-\versionid $Id: config.but,v 1.55 2003/02/05 09:05:35 simon Exp $
+\versionid $Id: config.but,v 1.84 2004/06/20 17:07:36 jacob Exp $
\C{config} Configuring PuTTY
configuration. If you change your preferences and update Default
Settings, you must also update every saved session separately.
+Saved sessions are stored in the Registry, at the location
+
+\c HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY\Sessions
+
+If you need to store them in a file, you could try the method
+described in \k{config-file}.
+
\S{config-closeonexit} \q{Close Window on Exit}
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{session.coe}
the server can send as many Control-G characters as it likes and
nothing at all will happen.
-\b \q{Play Windows Default Sound} is the default setting. It causes
-the Windows \q{Default Beep} sound to be played. To change what this
-sound is, or to test it if nothing seems to be happening, use the
-Sound configurer in the Windows Control Panel.
+\b \q{Make default system alert sound} is the default setting. It
+causes the Windows \q{Default Beep} sound to be played. To change
+what this sound is, or to test it if nothing seems to be happening,
+use the Sound configurer in the Windows Control Panel.
+
+\b \q{Visual bell} is a silent alternative to a beeping computer. In
+this mode, when the server sends a Control-G, the whole PuTTY window
+will flash white for a fraction of a second.
+
+\b \q{Beep using the PC speaker} is self-explanatory.
\b \q{Play a custom sound file} allows you to specify a particular
sound file to be used by PuTTY alone, or even by a particular
you will also need to enter the name of your sound file in the edit
control \q{Custom sound file to play as a bell}.
-\b \q{Visual bell} is a silent alternative to a beeping computer. In
-this mode, when the server sends a Control-G, the whole PuTTY window
-will flash white for a fraction of a second.
-
\S{config-belltaskbar} \q{Taskbar/caption indication on bell}
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{bell.taskbar}
unexpectedly or inconveniently, you can tell PuTTY not to respond to
those server commands.
+\S{config-features-qtitle} Disabling remote window title querying
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{features.qtitle}
+
+PuTTY can optionally provide the xterm service of allowing server
+applications to find out the local window title. This feature is
+disabled by default, but you can turn it on if you really want it.
+
+NOTE that this feature is a \e{potential security hazard}. If a
+malicious application can write data to your terminal (for example,
+if you merely \c{cat} a file owned by someone else on the server
+machine), it can change your window title (unless you have disabled
+this as mentioned in \k{config-features-retitle}) and then use this
+service to have the new window title sent back to the server as if
+typed at the keyboard. This allows an attacker to fake keypresses
+and potentially cause your server-side applications to do things you
+didn't want. Therefore this feature is disabled by default, and we
+recommend you do not turn it on unless you \e{really} know what you
+are doing.
+
\S{config-features-dbackspace} Disabling destructive backspace
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{features.dbackspace}
expect them to, particularly if you're running BitchX, you could try
disabling the remote character set configuration commands.
+\S{config-features-shaping} Disabling Arabic text shaping
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{features.arabicshaping}
+
+PuTTY supports shaping of Arabic text, which means that if your
+server sends text written in the basic Unicode Arabic alphabet then
+it will convert it to the correct display forms before printing it
+on the screen.
+
+If you are using full-screen software which was not expecting this
+to happen (especially if you are not an Arabic speaker and you
+unexpectedly find yourself dealing with Arabic text files in
+applications which are not Arabic-aware), you might find that the
+display becomes corrupted. By ticking this box, you can disable
+Arabic text shaping so that PuTTY displays precisely the characters
+it is told to display.
+
+You may also find you need to disable bidirectional text display;
+see \k{config-features-bidi}.
+
+\S{config-features-bidi} Disabling bidirectional text display
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{features.bidi}
+
+PuTTY supports bidirectional text display, which means that if your
+server sends text written in a language which is usually displayed
+from right to left (such as Arabic or Hebrew) then PuTTY will
+automatically flip it round so that it is displayed in the right
+direction on the screen.
+
+If you are using full-screen software which was not expecting this
+to happen (especially if you are not an Arabic speaker and you
+unexpectedly find yourself dealing with Arabic text files in
+applications which are not Arabic-aware), you might find that the
+display becomes corrupted. By ticking this box, you can disable
+bidirectional text display, so that PuTTY displays text from left to
+right in all situations.
+
+You may also find you need to disable Arabic text shaping;
+see \k{config-features-shaping}.
