SSH \e{server} can still initiate rekeys.
2430
2431\b \q{Max data before rekey} specifies the amount of data (in bytes)
2432that is permitted to flow in either direction before a rekey is
2433initiated. If this is set to zero, PuTTY will not rekey due to
2434transferred data. The SSH-2 protocol specification recommends a limit
2435of at most 1 gigabyte.
2436
2437\lcont{
2438
2439As well as specifying a value in bytes, the following shorthand can be
2440used:
2441
2442\b \cq{1k} specifies 1 kilobyte (1024 bytes).
2443
2444\b \cq{1M} specifies 1 megabyte (1024 kilobytes).
2445
2446\b \cq{1G} specifies 1 gigabyte (1024 megabytes).
2447
2448}
2449
2450Disabling data-based rekeys entirely is a bad idea. The \i{integrity},
2451and to a lesser extent, \i{confidentiality} of the SSH-2 protocol depend
2452in part on rekeys occuring before a 32-bit packet sequence number
2453wraps around. Unlike time-based rekeys, data-based rekeys won't occur
2454when the SSH connection is idle, so they shouldn't cause the same
2455problems. The SSH-1 protocol, incidentally, has even weaker integrity
2456protection than SSH-2 without rekeys.
2457
2458\H{config-ssh-auth} The Auth panel
2459
2460The Auth panel allows you to configure \i{authentication} options for
2461SSH sessions.
2462
2463\S{config-ssh-noauth} \q{Bypass authentication entirely}
2464
2465\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.auth.bypass}
2466
2467In SSH-2, it is possible to establish a connection without using SSH's
2468mechanisms to identify or authenticate oneself to the server. Some
2469servers may prefer to handle authentication in the data channel, for
2470instance, or may simply require no authentication whatsoever.
2471
2472By default, PuTTY assumes the server requires authentication (most
2473do), and thus must provide a username. If you find you are getting
2474unwanted username prompts, you could try checking this option.
2475
2476This option only affects SSH-2 connections. SSH-1 connections always
2477require an authentication step.
2478
2479\S{config-ssh-banner} \q{Display pre-authentication banner}
2480
2481\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.auth.banner}
2482
2483SSH-2 servers can provide a message for clients to display to the
2484prospective user before the user logs in; this is sometimes known as a
2485pre-authentication \q{\i{banner}}. Typically this is used to provide
2486information about the server and legal notices.
2487
2488By default, PuTTY displays this message before prompting for a
2489password or similar credentials (although, unfortunately, not before
2490prompting for a login name, due to the nature of the protocol design).
2491By unchecking this option, display of the banner can be suppressed
2492entirely.
2493
2494\S{config-ssh-tryagent} \q{Attempt authentication using Pageant}
2495
2496\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.auth.pageant}
2497
2498If this option is enabled, then PuTTY will look for Pageant (the SSH
2499private-key storage agent) and attempt to authenticate with any
2500suitable public keys Pageant currently holds.
2501
2502This behaviour is almost always desirable, and is therefore enabled
2503by default. In rare cases you might need to turn it off in order to
2504force authentication by some non-public-key method such as
2505passwords.
2506
2507This option can also be controlled using the \c{-noagent}
2508command-line option. See \k{using-cmdline-agentauth}.
2509
2510See \k{pageant} for more information about Pageant in general.
2511
2512\S{config-ssh-tis} \q{Attempt \I{TIS authentication}TIS or
2513\i{CryptoCard authentication}}
2514
2515\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.auth.tis}
2516
2517TIS and CryptoCard authentication are (despite their names) generic
2518forms of simple \I{challenge/response authentication}challenge/response
2519authentication available in SSH protocol version 1 only. You might use
2520them if you were using \i{S/Key} \i{one-time passwords}, for example,
2521or if you had a physical \i{security token} that generated responses
2522to authentication challenges. They can even be used to prompt for
2523simple passwords.
2524
2525With this switch enabled, PuTTY will attempt these forms of
2526authentication if the server is willing to try them. You will be
2527presented with a challenge string (which may be different every
2528time) and must supply the correct response in order to log in. If
2529your server supports this, you should talk to your system
2530administrator about precisely what form these challenges and
2531responses take.
2532
2533\S{config-ssh-ki} \q{Attempt \i{keyboard-interactive authentication}}
2534
2535\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.auth.ki}
2536
2537The SSH-2 equivalent of TIS authentication is called
2538\q{keyboard-interactive}. It is a flexible authentication method
2539using an arbitrary sequence of requests and responses; so it is not
2540only useful for \I{challenge/response authentication}challenge/response
2541mechanisms such as \i{S/Key}, but it can also be used for (for example)
2542asking the user for a \I{password expiry}new password when the old one
2543has expired.
2544
2545PuTTY leaves this option enabled by default, but supplies a switch
2546to turn it off in case you should have trouble with it.
2547
2548\S{config-ssh-agentfwd} \q{Allow \i{agent forwarding}}
2549
2550\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.auth.agentfwd}
2551
2552This option allows the SSH server to open forwarded connections back
2553to your local copy of \i{Pageant}. If you are not running Pageant, this
2554option will do nothing.
