| 1 | \C{config} Configuring PuTTY |
| 2 | |
| 3 | This chapter describes all the configuration options in PuTTY. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | PuTTY is configured using the control panel that comes up before you |
| 6 | start a session. Some options can also be changed in the middle of a |
| 7 | session, by selecting \e{Change Settings} from the window menu. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | \H{config-session} The Session panel |
| 10 | |
| 11 | The Session configuration panel contains the basic options you need |
| 12 | to specify in order to open a session at all, and also allows you to |
| 13 | save your settings to be reloaded later. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | \S{config-hostname} The host name section |
| 16 | |
| 17 | The top box on the Session panel, labelled \q{Specify your |
| 18 | connection by host name}, contains the details that need to be |
| 19 | filled in before PuTTY can open a session at all. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | \b The \e{Host Name} box is where you type the name, or the IP |
| 22 | address, of the server you want to connect to. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | \b The \e{Protocol} radio buttons let you choose what type of |
| 25 | connection you want to make: a raw connection, a Telnet connection, an |
| 26 | rlogin connection or an SSH connection. \#{ FIXME: link to sections on |
| 27 | these? } |
| 28 | |
| 29 | \b The \e{Port} box lets you specify which port number on the server |
| 30 | to connect to. If you select Telnet, Rlogin, or SSH, this box will be |
| 31 | filled in automatically to the usual value, and you will only need to |
| 32 | change it if you have an unusual server. If you select Raw mode, you |
| 33 | will almost certainly need to fill in the \e{Port} box. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | \S{config-saving} Loading and storing saved sessions |
| 36 | |
| 37 | The next part of the Session configuration panel allows you to save |
| 38 | your preferred PuTTY options so they will appear automatically the |
| 39 | next time you start PuTTY. It also allows you to create \e{saved |
| 40 | sessions}, which contain a full set of configuration options plus a |
| 41 | host name and protocol. A saved session contains all the information |
| 42 | PuTTY needs to start exactly the session you want. |
| 43 | |
| 44 | \b To save your default settings: first set up the settings the way |
| 45 | you want them saved. Then come back to the Session panel. Select the |
| 46 | \q{Default Settings} entry in the saved sessions list, with a single |
| 47 | click. Then press the \e{Save} button. |
| 48 | |
| 49 | \b To save a session: first go through the rest of the configuration |
| 50 | box setting up all the options you want. Then come back to the |
| 51 | Session panel. Enter a name for the saved session in the \e{Saved |
| 52 | Sessions} input box. (The server name is often a good choice for a |
| 53 | saved session name.) Then press the \e{Save} button. Your saved |
| 54 | session name should now appear in the list box. |
| 55 | |
| 56 | \b To reload a saved session: single-click to select the session |
| 57 | name in the list box, and then press the \e{Load} button. Your saved |
| 58 | settings should all appear in the configuration panel. |
| 59 | |
| 60 | \b To modify a saved session: first load it as described above. Then |
| 61 | make the changes you want. Come back to the Session panel, |
| 62 | single-click to select the session name in the list box, and press |
| 63 | the \e{Save} button. The new settings will be saved over the top of |
| 64 | the old ones. |
| 65 | |
| 66 | \b To start a saved session immediately: double-click on the session |
| 67 | name in the list box. |
| 68 | |
| 69 | \b To delete a saved session: single-click to select the session |
| 70 | name in the list box, and then press the \e{Delete} button. |