+
\H{config-window} The Window panel
The Window configuration panel allows you to control aspects of the
The \q{Lines of scrollback} box lets you configure how many lines of
text PuTTY keeps. The \q{Display scrollbar} options allow you to
hide the scrollbar (although you can still view the scrollback using
-Shift-PgUp and Shift-PgDn). You can separately configure whether the
-scrollbar is shown in full-screen mode and in normal modes.
+the keyboard as described in \k{using-scrollback}). You can separately
+configure whether the scrollbar is shown in full-screen mode and in
+normal modes.
If you are viewing part of the scrollback when the server sends more
text to PuTTY, the screen will revert to showing the current
screen revert when you press a key, by turning on \q{Reset
scrollback on keypress}.
+\S{config-erasetoscrollback} \q{Push erased text into scrollback}
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{window.erased}
+
+When this option is enabled, the contents of the terminal screen
+will be pushed into the scrollback when a server-side application
+clears the screen, so that your scrollback will contain a better
+record of what was on your screen in the past.
+
+If the application switches to the alternate screen (see
+\k{config-features-altscreen} for more about this), then the
+contents of the primary screen will be visible in the scrollback
+until the application switches back again.
+
+This option is enabled by default.
+
\H{config-appearance} The Appearance panel
The Appearance configuration panel allows you to control aspects of
system. (VT100-style terminal handling can only deal with fixed-
width fonts.)
-\S{config-title} Controlling the window title
-
-\cfg{winhelp-topic}{appearance.title}
-
-The \q{Window title} edit box allows you to set the title of the
-PuTTY window. By default the window title will contain the host name
-followed by \q{PuTTY}, for example \c{server1.example.com - PuTTY}.
-If you want a different window title, this is where to set it.
-
-PuTTY allows the server to send \c{xterm} control sequences which
-modify the title of the window in mid-session. There is also an
-\c{xterm} sequence to modify the title of the window's \e{icon}.
-This makes sense in a windowing system where the window becomes an
-icon when minimised, such as Windows 3.1 or most X Window System
-setups; but in the Windows 95-like user interface it isn't as
-applicable.
-
-By default, PuTTY only uses the server-supplied \e{window} title, and
-ignores the icon title entirely. If for some reason you want to see
-both titles, check the box marked \q{Separate window and icon titles}.
-If you do this, PuTTY's window title and Taskbar caption will
-change into the server-supplied icon title if you minimise the PuTTY
-window, and change back to the server-supplied window title if you
-restore it. (If the server has not bothered to supply a window or
-icon title, none of this will happen.)
-
\S{config-mouseptr} \q{Hide mouse pointer when typing in window}
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{appearance.hidemouse}
The Behaviour configuration panel allows you to control aspects of
the behaviour of PuTTY's window.
+\S{config-title} Controlling the window title
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{appearance.title}
+
+The \q{Window title} edit box allows you to set the title of the
+PuTTY window. By default the window title will contain the host name
+followed by \q{PuTTY}, for example \c{server1.example.com - PuTTY}.
+If you want a different window title, this is where to set it.
+
+PuTTY allows the server to send \c{xterm} control sequences which
+modify the title of the window in mid-session (unless this is disabled -
+see \k{config-features-retitle}); the title string set here
+is therefore only the \e{initial} window title.
+
+As well as the \e{window} title, there is also an
+\c{xterm} sequence to modify the title of the window's \e{icon}.
+This makes sense in a windowing system where the window becomes an
+icon when minimised, such as Windows 3.1 or most X Window System
+setups; but in the Windows 95-like user interface it isn't as
+applicable.
+
+By default, PuTTY only uses the server-supplied \e{window} title, and
+ignores the icon title entirely. If for some reason you want to see
+both titles, check the box marked \q{Separate window and icon titles}.
+If you do this, PuTTY's window title and Taskbar caption will
+change into the server-supplied icon title if you minimise the PuTTY
+window, and change back to the server-supplied window title if you
+restore it. (If the server has not bothered to supply a window or
+icon title, none of this will happen.)
+
\S{config-warnonclose} \q{Warn before closing window}
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{behaviour.closewarn}
Not all server-side applications will support it.
If you need support for a numeric code page which is not listed in
-the drop-down list, such as code page 866, then you should be able
-to enter its name manually (\c{CP866} for example) in the list box
-and get the right result.
+the drop-down list, such as code page 866, then you can try entering
+its name manually (\c{CP866} for example) in the list box. If the
+underlying version of Windows has the appropriate translation table
+installed, PuTTY will use it.
\S{config-cyr} \q{Caps Lock acts as Cyrillic switch}
in Unicode. For good Unicode-supporting fonts this is probably the
most reliable and functional option.