2555
2556See \k{pageant} for general information on Pageant, and
2557\k{pageant-forward} for information on agent forwarding. Note that
2558there is a security risk involved with enabling this option; see
2559\k{pageant-security} for details.
2560
2561\S{config-ssh-changeuser} \q{Allow attempted \i{changes of username} in SSH-2}
2562
2563\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.auth.changeuser}
2564
2565In the SSH-1 protocol, it is impossible to change username after
2566failing to authenticate. So if you mis-type your username at the
2567PuTTY \q{login as:} prompt, you will not be able to change it except
2568by restarting PuTTY.
2569
2570The SSH-2 protocol \e{does} allow changes of username, in principle,
2571but does not make it mandatory for SSH-2 servers to accept them. In
2572particular, \i{OpenSSH} does not accept a change of username; once you
2573have sent one username, it will reject attempts to try to
2574authenticate as another user. (Depending on the version of OpenSSH,
2575it may quietly return failure for all login attempts, or it may send
2576an error message.)
2577
2578For this reason, PuTTY will by default not prompt you for your
2579username more than once, in case the server complains. If you know
2580your server can cope with it, you can enable the \q{Allow attempted
2581changes of username} option to modify PuTTY's behaviour.
2582
2583\S{config-ssh-privkey} \q{\ii{Private key} file for authentication}
2584
2585\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.auth.privkey}
2586
2587This box is where you enter the name of your private key file if you
2588are using \i{public key authentication}. See \k{pubkey} for information
2589about public key authentication in SSH.
2590
2591This key must be in PuTTY's native format (\c{*.\i{PPK}}). If you have a
2592private key in another format that you want to use with PuTTY, see
2593\k{puttygen-conversions}.
2594
2595If a key file is specified here, and \i{Pageant} is running (see
2596\k{pageant}), PuTTY will first try asking Pageant to authenticate with
2597that key, and ignore any other keys Pageant may have. If that fails,
2598PuTTY will ask for a passphrase as normal.
2599
2600\H{config-ssh-auth-gssapi} The \i{GSSAPI} panel
2601
2602\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.auth.gssapi}
2603
2604The \q{GSSAPI} subpanel of the \q{Auth} panel controls the use of
2605GSSAPI authentication. This is a mechanism which delegates the
2606authentication exchange to a library elsewhere on the client
2607machine, which in principle can authenticate in many different ways
2608but in practice is usually used with the \i{Kerberos} \i{single sign-on}
2609protocol.
2610
2611GSSAPI is only available in the SSH-2 protocol.
2612
2613The topmost control on the GSSAPI subpanel is the checkbox labelled
2614\q{Attempt GSSAPI authentication}. If this is disabled, GSSAPI will
2615not be attempted at all and the rest of this panel is unused. If it
2616is enabled, GSSAPI authentication will be attempted, and (typically)
2617if your client machine has valid Kerberos credentials loaded, then
2618PuTTY should be able to authenticate automatically to servers that
2619support Kerberos logins.
2620
2621\S{config-ssh-auth-gssapi-delegation} \q{Allow GSSAPI credential
2622delegation}
2623
2624\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.auth.gssapi.delegation}
2625
2626\i{GSSAPI credential delegation} is a mechanism for passing on your
2627Kerberos (or other) identity to the session on the SSH server. If
2628you enable this option, then not only will PuTTY be able to log in
2629automatically to a server that accepts your Kerberos credentials,
2630but also you will be able to connect out from that server to other
2631Kerberos-supporting services and use the same credentials just as
2632automatically.
2633
2634(This option is the Kerberos analogue of SSH agent forwarding; see
2635\k{pageant-forward} for some information on that.)
2636
2637Note that, like SSH agent forwarding, there is a security
2638implication in the use of this option: the administrator of the
2639server you connect to, or anyone else who has cracked the
2640administrator account on that server, could fake your identity when
2641connecting to further Kerberos-supporting services. However,
2642Kerberos sites are typically run by a central authority, so the
2643administrator of one server is likely to already have access to the
2644other services too; so this would typically be less of a risk than
2645SSH agent forwarding.
2646
2647\S{config-ssh-auth-gssapi-libraries} Preference order for GSSAPI
2648libraries
2649
2650\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.auth.gssapi.libraries}
2651
2652GSSAPI is a mechanism which allows more than one authentication
2653method to be accessed through the same interface. Therefore, more
2654than one authentication library may exist on your system which can
2655be accessed using GSSAPI.
2656
2657PuTTY contains native support for a few well-known such libraries,
2658and will look for all of them on your system and use whichever it
2659finds. If more than one exists on your system and you need to use a
2660specific one, you can adjust the order in which it will search using
2661this preference list control.
2662
2663One of the options in the preference list is to use a user-specified
2664GSSAPI library. If the library you want to use is not mentioned by
2665name in PuTTY's list of options, you can enter its full pathname in
2666the \q{User-supplied GSSAPI library path} field, and move the
2667\q{User-supplied GSSAPI library} option in the preference list to
2668make sure it is selected before anything else.