| 71 | |
| 72 | Each saved session is independent of the Default Settings |
| 73 | configuration. If you change your preferences and update Default |
| 74 | Settings, you must also update every saved session separately. |
| 75 | |
| 76 | \S{config-closeonexit} \q{Close Window on Exit} |
| 77 | |
| 78 | Finally in the Session panel, there is a check box labelled \q{Close |
| 79 | Window on Exit}. If this is turned on, the PuTTY session window will |
| 80 | disappear as soon as the session inside it terminates. Otherwise, |
| 81 | the window will remain on the desktop until you close it yourself, |
| 82 | so you can still read and copy text out of it. |
| 83 | |
| 84 | \H{config-terminal} The Terminal panel |
| 85 | |
| 86 | The Terminal configuration panel allows you to control the behaviour |
| 87 | of PuTTY's terminal emulation. |
| 88 | |
| 89 | \S{config-autowrap} \q{Auto wrap mode initially on} |
| 90 | |
| 91 | Auto wrap mode controls what happens when text printed in a PuTTY |
| 92 | window reaches the right-hand edge of the window. |
| 93 | |
| 94 | With auto wrap mode on, if a long line of text reaches the |
| 95 | right-hand edge, it will wrap over on to the next line so you can |
| 96 | still see all the text. With auto wrap mode off, the cursor will |
| 97 | stay at the right-hand edge of the screen, and all the characters in |
| 98 | the line will be printed on top of each other. |
| 99 | |
| 100 | If you are running a full-screen application and you occasionally |
| 101 | find the screen scrolling up when it looks as if it shouldn't, you |
| 102 | could try turning this option off. |
| 103 | |
| 104 | Auto wrap mode can be turned on and off by control sequences sent by |
| 105 | the server. This configuration option only controls the \e{default} |
| 106 | state. If you modify this option in mid-session using \e{Change |
| 107 | Settings}, you will need to reset the terminal \#{ FIXME } before |
| 108 | the change takes effect. |
| 109 | |
| 110 | \S{config-decom} \q{DEC Origin Mode initially on} |
| 111 | |
| 112 | DEC Origin Mode is a minor option which controls how PuTTY |
| 113 | interprets cursor-position control sequences sent by the server. |
| 114 | |
| 115 | The server can send a control sequence that restricts the scrolling |
| 116 | region of the display. For example, in an editor, the server might |
| 117 | reserve a line at the top of the screen and a line at the bottom, |
| 118 | and might send a control sequence that causes scrolling operations |
| 119 | to affect only the remaining lines. |
| 120 | |
| 121 | With DEC Origin Mode on, cursor coordinates are counted from the top |
| 122 | of the scrolling region. With it turned off, cursor coordinates are |
| 123 | counted from the top of the whole screen regardless of the scrolling |
| 124 | region. |
| 125 | |
| 126 | It is unlikely you would need to change this option, but if you find |
| 127 | a full-screen application is displaying pieces of text in what looks |
| 128 | like the wrong part of the screen, you could try turning DEC Origin |
| 129 | Mode on to see whether that helps. |
| 130 | |
| 131 | DEC Origin Mode can be turned on and off by control sequences sent by |
| 132 | the server. This configuration option only controls the \e{default} |
| 133 | state. If you modify this option in mid-session using \e{Change |
| 134 | Settings}, you will need to reset the terminal \#{ FIXME } before |
| 135 | the change takes effect. |
| 136 | |
| 137 | \S{config-crlf} \q{Implicit CR in every LF} |
| 138 | |
| 139 | Most servers send two control characters, CR and LF, to start a new |
| 140 | line of the screen. The CR character makes the cursor return to the |
| 141 | left-hand side of the screen. The LF character makes the cursor move |
| 142 | one line down (and might make the screen scroll). |
| 143 | |
| 144 | Some servers only send LF, and expect the terminal to move the |