-\H{config-selection} The Selection panel
-
-The Selection panel allows you to control the way copy and paste
-work in the PuTTY window.
-
-\S{config-linedrawpaste} Controlling the pasting of line drawing
+\S{config-linedrawpaste} Controlling copy and paste of line drawing
characters
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{selection.linedraw}
By default, when you copy and paste a piece of the PuTTY screen that
-contains VT100 line and box drawing characters, PuTTY will translate
-them into the \q{poor man's} line-drawing characters \c{+}, \c{-}
-and \c{|}. The checkbox \q{Don't translate line drawing chars}
-disables this feature, so line-drawing characters will be pasted as
-if they were in the normal character set. This will typically mean
-they come out mostly as \c{q} and \c{x}, with a scattering of
-\c{jklmntuvw} at the corners. This might be useful if you were
-trying to recreate the same box layout in another program, for
-example.
+contains VT100 line and box drawing characters, PuTTY will paste
+them in the form they appear on the screen: either Unicode line
+drawing code points, or the \q{poor man's} line-drawing characters
+\c{+}, \c{-} and \c{|}. The checkbox \q{Copy and paste VT100 line
+drawing chars as lqqqk} disables this feature, so line-drawing
+characters will be pasted as the ASCII characters that were printed
+to produce them. This will typically mean they come out mostly as
+\c{q} and \c{x}, with a scattering of \c{jklmntuvw} at the corners.
+This might be useful if you were trying to recreate the same box
+layout in another program, for example.
+
+Note that this option only applies to line-drawing characters which
+\e{were} printed by using the VT100 mechanism. Line-drawing
+characters displayed using Unicode will paste as Unicode always.
+
+\H{config-selection} The Selection panel
+
+The Selection panel allows you to control the way copy and paste
+work in the PuTTY window.
\S{config-rtfpaste} Pasting in Rich Text Format
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{selection.buttons}
-PuTTY's copy and paste mechanism is modelled on the Unix \c{xterm}
-application. The X Window System uses a three-button mouse, and the
-convention is that the left button selects, the right button extends
-an existing selection, and the middle button pastes.
+PuTTY's copy and paste mechanism is by default modelled on the Unix
+\c{xterm} application. The X Window System uses a three-button mouse,
+and the convention is that the left button selects, the right button
+extends an existing selection, and the middle button pastes.
-Windows typically only has two mouse buttons, so in PuTTY's default
-configuration, the \e{right} button pastes, and the \e{middle}
-button (if you have one) extends a selection.
+Windows often only has two mouse buttons, so in PuTTY's default
+configuration (\q{Compromise}), the \e{right} button pastes, and the
+\e{middle} button (if you have one) extends a selection.
If you have a three-button mouse and you are already used to the
\c{xterm} arrangement, you can select it using the \q{Action of
mouse buttons} control.
+Alternatively, with the \q{Windows} option selected, the middle
+button extends, and the right button brings up a context menu (on
+which one of the options is \q{Paste}). (This context menu is always
+available by holding down Ctrl and right-clicking, regardless of the
+setting of this option.)
+
\S{config-mouseshift} \q{Shift overrides application's use of mouse}
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{selection.shiftdrag}
you can try enabling this option. However, be warned that it's never
worked very well.
+\S{config-syscolour} \q{Use system colours}
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{colours.system}
+
+Enabling this option will cause PuTTY to ignore the configured colours
+for \q{Default Background/Foreground} and \q{Cursor Colour/Text} (see
+\k{config-colourcfg}), instead going with the system-wide defaults.
+
+Note that non-bold and bold text will be the same colour if this
+option is enabled. You might want to change to indicating bold text
+by font changes (see \k{config-boldcolour}).
+
\S{config-colourcfg} Adjusting the colours in the terminal window
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{colours.config}
setting or not, you probably need to consult the manual for your
application or your server.
+\S{config-termspeed} \q{Terminal speeds}
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{connection.termspeed}
+
+The Telnet, Rlogin, and SSH protocols allow the client to specify
+terminal speeds to the server.
+
+This parameter does \e{not} affect the actual speed of the connection,
+which is always \q{as fast as possible}; it is just a hint that is
+sometimes used by server software to modify its behaviour. For
+instance, if a slow speed is indicated, the server may switch to a
+less bandwidth-hungry display mode.
+
+The value is usually meaningless in a network environment, but
+PuTTY lets you configure it, in case you find the server is reacting
+badly to the default value.