2669
2670\H{config-ssh-tty} The TTY panel
2671
2672The TTY panel lets you configure the remote pseudo-terminal.
2673
2674\S{config-ssh-pty} \I{pseudo-terminal allocation}\q{Don't allocate
2675a pseudo-terminal}
2676
2677\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.nopty}
2678
2679When connecting to a \i{Unix} system, most \I{interactive
2680connections}interactive shell sessions are run in a \e{pseudo-terminal},
2681which allows the Unix system to pretend it's talking to a real physical
2682terminal device but allows the SSH server to catch all the data coming
2683from that fake device and send it back to the client.
2684
2685Occasionally you might find you have a need to run a session \e{not}
2686in a pseudo-terminal. In PuTTY, this is generally only useful for
2687very specialist purposes; although in Plink (see \k{plink}) it is
2688the usual way of working.
2689
2690\S{config-ttymodes} Sending \i{terminal modes}
2691
2692\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.ttymodes}
2693
2694The SSH protocol allows the client to send \q{terminal modes} for
2695the remote pseudo-terminal. These usually control the server's
2696expectation of the local terminal's behaviour.
2697
2698If your server does not have sensible defaults for these modes, you
2699may find that changing them here helps. If you don't understand any of
2700this, it's safe to leave these settings alone.
2701
2702(None of these settings will have any effect if no pseudo-terminal
2703is requested or allocated.)
2704
2705You can add or modify a mode by selecting it from the drop-down list,
2706choosing whether it's set automatically or to a specific value with
2707the radio buttons and edit box, and hitting \q{Add}. A mode (or
2708several) can be removed from the list by selecting them and hitting
2709\q{Remove}. The effect of the mode list is as follows:
2710
2711\b If a mode is not on the list, it will not be specified to the
2712server under any circumstances.
2713
2714\b If a mode is on the list:
2715
2716\lcont{
2717
2718\b If the \q{Auto} option is selected, the PuTTY tools will decide
2719whether to specify that mode to the server, and if so, will send
2720a sensible value.
2721
2722\lcont{
2723
2724PuTTY proper will send modes that it has an opinion on (currently only
2725the code for the Backspace key, \cw{ERASE}). Plink on Unix
2726will propagate appropriate modes from the local terminal, if any.
2727
2728}
2729
2730\b If a value is specified, it will be sent to the server under all
2731circumstances. The precise syntax of the value box depends on the
2732mode.
2733
2734}
2735
2736By default, all of the available modes are listed as \q{Auto},
2737which should do the right thing in most circumstances.
2738
2739The precise effect of each setting, if any, is up to the server. Their
2740names come from \i{POSIX} and other Unix systems, and they are most
2741likely to have a useful effect on such systems. (These are the same
2742settings that can usually be changed using the \i\c{stty} command once
2743logged in to such servers.)
2744
2745Some notable modes are described below; for fuller explanations, see
2746your server documentation.
2747
2748\b \I{ERASE special character}\cw{ERASE} is the character that when typed
2749by the user will delete one space to the left. When set to \q{Auto}
2750(the default setting), this follows the setting of the local Backspace
2751key in PuTTY (see \k{config-backspace}).
2752
2753\lcont{
2754This and other \i{special character}s are specified using \c{^C} notation
2755for Ctrl-C, and so on. Use \c{^<27>} or \c{^<0x1B>} to specify a
2756character numerically, and \c{^~} to get a literal \c{^}. Other
2757non-control characters are denoted by themselves. Leaving the box
2758entirely blank indicates that \e{no} character should be assigned to
2759the specified function, although this may not be supported by all
2760servers.
2761}
2762
2763\b \I{QUIT special character}\cw{QUIT} is a special character that
2764usually forcefully ends the current process on the server
2765(\cw{SIGQUIT}). On many servers its default setting is Ctrl-backslash
2766(\c{^\\}), which is easy to accidentally invoke on many keyboards. If
2767this is getting in your way, you may want to change it to another
2768character or turn it off entirely.
2769
2770\b Boolean modes such as \cw{ECHO} and \cw{ICANON} can be specified in
2771PuTTY in a variety of ways, such as \cw{true}/\cw{false},
2772\cw{yes}/\cw{no}, and \cw{0}/\cw{1}.
2773
2774\b Terminal speeds are configured elsewhere; see \k{config-termspeed}.
2775
2776\H{config-ssh-x11} The X11 panel
2777
2778\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.tunnels.x11}
2779
2780The X11 panel allows you to configure \i{forwarding of X11} over an
2781SSH connection.
2782
2783If your server lets you run X Window System applications, X11
2784forwarding allows you to securely give those applications access to
2785a local X display on your PC.
2786
2787To enable X11 forwarding, check the \q{Enable X11 forwarding} box.
2788If your X display is somewhere unusual, you will need to enter its
2789location in the \q{X display location} box; if this is left blank,
2790PuTTY will try to find a sensible default in the environment, or use the
2791primary local display (\c{:0}) if that fails.
2792
2793See \k{using-x-forwarding} for more information about X11
2794forwarding.