| 145 | cursor over to the left automatically. If you come across a server |
| 146 | that does this, you will see a stepped effect on the screen, like |
| 147 | this: |
| 148 | |
| 149 | \c First line of text |
| 150 | \c Second line |
| 151 | \c Third line |
| 152 | |
| 153 | If this happens to you, try enabling the \q{Implicit CR in every LF} |
| 154 | option, and things might go back to normal: |
| 155 | |
| 156 | \c First line of text |
| 157 | \c Second line |
| 158 | \c Third line |
| 159 | |
| 160 | \S{config-beep} \q{Beep enabled} |
| 161 | |
| 162 | This option lets you turn off beeps in PuTTY. If your server is |
| 163 | beeping too much or attracting unwelcome attention, you can turn the |
| 164 | beeps off. |
| 165 | |
| 166 | \S{config-erase} \q{Use background colour to erase screen} |
| 167 | |
| 168 | Not all terminals agree on what colour to turn the screen when the |
| 169 | server sends a \q{clear screen} sequence. Some terminals believe the |
| 170 | screen should always be cleared to the \e{default} background |
| 171 | colour. Others believe the screen should be cleared to whatever the |
| 172 | server has selected as a background colour. |
| 173 | |
| 174 | There exist applications that expect both kinds of behaviour. |
| 175 | Therefore, PuTTY can be configured to do either. |
| 176 | |
| 177 | With this option disabled, screen clearing is always done in the |
| 178 | default background colour. With this option enabled, it is done in |
| 179 | the \e{current} background colour. |
| 180 | |
| 181 | \S{config-blink} \q{Enable blinking text} |
| 182 | |
| 183 | The server can ask PuTTY to display text that blinks on and off. |
| 184 | This is very distracting, so PuTTY allows you to turn blinking text |
| 185 | off completely. |
| 186 | |
| 187 | \S{config-localterm} \q{Use local terminal line discipline} |
| 188 | |
| 189 | Normally, every character you type into the PuTTY window is sent |
| 190 | straight to the server. |
| 191 | |
| 192 | If you enable local terminal line discipline, this changes. PuTTY |
| 193 | will let you edit a whole line at a time locally, and the line will |
| 194 | only be sent to the server when you press Return. If you make a |
| 195 | mistake, you can use the Backspace key to correct it before you |
| 196 | press Return, and the server will never see the mistake. |
| 197 | |
| 198 | Since it would be hard to edit a line locally without being able to |
| 199 | see it, local terminal line discipline also makes PuTTY echo what |
| 200 | you type. This makes it ideal for use in raw mode \#{ FIXME } or |
| 201 | when connecting to MUDs or talkers. |
| 202 | |
| 203 | \S{config-logging} Controlling session logging |
| 204 | |
| 205 | PuTTY has the ability to log the output from your session into a |
| 206 | file. You might want this if you were saving a particular piece of |
| 207 | output to mail to somebody, for example in a bug report. |
| 208 | |
| 209 | You can choose between: |
| 210 | |
| 211 | \b not logging anything (the default) |
| 212 | |
| 213 | \b logging only the printable characters in a session (ignoring |
| 214 | control sequences to change colours or clear the screen) |
| 215 | |
| 216 | \b logging everything sent to the terminal by the server. |
| 217 | |
| 218 | You can turn logging on and off in mid-session using \e{Change |
| 219 | Settings}. |
| 220 | |
| 221 | \H{config-keyboard} The Keyboard panel |
| 222 | |
| 223 | The Keyboard configuration panel allows you to control the behaviour |
| 224 | of the keyboard in PuTTY. |
| 225 | |
| 226 | \S{config-backspace} Changing the action of the Backspace key |
| 227 | |
| 228 | Some terminals believe that the Backspace key should send the same |
| 229 | thing to the server as Control-H (ASCII code 8). Other terminals |
| 230 | believe that the Backspace key should send ASCII code 127 (usually |
| 231 | known as Control-?) so that it can be distinguished from Control-H. |