+
+The format is a pair of numbers separated by a comma, for instance,
+\c{38400,38400}. The first number represents the output speed
+(\e{from} the server), and the second is the input speed (\e{to} the
+server). (Only the first is used in the Rlogin protocol.)
+
+This option has no effect on Raw connections.
+
\S{config-username} \q{Auto-login username}
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{connection.username}
server.
Keepalives are only supported in Telnet and SSH; the Rlogin and Raw
-protocols offer no way of implementing them.
+protocols offer no way of implementing them. (For an alternative, see
+\k{config-tcp-keepalives}.)
Note that if you are using SSH1 and the server has a bug that makes
it unable to deal with SSH1 ignore messages (see
The Nagle algorithm is disabled by default.
+\S{config-tcp-keepalives} \q{Enable TCP keepalives}
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{connection.tcpkeepalive}
+
+\e{NOTE:} TCP keepalives should not be confused with the
+application-level keepalives described in \k{config-keepalive}. If in
+doubt, you probably want application-level keepalives; TCP keepalives
+are provided for completeness.
+
+The idea of TCP keepalives is similar to application-level keepalives,
+and the same caveats apply. The main differences are:
+
+\b TCP keepalives are available on \e{all} connection types, including
+Raw and Rlogin.
+
+\b The interval between TCP keepalives is usually much longer,
+typically two hours; this is set by the operating system, and cannot
+be configured within PuTTY.
+
+\b If the operating system does not receive a response to a keepalive,
+it may send out more in quick succession and if terminate the connection
+if no response is received.
+
+TCP keepalives may be useful for ensuring that half-open connections
+are terminated than for keeping a connection alive.
+
+TCP keepalives are disabled by default.
+
\H{config-proxy} The Proxy panel
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{proxy.main}
web server supporting the HTTP \cw{CONNECT} command, as documented
in \W{http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2817.txt}{RFC 2817}.
-\b Selecting \q{SOCKS} allows you to proxy your connections through
-a SOCKS server.
+\b Selecting \q{SOCKS 4} or \q{SOCKS 5} allows you to proxy your
+connections through a SOCKS server.
\b Many firewalls implement a less formal type of proxy in which a
user can make a Telnet connection directly to the firewall machine
If your proxy requires authentication, you can enter a username and
a password in the \q{Username} and \q{Password} boxes.
+Note that if you save your session, the proxy password will be
+saved in plain text, so anyone who can access your PuTTY
+configuration data will be able to discover it.
+
Authentication is not fully supported for all forms of proxy:
\b Username and password authentication is supported for HTTP
tokens in the Telnet command, then the \q{Username} and \q{Password}
configuration fields will be ignored.
-\S{config-proxy-socksver} Selecting the version of the SOCKS protocol
-
-\cfg{winhelp-topic}{proxy.socksver}
-
-SOCKS servers exist in two versions: version 5
-(\W{http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1928.txt}{RFC 1928}) and the earlier
-version 4. The \q{SOCKS Version} radio buttons allow you to select
-which one to use, if you have selected the SOCKS proxy type.
-
\H{config-telnet} The Telnet panel
The Telnet panel allows you to configure options that only apply to
Telnet sessions.
-\S{config-termspeed} \q{Terminal-speed string}
-
-\cfg{winhelp-topic}{telnet.termspeed}
-
-Telnet allows the client to send a text string that describes the
-terminal speed. PuTTY lets you configure this, in case you find the
-server is reacting badly to the default value. (I'm not aware of any
-servers that do have a problem with it.)
-
\S{config-environ} Setting environment variables on the server
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{telnet.environ}
-The Telnet protocol also provides a means for the client to pass
+The Telnet protocol provides a means for the client to pass
environment variables to the server. Many Telnet servers have
stopped supporting this feature due to security flaws, but PuTTY
still supports it for the benefit of any servers which have found
The Rlogin panel allows you to configure options that only apply to
Rlogin sessions.
-\S{config-rlogin-termspeed} \q{Terminal-speed string}
-
-\cfg{winhelp-topic}{rlogin.termspeed}
-
-Like Telnet, Rlogin allows the client to send a text string that
-describes the terminal speed. PuTTY lets you configure this, in case
-you find the server is reacting badly to the default value. (I'm not
-aware of any servers that do have a problem with it.)
-
\S{config-rlogin-localuser} \q{Local username}
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{rlogin.localuser}
top until it finds an algorithm supported by the server, and then
use that.