2795
2796\S{config-ssh-x11auth} Remote \i{X11 authentication}
2797
2798\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.tunnels.x11auth}
2799
2800If you are using X11 forwarding, the virtual X server created on the
2801SSH server machine will be protected by authorisation data. This
2802data is invented, and checked, by PuTTY.
2803
2804The usual authorisation method used for this is called
2805\i\cw{MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1}. This is a simple password-style protocol:
2806the X client sends some cookie data to the server, and the server
2807checks that it matches the real cookie. The cookie data is sent over
2808an unencrypted X11 connection; so if you allow a client on a third
2809machine to access the virtual X server, then the cookie will be sent
2810in the clear.
2811
2812PuTTY offers the alternative protocol \i\cw{XDM-AUTHORIZATION-1}. This
2813is a cryptographically authenticated protocol: the data sent by the
2814X client is different every time, and it depends on the IP address
2815and port of the client's end of the connection and is also stamped
2816with the current time. So an eavesdropper who captures an
2817\cw{XDM-AUTHORIZATION-1} string cannot immediately re-use it for
2818their own X connection.
2819
2820PuTTY's support for \cw{XDM-AUTHORIZATION-1} is a somewhat
2821experimental feature, and may encounter several problems:
2822
2823\b Some X clients probably do not even support
2824\cw{XDM-AUTHORIZATION-1}, so they will not know what to do with the
2825data PuTTY has provided.
2826
2827\b This authentication mechanism will only work in SSH-2. In SSH-1,
2828the SSH server does not tell the client the source address of
2829a forwarded connection in a machine-readable format, so it's
2830impossible to verify the \cw{XDM-AUTHORIZATION-1} data.
2831
2832\b You may find this feature causes problems with some SSH servers,
2833which will not clean up \cw{XDM-AUTHORIZATION-1} data after a
2834session, so that if you then connect to the same server using
2835a client which only does \cw{MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1} and are allocated
2836the same remote display number, you might find that out-of-date
2837authentication data is still present on your server and your X
2838connections fail.
2839
2840PuTTY's default is \cw{MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1}. If you change it, you
2841should be sure you know what you're doing.
2842
2843\S{config-ssh-xauthority} X authority file for local display
2844
2845\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.tunnels.xauthority}
2846
2847If you are using X11 forwarding, the local X server to which your
2848forwarded connections are eventually directed may itself require
2849authorisation.
2850
2851Some Windows X servers do not require this: they do authorisation by
2852simpler means, such as accepting any connection from the local
2853machine but not from anywhere else. However, if your X server does
2854require authorisation, then PuTTY needs to know what authorisation
2855is required.
2856
2857One way in which this data might be made available is for the X
2858server to store it somewhere in a file which has the same format
2859as the Unix \c{.Xauthority} file. If this is how your Windows X
2860server works, then you can tell PuTTY where to find this file by
2861configuring this option. By default, PuTTY will not attempt to find
2862any authorisation for your local display.
2863
2864\H{config-ssh-portfwd} \I{port forwarding}The Tunnels panel
2865
2866\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.tunnels.portfwd}
2867
2868The Tunnels panel allows you to configure tunnelling of arbitrary
2869connection types through an SSH connection.
2870
2871Port forwarding allows you to tunnel other types of \i{network
2872connection} down an SSH session. See \k{using-port-forwarding} for a
2873general discussion of port forwarding and how it works.
2874
2875The port forwarding section in the Tunnels panel shows a list of all
2876the port forwardings that PuTTY will try to set up when it connects
2877to the server. By default no port forwardings are set up, so this
2878list is empty.
2879
2880To add a port forwarding:
2881
2882\b Set one of the \q{Local} or \q{Remote} radio buttons, depending
2883on whether you want to \I{local port forwarding}forward a local port
2884to a remote destination (\q{Local}) or \I{remote port forwarding}forward
2885a remote port to a local destination (\q{Remote}). Alternatively,
2886select \q{Dynamic} if you want PuTTY to \I{dynamic port forwarding}provide
2887a local SOCKS 4/4A/5 proxy on a local port (note that this proxy only
2888supports TCP connections; the SSH protocol does not support forwarding
2889\i{UDP}).
2890
2891\b Enter a source \i{port number} into the \q{Source port} box. For
2892local forwardings, PuTTY will listen on this port of your PC. For
2893remote forwardings, your SSH server will listen on this port of the
2894remote machine. Note that most servers will not allow you to listen
2895on \I{privileged port}port numbers less than 1024.
2896
2897\b If you have selected \q{Local} or \q{Remote} (this step is not
2898needed with \q{Dynamic}), enter a hostname and port number separated
2899by a colon, in the \q{Destination} box. Connections received on the
2900source port will be directed to this destination. For example, to
2901connect to a POP-3 server, you might enter
2902\c{popserver.example.com:110}.
2903
2904\b Click the \q{Add} button. Your forwarding details should appear
2905in the list box.
2906
2907To remove a port forwarding, simply select its details in the list
2908box, and click the \q{Remove} button.