| 232 | This option allows you to choose which code PuTTY generates when you |
| 233 | press Backspace. |
| 234 | |
| 235 | If you are connecting to a Unix system, you will probably find that |
| 236 | the Unix \c{stty} command lets you configure which the server |
| 237 | expects to see, so you might not need to change which one PuTTY |
| 238 | generates. On other systems, the server's expectation might be fixed |
| 239 | and you might have no choice but to configure PuTTY. |
| 240 | |
| 241 | If you do have the choice, we recommend configuring PuTTY to |
| 242 | generate Control-? and configuring the server to expect it, because |
| 243 | that allows applications such as \c{emacs} to use Control-H for |
| 244 | help. |
| 245 | |
| 246 | \S{config-homeend} Changing the action of the Home and End keys |
| 247 | |
| 248 | The Unix terminal emulator \c{rxvt} disagrees with the rest of the |
| 249 | world about what character sequences should be sent to the server by |
| 250 | the Home and End keys. |
| 251 | |
| 252 | \c{xterm}, and other terminals, send \c{ESC [1~} for the Home key, |
| 253 | and \c{ESC [4~} for the End key. \c{rxvt} sends \c{ESC [H} for the |
| 254 | Home key and \c{ESC [Ow} for the End key. |
| 255 | |
| 256 | If you find an application on which the Home and End keys aren't |
| 257 | working, you could try switching this option to see if it helps. |
| 258 | |
| 259 | \S{config-funkeys} Changing the action of the function keys and keypad |
| 260 | |
| 261 | This option affects the function keys (F1 to F12) and the top row of |
| 262 | the numeric keypad. |
| 263 | |
| 264 | \b In the default mode, labelled \c{ESC [n~}, the function keys |
| 265 | generate sequences like \c{ESC [11~}, \c{ESC [12~} and so on. This |
| 266 | matches the general behaviour of Digital's terminals. |
| 267 | |
| 268 | \b In Linux mode, F6 to F12 behave just like the default mode, but |
| 269 | F1 to F5 generate \c{ESC [[A} through to \c{ESC [[E}. This mimics the |
| 270 | Linux virtual console. |
| 271 | |
| 272 | \b In Xterm R6 mode, F5 to F12 behave like the default mode, but F1 |
| 273 | to F4 generate \c{ESC OP} through to \c{ESC OS}, which are the |
| 274 | sequences produced by the top row of the \e{keypad} on Digital's |
| 275 | terminals. |
| 276 | |
| 277 | \b In VT400 mode, all the function keys behave like the default |
| 278 | mode, but the actual top row of the numeric keypad generates \c{ESC |
| 279 | OP} through to \c{ESC OS}. |
| 280 | |
| 281 | \b In VT100+ mode, the function keys generate \c{ESC OP} through to |
| 282 | \c{ESC O[} |
| 283 | |
| 284 | \b In SCO mode, the function keys F1 to F12 generate \c{ESC [M} |
| 285 | through to \c{ESC [X}. Together with shift, they generate \c{ESC [Y} |
| 286 | through to \c{ESC [j}. With control they generate \c{ESC [k} through |
| 287 | to \c{ESC [v}, and with shift and control together they generate |
| 288 | \c{ESC [w} through to \c{ESC [\{}. |
| 289 | |
| 290 | If you don't know what any of this means, you probably don't need to |
| 291 | fiddle with it. |
| 292 | |
| 293 | \S{config-appcursor} Controlling Application Cursor Keys mode |
| 294 | |
| 295 | Application Cursor Keys mode is a way for the server to change the |
| 296 | control sequences sent by the arrow keys. In normal mode, the arrow |
| 297 | keys send \c{ESC [A} through to \c{ESC [D}. In application mode, |
| 298 | they send \c{ESC OA} through to \c{ESC OD}. |
| 299 | |
| 300 | Application Cursor Keys mode can be turned on and off by the server, |
| 301 | depending on the application. PuTTY allows you to configure the |
| 302 | initial state, and also allows you to disable application mode |
| 303 | completely. |
| 304 | |
| 305 | \S{config-appkeypad} Controlling Application Keypad mode |
| 306 | |
| 307 | Application Keypad mode is a way for the server to change the |
| 308 | behaviour of the numeric keypad. |
| 309 | |
