Appendix A: PuTTY FAQ

This FAQ is published on the PuTTY web site, and also provided as an appendix in the manual.

• A.1 Introduction
  • A.1.1 What is PuTTY?
  • A.1.2 Why use PuTTY when I could use OpenSSH?
• A.2 Features supported in PuTTY
  • A.2.1 Does PuTTY support storing its settings in a disk file?
  • A.2.2 Does PuTTY have the ability to remember my password so I don't have to type it every time?
  • A.2.3 Is there an option to turn off the annoying host key prompts?
  • A.2.4 Will you write an SSH server for the PuTTY suite, to go with the client?
• A.3 Ports to other operating systems
  • A.3.1 What ports of PuTTY exist?
  • A.3.2 Will there ever be a Mac version of PuTTY?
  • A.3.3 Is there a version of PuTTY for mobile operating systems?
• A.4 Embedding PuTTY in other programs
  • A.4.1 Is the SSH or Telnet code available as a DLL?
  • A.4.2 How can I use PuTTY to make an SSH connection from within another program?
• A.5 Details of PuTTY's operation
  • A.5.1 What terminal type does PuTTY use?
  • A.5.2 Where does PuTTY store its data?
  • A.5.3 Why do small PuTTY icons appear next to the login prompts?
  • A.5.4 Why has Plink started saying ‘Press Return to begin session’?
• A.6 HOWTO questions
  • A.6.1 What login name / password should I use?
  • A.6.2 What commands can I type into my PuTTY terminal window?
  • A.6.3 How can I make PuTTY start up maximised?
  • A.6.4 How can I create a Windows shortcut to start a particular saved session directly?
  • A.6.5 How can I start an SSH session straight from the command line?
  • A.6.6 How do I copy and paste between PuTTY and other Windows applications?
  • A.6.7 How do I use all PuTTY's features (public keys, proxying, cipher selection, etc.) in PSCP, PSFTP and Plink?
  • A.6.8 How do I use PSCP.EXE? When I double-click it gives me a command prompt window which then closes instantly.
  • A.6.9 How do I use PSCP to copy a file whose name has spaces in?
• A.7 Troubleshooting
  • A.7.1 I clicked on a colour in the Colours panel, and the colour didn't change in my terminal.
  • A.7.2 When I run full-colour applications, I see areas of black space where colour ought to be, or vice versa.
  • A.7.3 My PuTTY sessions unexpectedly close after they are idle for a while.
  • A.7.4 PuTTY's network connections time out too quickly when network connectivity is temporarily lost.
  • A.7.5 When I cat a binary file, I get ‘PuTTYPuTTYPuTTY’ on my command line.
  • A.7.6 When I cat a binary file, my window title changes to a nonsense string.
  • A.7.7 My keyboard stops working once PuTTY displays the password prompt.
  • A.7.8 One or more function keys don't do what I expected in a server-side application.
  • A.7.9 Since 0.78, I can't find where to configure my SSH private key.
• A.8 Security questions
  • A.8.1 Is it safe for me to download PuTTY and use it on a public PC?
  • A.8.2 What does PuTTY leave on a system? How can I clean up after it?
  • A.8.3 Couldn't Pageant use VirtualLock() to stop private keys being written to disk?
  • A.8.4 Is the version of PuTTY in the Microsoft Store legit?
• A.9 Administrative questions
  • A.9.1 Is putty.org your website?
  • A.9.2 When putty.org replaced its content with anti-vaccine propaganda in July 2025, was that because you were hacked or vandalised or taken over?
  • A.9.3 With all these landing pages and imitators, how can I be sure where the real PuTTY website is?
  • A.9.4 Why do the download links point to the.earth.li and not chiark? Has your website been hacked?
  • A.9.5 Would you like me to register you a nicer domain name?
  • A.9.6 Would you like free web hosting for the PuTTY web site?
  • A.9.7 Would you link to my web site from the PuTTY web site?
  • A.9.8 Why don't you move PuTTY to Github (or some other well known forge site)?
  • A.9.9 Why can't I subscribe to the putty-bugs mailing list?
  • A.9.10 If putty-bugs isn't a general-subscription mailing list, what is?
  • A.9.11 How can I donate to PuTTY development?
  • A.9.12 Can I have permission to put PuTTY on a cover disk / distribute it with other software / etc?
  • A.9.13 Can you sign an agreement indemnifying us against security problems in PuTTY?
  • A.9.14 Can you sign this form granting us permission to use/distribute PuTTY?
  • A.9.15 Can you write us a formal notice of permission to use PuTTY?
  • A.9.16 Can you sign anything for us?
  • A.9.17 If you won't sign anything, can you give us some sort of assurance that you won't make PuTTY closed-source in future?
  • A.9.18 Can you provide us with export control information / FIPS certification for PuTTY?
  • A.9.19 As one of our existing software vendors, can you just fill in this questionnaire for us?
  • A.9.20 The sha1sums / sha256sums / etc files on your download page don't match the binaries.
• A.10 Miscellaneous questions
  • A.10.1 Is PuTTY a port of OpenSSH, or based on OpenSSH or OpenSSL?
  • A.10.2 Does PuTTY contain or use any artificial intelligence (AI) or large language model (LLM)?
  • A.10.3 What does ‘PuTTY’ mean?
  • A.10.4 How do I pronounce ‘PuTTY’?