+PuTTY currently supports the following algorithms:
+
+\b AES (Rijndael) - 256, 192, or 128-bit CBC (SSH-2 only)
+
+\b Blowfish - 128-bit CBC
+
+\b Triple-DES - 168-bit CBC
+
+\b Single-DES - 56-bit CBC (see below for SSH-2)
+
If the algorithm PuTTY finds is below the \q{warn below here} line,
you will see a warning box when you make the connection:
get two warnings similar to the one above, possibly with different
encryptions.
-Single-DES is not supported natively in the SSH 2 draft protocol
-standards. One or two server implementations do support it, by a
-non-standard name. PuTTY can use single-DES to interoperate with
-these servers if you enable the \q{Enable non-standard single-DES in
+Single-DES is not recommended in the SSH 2 draft protocol
+standards, but one or two server implementations do support it.
+PuTTY can use single-DES to interoperate with
+these servers if you enable the \q{Enable legacy use of single-DES in
SSH 2} option; by default this is disabled and PuTTY will stick to
-the standard.
+recommended ciphers.
\H{config-ssh-auth} The Auth panel
\b Set one of the \q{Local} or \q{Remote} radio buttons, depending
on whether you want to forward a local port to a remote destination
(\q{Local}) or forward a remote port to a local destination
-(\q{Remote}).
+(\q{Remote}). Alternatively, select \q{Dynamic} if you want PuTTY to
+provide a local SOCKS 4/4A/5 proxy on a local port.
\b Enter a source port number into the \q{Source port} box. For
local forwardings, PuTTY will listen on this port of your PC. For
remote machine. Note that most servers will not allow you to listen
on port numbers less than 1024.
-\b Enter a hostname and port number separated by a colon, in the
-\q{Destination} box. Connections received on the source port will be
-directed to this destination. For example, to connect to a POP-3
-server, you might enter \c{popserver.example.com:110}.
+\b If you have selected \q{Local} or \q{Remote} (this step is not
+needed with \q{Dynamic}), enter a hostname and port number separated
+by a colon, in the \q{Destination} box. Connections received on the
+source port will be directed to this destination. For example, to
+connect to a POP-3 server, you might enter
+\c{popserver.example.com:110}.
\b Click the \q{Add} button. Your forwarding details should appear
in the list box.
box, and click the \q{Remove} button.
In the \q{Source port} box, you can also optionally enter an IP
-address to listen on. Typically a Windows machine can be asked to
-listen on any single IP address in the \cw{127.*.*.*} range, and all
-of these are loopback addresses available only to the local machine.
-So if you forward (for example) \c{127.0.0.5:79} to a remote
-machine's \cw{finger} port, then you should be able to run commands
-such as \c{finger fred@127.0.0.5}. This can be useful if the program
-connecting to the forwarded port doesn't allow you to change the
-port number it uses. This feature is available for local-to-remote
-forwarded ports; SSH1 is unable to support it for remote-to-local
-ports, while SSH2 can support it in theory but servers will not
-necessarily cooperate.
+address to listen on, by specifying (for instance) \c{127.0.0.5:79}.
+See \k{using-port-forwarding} for more information on how this
+works and its restrictions.
\S{config-ssh-portfwd-localhost} Controlling the visibility of
forwarded ports
\b The \q{Local ports accept connections from other hosts} option
allows you to set up local-to-remote port forwardings in such a way
that machines other than your client PC can connect to the forwarded
-port.
+port. (This also applies to dynamic SOCKS forwarding.)
\b The \q{Remote ports do the same} option does the same thing for
remote-to-local port forwardings (so that machines other than the
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{ssh.bugs.derivekey2}
-Versions below 2.1.0 of the SSH server software from \cw{ssh.com}
+Versions below 2.0.11 of the SSH server software from \cw{ssh.com}
compute the keys for the session encryption incorrectly. This
problem can cause various error messages, such as \q{Incoming packet
was garbled on decryption}, or possibly even \q{Out of memory}.
\c regedit /s putty.reg
\c regedit /s puttyrnd.reg
\c start /w putty.exe
-\c regedit /e puttynew.reg HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY
-\c copy puttynew.reg putty.reg
-\c del puttynew.reg
+\c regedit /ea new.reg HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY
+\c copy new.reg putty.reg
+\c del new.reg
\c regedit /s puttydel.reg
This batch file needs two auxiliary files: \c{PUTTYRND.REG} which
\c REGEDIT4
\c
\c [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY]
-\c "RandSeedFile"="a:\putty.rnd"
+\c "RandSeedFile"="a:\\putty.rnd"
You should replace \c{a:\\putty.rnd} with the location where you
want to store your random number data. If the aim is to carry around
projects / u / mdw / putty / blobdiff