| 310 | In normal mode, the keypad behaves like a normal Windows keypad: |
| 311 | with NumLock on, the number keys generate numbers, and with NumLock |
| 312 | off they act like the arrow keys and Home, End etc. |
| 313 | |
| 314 | In application mode, all the keypad keys send special control |
| 315 | sequences, \e{including} Num Lock. Num Lock stops behaving like Num |
| 316 | Lock and becomes another function key. |
| 317 | |
| 318 | Depending on which version of Windows you run, you may find the Num |
| 319 | Lock light still flashes on and off every time you press Num Lock, |
| 320 | even when application mode is active and Num Lock is acting like a |
| 321 | function key. This is unavoidable. |
| 322 | |
| 323 | Application keypad mode can be turned on and off by the server, |
| 324 | depending on the application. PuTTY allows you to configure the |
| 325 | initial state, and also allows you to disable application mode |
| 326 | completely. |
| 327 | |
| 328 | \S{config-nethack} Using NetHack keypad mode |
| 329 | |
| 330 | PuTTY has a special mode for playing NetHack. You can enable it by |
| 331 | selecting \q{NetHack} in the \q{Initial state of numeric keypad} |
| 332 | control. |
| 333 | |
| 334 | In this mode, the numeric keypad keys 1-9 generate the NetHack |
| 335 | movement commands (\cw{hjklyubn}). The 5 key generates the \c{.} |
| 336 | command (do nothing). |
| 337 | |
| 338 | Better still, pressing Shift with the keypad keys generates the |
| 339 | capital forms of the commands (\cw{HJKLYUBN}), which tells NetHack |
| 340 | to keep moving you in the same direction until you encounter |
| 341 | something interesting. |
| 342 | |
| 343 | For some reason, this feature only works properly when Num Lock is |
| 344 | on. We don't know why. |
| 345 | |
| 346 | \S{config-compose} Enabling a DEC-like Compose key |
| 347 | |
| 348 | DEC terminals have a Compose key, which provides an easy-to-remember |
| 349 | way of typing accented characters. You press Compose and then type |
| 350 | two more characters. The two characters are \q{combined} to produce |
| 351 | an accented character. The choices of character are designed to be |
| 352 | easy to remember; for example, composing \q{e} and \q{`} produces |
| 353 | the \q{\u00e8{e-grave}} character. |
| 354 | |
| 355 | If you enable the \q{Application and AltGr act as Compose key} |
| 356 | option, the Windows Application key and the AltGr key will both have |
| 357 | this behaviour. |
| 358 | |
| 359 | \H{config-bell} The Bell panel |
| 360 | |
| 361 | The Bell configuration panel allows you to control how PuTTY should |
| 362 | respond to a terminal bell. |
| 363 | |
| 364 | \S{config-bellstyle} Set the style of bell |
| 365 | |
| 366 | When a terminal bell occurs, PuTTY can do one of the following things: |
| 367 | |
| 368 | \b Nothing. The bell is disabled. Taskbar bell indication still |
| 369 | works, however. |
| 370 | |
| 371 | \b Play Windows Default Sound. The Windows Default Sound (which can |
| 372 | be configured from the Sounds control panel) will be played. |
| 373 | |
| 374 | \b Play a custom sound file. Select a \c{.wav} sound file using the |
| 375 | \e{Custom sound file to play as a bell} text box, or browse for the |
| 376 | file to play using the \e{Browse...} button. |
| 377 | |
| 378 | \b Flash the terminal window as a visual bell. No sound will be |
| 379 | played. |
| 380 | |
| 381 | In addition, the PuTTY window's title bar and its entry in the taskbar |
| 382 | can be configured to flash or invert to indicate that a terminal bell |
| 383 | has occurred. |
| 384 | |
| 385 | \S{config-belloverload} Control the bell overload behaviour |
| 386 | |
| 387 | Sometimes mistakes, for example trying to \c{cat} a binary file on a |
| 388 | Unix machine, can lead to a large number of terminal bells being |
| 389 | received by PuTTY. It might take a long time for PuTTY to catch up |
| 390 | with reacting to these bells, and the noise or flashing could be very |