2909
2910In the \q{Source port} box, you can also optionally enter an \I{listen
2911address}IP address to listen on, by specifying (for instance)
2912\c{127.0.0.5:79}.
2913See \k{using-port-forwarding} for more information on how this
2914works and its restrictions.
2915
2916In place of port numbers, you can enter \i{service names}, if they are
2917known to the local system. For instance, in the \q{Destination} box,
2918you could enter \c{popserver.example.com:pop3}.
2919
2920You can \I{port forwarding, changing mid-session}modify the currently
2921active set of port forwardings in mid-session using \q{Change
2922Settings} (see \k{using-changesettings}). If you delete a local or
2923dynamic port forwarding in mid-session, PuTTY will stop listening for
2924connections on that port, so it can be re-used by another program. If
2925you delete a remote port forwarding, note that:
2926
2927\b The SSH-1 protocol contains no mechanism for asking the server to
2928stop listening on a remote port.
2929
2930\b The SSH-2 protocol does contain such a mechanism, but not all SSH
2931servers support it. (In particular, \i{OpenSSH} does not support it in
2932any version earlier than 3.9.)
2933
2934If you ask to delete a remote port forwarding and PuTTY cannot make
2935the server actually stop listening on the port, it will instead just
2936start refusing incoming connections on that port. Therefore,
2937although the port cannot be reused by another program, you can at
2938least be reasonably sure that server-side programs can no longer
2939access the service at your end of the port forwarding.
2940
2941If you delete a forwarding, any existing connections established using
2942that forwarding remain open. Similarly, changes to global settings
2943such as \q{Local ports accept connections from other hosts} only take
2944effect on new forwardings.
2945
2946If the connection you are forwarding over SSH is itself a second SSH
2947connection made by another copy of PuTTY, you might find the
2948\q{logical host name} configuration option useful to warn PuTTY of
2949which host key it should be expecting. See \k{config-loghost} for
2950details of this.
2951
2952\S{config-ssh-portfwd-localhost} Controlling the visibility of
2953forwarded ports
2954
2955\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.tunnels.portfwd.localhost}
2956
2957The source port for a forwarded connection usually does not accept
2958connections from any machine except the \I{localhost}SSH client or
2959server machine itself (for local and remote forwardings respectively).
2960There are controls in the Tunnels panel to change this:
2961
2962\b The \q{Local ports accept connections from other hosts} option
2963allows you to set up local-to-remote port forwardings in such a way
2964that machines other than your client PC can connect to the forwarded
2965port. (This also applies to dynamic SOCKS forwarding.)
2966
2967\b The \q{Remote ports do the same} option does the same thing for
2968remote-to-local port forwardings (so that machines other than the
2969SSH server machine can connect to the forwarded port.) Note that
2970this feature is only available in the SSH-2 protocol, and not all
2971SSH-2 servers support it (\i{OpenSSH} 3.0 does not, for example).
2972
2973\S{config-ssh-portfwd-address-family} Selecting \i{Internet protocol
2974version} for forwarded ports
2975
2976\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.tunnels.portfwd.ipversion}
2977
2978This switch allows you to select a specific Internet protocol (\i{IPv4}
2979or \i{IPv6}) for the local end of a forwarded port. By default, it is
2980set on \q{Auto}, which means that:
2981
2982\b for a local-to-remote port forwarding, PuTTY will listen for
2983incoming connections in both IPv4 and (if available) IPv6
2984
2985\b for a remote-to-local port forwarding, PuTTY will choose a
2986sensible protocol for the outgoing connection.
2987
2988This overrides the general Internet protocol version preference
2989on the Connection panel (see \k{config-address-family}).
2990
2991Note that some operating systems may listen for incoming connections
2992in IPv4 even if you specifically asked for IPv6, because their IPv4
2993and IPv6 protocol stacks are linked together. Apparently \i{Linux} does
2994this, and Windows does not. So if you're running PuTTY on Windows
2995and you tick \q{IPv6} for a local or dynamic port forwarding, it
2996will \e{only} be usable by connecting to it using IPv6; whereas if
2997you do the same on Linux, you can also use it with IPv4. However,
2998ticking \q{Auto} should always give you a port which you can connect
2999to using either protocol.
3000
3001\H{config-ssh-bugs} \I{SSH server bugs}The Bugs panel
3002
3003Not all SSH servers work properly. Various existing servers have
3004bugs in them, which can make it impossible for a client to talk to
3005them unless it knows about the bug and works around it.
3006
3007Since most servers announce their software version number at the
3008beginning of the SSH connection, PuTTY will attempt to detect which
3009bugs it can expect to see in the server and automatically enable
3010workarounds. However, sometimes it will make mistakes; if the server
3011has been deliberately configured to conceal its version number, or
3012if the server is a version which PuTTY's bug database does not know
3013about, then PuTTY will not know what bugs to expect.
3014
3015The Bugs panel allows you to manually configure the bugs PuTTY
3016expects to see in the server. Each bug can be configured in three
3017states:
3018
3019\b \q{Off}: PuTTY will assume the server does not have the bug.