| 391 | irritating for the user. |
| 392 | |
| 393 | PuTTY's bell overload handling is designed to avoid this problem. If |
| 394 | turned on using the \e{Bell is temporarily disabled when over-used} |
| 395 | tick box, the bell will be disabled if it occurs more than a specified |
| 396 | number of times in a specified number of seconds. When no bells have |
| 397 | occurred for a number of seconds, PuTTY re-enables the bell. |
| 398 | |
| 399 | \H{config-window} The Window panel |
| 400 | |
| 401 | The Window configuration panel allows you to control aspects of the |
| 402 | PuTTY window and its behaviour. |
| 403 | |
| 404 | \S{config-winsize} Setting the size of the PuTTY window |
| 405 | |
| 406 | The \e{Rows} and \e{Columns} boxes let you set the PuTTY window to a |
| 407 | precise size. Of course you can also drag the window to a new size |
| 408 | while a session is running. |
| 409 | |
| 410 | If you are running an application which is unable to deal with |
| 411 | changes in window size, you might want to enable the \q{Lock window |
| 412 | size against resizing} option, which prevents the user from |
| 413 | accidentally changing the size of the window. |
| 414 | |
| 415 | \S{config-scrollback} Controlling scrollback |
| 416 | |
| 417 | Text that scrolls off the top of the PuTTY terminal window is kept |
| 418 | for reference. The scrollbar on the right of the window lets you |
| 419 | view the scrolled-off text. You can also page through the scrollback |
| 420 | using the keyboard, by pressing Shift-PgUp and Shift-PgDn. |
| 421 | |
| 422 | The \q{Lines of scrollback} box lets you configure how many lines of |
| 423 | text PuTTY keeps. The \q{Display scrollbar} option allows you to |
| 424 | hide the scrollbar (although you can still view the scrollback using |
| 425 | Shift-PgUp and Shift-PgDn). |
| 426 | |
| 427 | If you are viewing part of the scrollback when the server sends more |
| 428 | text to PuTTY, the screen will revert to showing the current |
| 429 | terminal contents. You can disable this behaviour by turning off |
| 430 | \q{Reset scrollback on display activity}. You can also make the |
| 431 | screen revert when you press a key, by turning on \q{Reset |
| 432 | scrollback on keypress}. |
| 433 | |
| 434 | \S{config-warnonclose} \q{Warn before closing window} |
| 435 | |
| 436 | If you press the Close button in a PuTTY window that contains a |
| 437 | running session, PuTTY will put up a warning window asking if you |
| 438 | really meant to close the window. A window whose session has already |
| 439 | terminated can always be closed without a warning. |
| 440 | |
| 441 | If you want to be able to close a window quickly, you can disable |
| 442 | the \q{Warn before closing window} option. |
| 443 | |
| 444 | \S{config-altf4} \q{Window closes on ALT-F4} |
| 445 | |
| 446 | By default, pressing ALT-F4 causes the window to close (or a warning |
| 447 | box to appear; see \k{config-warnonclose}). If you disable the |
| 448 | \q{Window closes on ALT-F4} option, then pressing ALT-F4 will simply |
| 449 | send a key sequence to the server. |
| 450 | |
| 451 | \S{config-altspace} \q{System menu appears on ALT-Space} |
| 452 | |
| 453 | If this option is enabled, then pressing ALT-Space will bring up the |
| 454 | PuTTY window's menu, like clicking on the top left corner. If it is |
| 455 | disabled, then pressing ALT-Space will just send \c{ESC SPACE} to |
| 456 | the server. |
| 457 | |
| 458 | \S{config-altonly} \q{System menu appears on Alt alone} |
| 459 | |
| 460 | If this option is enabled, then pressing and releasing ALT will |
| 461 | bring up the PuTTY window's menu, like clicking on the top left |
| 462 | corner. If it is disabled, then pressing and releasing ALT will have |
| 463 | no effect. |
| 464 | |
| 465 | \S{config-alwaysontop} \q{Ensure window is always on top} |
| 466 | |