3020
3021\b \q{On}: PuTTY will assume the server \e{does} have the bug.
3022
3023\b \q{Auto}: PuTTY will use the server's version number announcement
3024to try to guess whether or not the server has the bug.
3025
3026\S{config-ssh-bug-ignore1} \q{Chokes on SSH-1 \i{ignore message}s}
3027
3028\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.bugs.ignore1}
3029
3030An ignore message (SSH_MSG_IGNORE) is a message in the SSH protocol
3031which can be sent from the client to the server, or from the server
3032to the client, at any time. Either side is required to ignore the
3033message whenever it receives it. PuTTY uses ignore messages to
3034\I{password camouflage}hide the password packet in SSH-1, so that
3035a listener cannot tell the length of the user's password; it also
3036uses ignore messages for connection \i{keepalives} (see
3037\k{config-keepalive}).
3038
3039If this bug is detected, PuTTY will stop using ignore messages. This
3040means that keepalives will stop working, and PuTTY will have to fall
3041back to a secondary defence against SSH-1 password-length
3042eavesdropping. See \k{config-ssh-bug-plainpw1}. If this bug is
3043enabled when talking to a correct server, the session will succeed,
3044but keepalives will not work and the session might be more
3045vulnerable to eavesdroppers than it could be.
3046
3047\S{config-ssh-bug-plainpw1} \q{Refuses all SSH-1 \i{password camouflage}}
3048
3049\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.bugs.plainpw1}
3050
3051When talking to an SSH-1 server which cannot deal with ignore
3052messages (see \k{config-ssh-bug-ignore1}), PuTTY will attempt to
3053disguise the length of the user's password by sending additional
3054padding \e{within} the password packet. This is technically a
3055violation of the SSH-1 specification, and so PuTTY will only do it
3056when it cannot use standards-compliant ignore messages as
3057camouflage. In this sense, for a server to refuse to accept a padded
3058password packet is not really a bug, but it does make life
3059inconvenient if the server can also not handle ignore messages.
3060
3061If this \q{bug} is detected, PuTTY will assume that neither ignore
3062messages nor padding are acceptable, and that it thus has no choice
3063but to send the user's password with no form of camouflage, so that
3064an eavesdropping user will be easily able to find out the exact length
3065of the password. If this bug is enabled when talking to a correct
3066server, the session will succeed, but will be more vulnerable to
3067eavesdroppers than it could be.
3068
3069This is an SSH-1-specific bug. SSH-2 is secure against this type of
3070attack.
3071
3072\S{config-ssh-bug-rsa1} \q{Chokes on SSH-1 \i{RSA} authentication}
3073
3074\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.bugs.rsa1}
3075
3076Some SSH-1 servers cannot deal with RSA authentication messages at
3077all. If \i{Pageant} is running and contains any SSH-1 keys, PuTTY will
3078normally automatically try RSA authentication before falling back to
3079passwords, so these servers will crash when they see the RSA attempt.
3080
3081If this bug is detected, PuTTY will go straight to password
3082authentication. If this bug is enabled when talking to a correct
3083server, the session will succeed, but of course RSA authentication
3084will be impossible.
3085
3086This is an SSH-1-specific bug.
3087
3088\S{config-ssh-bug-ignore2} \q{Chokes on SSH-2 \i{ignore message}s}
3089
3090\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.bugs.ignore2}
3091
3092An ignore message (SSH_MSG_IGNORE) is a message in the SSH protocol
3093which can be sent from the client to the server, or from the server
3094to the client, at any time. Either side is required to ignore the
3095message whenever it receives it. PuTTY uses ignore messages in SSH-2
3096to confuse the encrypted data stream and make it harder to
3097cryptanalyse. It also uses ignore messages for connection
3098\i{keepalives} (see \k{config-keepalive}).
3099
3100If it believes the server to have this bug, PuTTY will stop using
3101ignore messages. If this bug is enabled when talking to a correct
3102server, the session will succeed, but keepalives will not work and
3103the session might be less cryptographically secure than it could be.
3104
3105\S{config-ssh-bug-hmac2} \q{Miscomputes SSH-2 HMAC keys}
3106
3107\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.bugs.hmac2}
3108
3109Versions 2.3.0 and below of the SSH server software from
3110\cw{ssh.com} compute the keys for their \i{HMAC} \i{message authentication
3111code}s incorrectly. A typical symptom of this problem is that PuTTY
3112dies unexpectedly at the beginning of the session, saying
3113\q{Incorrect MAC received on packet}.
3114
3115If this bug is detected, PuTTY will compute its HMAC keys in the
3116same way as the buggy server, so that communication will still be
3117possible. If this bug is enabled when talking to a correct server,
3118communication will fail.
3119
3120This is an SSH-2-specific bug.
3121
3122\S{config-ssh-bug-derivekey2} \q{Miscomputes SSH-2 \i{encryption} keys}
3123
3124\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.bugs.derivekey2}
3125
3126Versions below 2.0.11 of the SSH server software from \i\cw{ssh.com}
3127compute the keys for the session encryption incorrectly. This
3128problem can cause various error messages, such as \q{Incoming packet
3129was garbled on decryption}, or possibly even \q{Out of memory}.