| 467 | If this option is enabled, the PuTTY window will stay on top of all |
| 468 | other windows. |
| 469 | |
| 470 | \H{config-appearance} The Appearance panel |
| 471 | |
| 472 | The Appearance configuration panel allows you to control aspects of |
| 473 | PuTTY's appearance. |
| 474 | |
| 475 | \S{config-cursor} Controlling the appearance of the cursor |
| 476 | |
| 477 | The \q{Cursor appearance} option lets you configure the cursor to be |
| 478 | a block, an underline, or a vertical line. A block cursor becomes an |
| 479 | empty box when the window loses focus; an underline or a vertical |
| 480 | line becomes dotted. |
| 481 | |
| 482 | The \q{Cursor blinks} option makes the cursor blink on and off. This |
| 483 | works in any of the cursor modes. |
| 484 | |
| 485 | \S{config-font} Controlling the font used in the terminal window |
| 486 | |
| 487 | |
| 488 | |
| 489 | \S{config-title} Controlling the window title |
| 490 | |
| 491 | \H{config-translation} The Translation panel |
| 492 | |
| 493 | The Translation configuration panel allows you to control the |
| 494 | translation between the character set understood by the server and |
| 495 | the character set understood by PuTTY. |
| 496 | |
| 497 | \S{config-linedraw} Line drawing characters |
| 498 | |
| 499 | \S{config-outputtrans} Character set translation of output data |
| 500 | |
| 501 | \S{config-inputtrans} Character set translation of input data |
| 502 | |
| 503 | \H{config-selection} The Selection panel |
| 504 | |
| 505 | The Selection panel allows you to control the way copy and paste |
| 506 | work in the PuTTY window. |
| 507 | |
| 508 | \S{config-mouse} Changing the actions of the mouse buttons |
| 509 | |
| 510 | \S{config-charclasses} Configuring word-by-word selection |
| 511 | |
| 512 | \H{config-colours} The Colours panel |
| 513 | |
| 514 | The Colours panel allows you to control PuTTY's use of colour. |
| 515 | |
| 516 | \S{config-boldcolour} \q{Bolded text is a different colour} |
| 517 | |
| 518 | \S{config-logpalette} \q{Attempt to use logical palettes} |
| 519 | |
| 520 | \S{config-colourcfg} Adjusting the colours in the terminal window |
| 521 | |
| 522 | \H{config-connection} The Connection panel |
| 523 | |
| 524 | The Connection panel allows you to configure options that apply to |
| 525 | more than one type of connection. |
| 526 | |
| 527 | \S{config-termtype} \q{Terminal-type string} |
| 528 | |
| 529 | \S{config-username} \q{Auto-login username} |
| 530 | |
| 531 | \S{config-keepalive} Using keepalives to prevent disconnection |
| 532 | |
| 533 | If you find your sessions are closing unexpectedly (\q{Connection |
| 534 | reset by peer}) after they have been idle for a while, you might |
| 535 | want to try using this option. |
| 536 | |
| 537 | Some network routers and firewalls need keep track of all |
| 538 | connections through them. Usually, these firewalls will assume a |
| 539 | connection is dead if no data is transferred in either direction |
| 540 | after a certain time interval. This can cause PuTTY sessions to be |
| 541 | unexpectedly closed by the firewall if no traffic is seen in the |
| 542 | session for some time. |
| 543 | |
| 544 | The keepalive option (\q{Seconds between keepalives}) allows you to |
| 545 | configure PuTTY to send data through the session at regular |
| 546 | intervals, in a way that does not disrupt the actual terminal |
| 547 | session. If you find your firewall is cutting idle connections off, |
| 548 | you can try entering a non-zero value in this field. The value is |
| 549 | measured in seconds; so, for example, if your firewall cuts |
| 550 | connections off after ten minutes then you might want to enter 300 |
| 551 | seconds (5 minutes) in the box. |
| 552 | |
| 553 | Note that keepalives are not always helpful. They help if you have a |
| 554 | firewall which drops your connection after an idle period; but if |
| 555 | the network between you and the server suffers from breaks in |