3130
3131If this bug is detected, PuTTY will compute its encryption keys in
3132the same way as the buggy server, so that communication will still
3133be possible. If this bug is enabled when talking to a correct
3134server, communication will fail.
3135
3136This is an SSH-2-specific bug.
3137
3138\S{config-ssh-bug-sig} \q{Requires padding on SSH-2 \i{RSA} \i{signatures}}
3139
3140\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.bugs.rsapad2}
3141
3142Versions below 3.3 of \i{OpenSSH} require SSH-2 RSA signatures to be
3143padded with zero bytes to the same length as the RSA key modulus.
3144The SSH-2 specification says that an unpadded signature MUST be
3145accepted, so this is a bug. A typical symptom of this problem is
3146that PuTTY mysteriously fails RSA authentication once in every few
3147hundred attempts, and falls back to passwords.
3148
3149If this bug is detected, PuTTY will pad its signatures in the way
3150OpenSSH expects. If this bug is enabled when talking to a correct
3151server, it is likely that no damage will be done, since correct
3152servers usually still accept padded signatures because they're used
3153to talking to OpenSSH.
3154
3155This is an SSH-2-specific bug.
3156
3157\S{config-ssh-bug-pksessid2} \q{Misuses the \i{session ID} in SSH-2 PK auth}
3158
3159\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.bugs.pksessid2}
3160
3161Versions below 2.3 of \i{OpenSSH} require SSH-2 \i{public-key authentication}
3162to be done slightly differently: the data to be signed by the client
3163contains the session ID formatted in a different way. If public-key
3164authentication mysteriously does not work but the Event Log (see
3165\k{using-eventlog}) thinks it has successfully sent a signature, it
3166might be worth enabling the workaround for this bug to see if it
3167helps.
3168
3169If this bug is detected, PuTTY will sign data in the way OpenSSH
3170expects. If this bug is enabled when talking to a correct server,
3171SSH-2 public-key authentication will fail.
3172
3173This is an SSH-2-specific bug.
3174
3175\S{config-ssh-bug-rekey} \q{Handles SSH-2 key re-exchange badly}
3176
3177\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.bugs.rekey2}
3178
3179Some SSH servers cannot cope with \i{repeat key exchange} at
3180all, and will ignore attempts by the client to start one. Since
3181PuTTY pauses the session while performing a repeat key exchange, the
3182effect of this would be to cause the session to hang after an hour
3183(unless you have your rekey timeout set differently; see
3184\k{config-ssh-kex-rekey} for more about rekeys).
3185Other, very old, SSH servers handle repeat key exchange even more
3186badly, and disconnect upon receiving a repeat key exchange request.
3187
3188If this bug is detected, PuTTY will never initiate a repeat key
3189exchange. If this bug is enabled when talking to a correct server,
3190the session should still function, but may be less secure than you
3191would expect.
3192
3193This is an SSH-2-specific bug.
3194
3195\S{config-ssh-bug-maxpkt2} \q{Ignores SSH-2 \i{maximum packet size}}
3196
3197\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.bugs.maxpkt2}
3198
3199When an SSH-2 channel is set up, each end announces the maximum size
3200of data packet that it is willing to receive for that channel. Some
3201servers ignore PuTTY's announcement and send packets larger than PuTTY
3202is willing to accept, causing it to report \q{Incoming packet was
3203garbled on decryption}.
3204
3205If this bug is detected, PuTTY never allows the channel's
3206\i{flow-control window} to grow large enough to allow the server to
3207send an over-sized packet. If this bug is enabled when talking to a
3208correct server, the session will work correctly, but download
3209performance will be less than it could be.
3210
3211\S{config-ssh-bug-winadj} \q{Chokes on PuTTY's SSH-2 \cq{winadj} requests}
3212
3213\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.bugs.winadj}
3214
3215PuTTY sometimes sends a special request to SSH servers in the middle
3216of channel data, with the name \cw{winadj@putty.projects.tartarus.org}
3217(see \k{sshnames-channel}). The purpose of this request is to measure
3218the round-trip time to the server, which PuTTY uses to tune its flow
3219control. The server does not actually have to \e{understand} the
3220message; it is expected to send back a \cw{SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_FAILURE}
3221message indicating that it didn't understand it. (All PuTTY needs for
3222its timing calculations is \e{some} kind of response.)
3223
3224It has been known for some SSH servers to get confused by this message
3225in one way or another \dash because it has a long name, or because
3226they can't cope with unrecognised request names even to the extent of
3227sending back the correct failure response, or because they handle it
3228sensibly but fill up the server's log file with pointless spam, or
3229whatever. PuTTY therefore supports this bug-compatibility flag: if it
3230believes the server has this bug, it will never send its
3231\cq{winadj@putty.projects.tartarus.org} request, and will make do
3232without its timing data.
3233
3234\H{config-serial} The Serial panel
3235
3236The \i{Serial} panel allows you to configure options that only apply
3237when PuTTY is connecting to a local \I{serial port}\i{serial line}.