| 556 | connectivity then keepalives can actually make things worse. If a |
| 557 | session is idle, and connectivity is temporarily lost between the |
| 558 | endpoints, but the connectivity is restored before either side tries |
| 559 | to send anything, then there will be no problem - neither endpoint |
| 560 | will notice that anything was wrong. However, if one side does send |
| 561 | something during the break, it will repeatedly try to re-send, and |
| 562 | eventually give up and abandon the connection. Then when |
| 563 | connectivity is restored, the other side will find that the first |
| 564 | side doesn't believe there is an open connection any more. |
| 565 | Keepalives can make this sort of problem worse, because they |
| 566 | increase the probability that PuTTY will attempt to send data during |
| 567 | a break in connectivity. Therefore, you might find they help |
| 568 | connection loss, or you might find they make it worse, depending on |
| 569 | what \e{kind} of network problems you have between you and the |
| 570 | server. |
| 571 | |
| 572 | Keepalives are only supported in Telnet and SSH; the Rlogin and Raw |
| 573 | protocols offer no way of implementing them. |
| 574 | |
| 575 | \H{config-telnet} The Telnet panel |
| 576 | |
| 577 | The Telnet panel allows you to configure options that only apply to |
| 578 | Telnet sessions. |
| 579 | |
| 580 | \S{config-termspeed} \q{Terminal-speed string} |
| 581 | |
| 582 | \S{config-environ} Setting environment variables on the server |
| 583 | |
| 584 | \S{config-oldenviron} \q{Handling of OLD_ENVIRON ambiguity} |
| 585 | |
| 586 | \H{config-ssh} The SSH panel |
| 587 | |
| 588 | The SSH panel allows you to configure options that only apply to |
| 589 | SSH sessions. |
| 590 | |
| 591 | \S{config-command} Executing a specific command on the server |
| 592 | |
| 593 | \S{config-auth} SSH authentication options |
| 594 | |
| 595 | \S{config-protocol} SSH protocol options |
| 596 | |
| 597 | \H{config-file} Storing configuration in a file |
| 598 | |
| 599 | PuTTY does not currently support storing its configuration in a file |
| 600 | instead of the Registry. However, you can work around this with a |
| 601 | couple of batch files. |
| 602 | |
| 603 | You will need a file called (say) \c{PUTTY.BAT} which imports the |
| 604 | contents of a file into the Registry, then runs PuTTY, exports the |
| 605 | contents of the Registry back into the file, and deletes the |
| 606 | Registry entries. This can all be done using the Regedit command |
| 607 | line options, so it's all automatic. Here is what you need in |
| 608 | \c{PUTTY.BAT}: |
| 609 | |
| 610 | \c @ECHO OFF |
| 611 | \c regedit /s putty.reg |
| 612 | \c regedit /s puttyrnd.reg |
| 613 | \c start /w putty.exe |
| 614 | \c regedit /e puttynew.reg HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY |
| 615 | \c copy puttynew.reg putty.reg |
| 616 | \c del puttynew.reg |
| 617 | \c regedit /s puttydel.reg |
| 618 | |
| 619 | This batch file needs two auxiliary files: \c{PUTTYRND.REG} which |
| 620 | sets up an initial safe location for the \c{PUTTY.RND} random seed |
| 621 | file, and \c{PUTTYDEL.REG} which destroys everything in the Registry |
| 622 | once it's been successfully saved back to the file. |
| 623 | |
| 624 | Here is \c{PUTTYDEL.REG}: |
| 625 | |
| 626 | \c REGEDIT4 |
| 627 | \c |
| 628 | \c [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY] |
| 629 | |
| 630 | Here is an example \c{PUTTYRND.REG} file: |
| 631 | |
| 632 | \c REGEDIT4 |
| 633 | \c |
| 634 | \c [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY] |
| 635 | \c "RandSeedFile"="a:\putty.rnd" |
| 636 | |
| 637 | You should replace \c{a:\\putty.rnd} with the location where you |
| 638 | want to store your random number data. If the aim is to carry around |
| 639 | PuTTY and its settings on one floppy, you probably want to store it |
| 640 | on the floppy. |