3238
3239\S{config-serial-line} Selecting a serial line to connect to
3240
3241\cfg{winhelp-topic}{serial.line}
3242
3243The \q{Serial line to connect to} box allows you to choose which
3244serial line you want PuTTY to talk to, if your computer has more
3245than one serial port.
3246
3247On Windows, the first serial line is called \i\cw{COM1}, and if there
3248is a second it is called \cw{COM2}, and so on.
3249
3250This configuration setting is also visible on the Session panel,
3251where it replaces the \q{Host Name} box (see \k{config-hostname}) if
3252the connection type is set to \q{Serial}.
3253
3254\S{config-serial-speed} Selecting the speed of your serial line
3255
3256\cfg{winhelp-topic}{serial.speed}
3257
3258The \q{Speed} box allows you to choose the speed (or \q{baud rate})
3259at which to talk to the serial line. Typical values might be 9600,
326019200, 38400 or 57600. Which one you need will depend on the device
3261at the other end of the serial cable; consult the manual for that
3262device if you are in doubt.
3263
3264This configuration setting is also visible on the Session panel,
3265where it replaces the \q{Port} box (see \k{config-hostname}) if the
3266connection type is set to \q{Serial}.
3267
3268\S{config-serial-databits} Selecting the number of data bits
3269
3270\cfg{winhelp-topic}{serial.databits}
3271
3272The \q{Data bits} box allows you to choose how many data bits are
3273transmitted in each byte sent or received through the serial line.
3274Typical values are 7 or 8.
3275
3276\S{config-serial-stopbits} Selecting the number of stop bits
3277
3278\cfg{winhelp-topic}{serial.stopbits}
3279
3280The \q{Stop bits} box allows you to choose how many stop bits are
3281used in the serial line protocol. Typical values are 1, 1.5 or 2.
3282
3283\S{config-serial-parity} Selecting the serial parity checking scheme
3284
3285\cfg{winhelp-topic}{serial.parity}
3286
3287The \q{Parity} box allows you to choose what type of parity checking
3288is used on the serial line. The settings are:
3289
3290\b \q{None}: no parity bit is sent at all.
3291
3292\b \q{Odd}: an extra parity bit is sent alongside each byte, and
3293arranged so that the total number of 1 bits is odd.
3294
3295\b \q{Even}: an extra parity bit is sent alongside each byte, and
3296arranged so that the total number of 1 bits is even.
3297
3298\b \q{Mark}: an extra parity bit is sent alongside each byte, and
3299always set to 1.
3300
3301\b \q{Space}: an extra parity bit is sent alongside each byte, and
3302always set to 0.
3303
3304\S{config-serial-flow} Selecting the serial flow control scheme
3305
3306\cfg{winhelp-topic}{serial.flow}
3307
3308The \q{Flow control} box allows you to choose what type of flow
3309control checking is used on the serial line. The settings are:
3310
3311\b \q{None}: no flow control is done. Data may be lost if either
3312side attempts to send faster than the serial line permits.
3313
3314\b \q{XON/XOFF}: flow control is done by sending XON and XOFF
3315characters within the data stream.
3316
3317\b \q{RTS/CTS}: flow control is done using the RTS and CTS wires on
3318the serial line.
3319
3320\b \q{DSR/DTR}: flow control is done using the DSR and DTR wires on
3321the serial line.
3322
3323\H{config-file} \ii{Storing configuration in a file}
3324
3325PuTTY does not currently support storing its configuration in a file
3326instead of the \i{Registry}. However, you can work around this with a
3327couple of \i{batch file}s.
3328
3329You will need a file called (say) \c{PUTTY.BAT} which imports the
3330contents of a file into the Registry, then runs PuTTY, exports the
3331contents of the Registry back into the file, and deletes the
3332Registry entries. This can all be done using the Regedit command
3333line options, so it's all automatic. Here is what you need in
3334\c{PUTTY.BAT}:
3335
3336\c @ECHO OFF
3337\c regedit /s putty.reg
3338\c regedit /s puttyrnd.reg
3339\c start /w putty.exe
3340\c regedit /ea new.reg HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY
3341\c copy new.reg putty.reg
3342\c del new.reg
3343\c regedit /s puttydel.reg
3344
3345This batch file needs two auxiliary files: \c{PUTTYRND.REG} which
3346sets up an initial safe location for the \c{PUTTY.RND} random seed
3347file, and \c{PUTTYDEL.REG} which destroys everything in the Registry
3348once it's been successfully saved back to the file.
3349
3350Here is \c{PUTTYDEL.REG}:
3351
3352\c REGEDIT4
3353\c
3354\c [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY]
3355
3356Here is an example \c{PUTTYRND.REG} file:
3357
3358\c REGEDIT4
3359\c
3360\c [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY]
3361\c "RandSeedFile"="a:\\putty.rnd"
3362
3363You should replace \c{a:\\putty.rnd} with the location where you
3364want to store your random number data. If the aim is to carry around
3365PuTTY and its settings on one floppy, you probably want to store it
3366on the floppy.