PuTTY also requires a random number seed file, to improve the unpredictability of randomly chosen data needed as part of the SSH cryptography. This is stored by default in a file called PUTTY.RND; this is stored by default in the ‘Application Data’ directory, or failing that, one of a number of fallback locations. If you want to change the location of the random number seed file, you can put your chosen pathname in the Registry, at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY\RandSeedFile
You can ask PuTTY to delete all this data; see
question A.8.2
.
On Unix, PuTTY stores all of this data in a directory ~/.putty.
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.6.1 What login name / password should I use?
This is not a question you should be asking us.
PuTTY is a communications tool, for making connections to other computers. We maintain the tool; we don't administer any computers that you're likely to be able to use, in the same way that the people who make web browsers aren't responsible for most of the content you can view in them. We cannot help with questions of this sort.
If you know the name of the computer you want to connect to, but don't know what login name or password to use, you should talk to whoever administers that computer. If you don't know who that is, see the next question for some possible ways to find out.
A.6.2 What commands can I type into my PuTTY terminal window?
Again, this is not a question you should be asking us. You need to read the manuals, or ask the administrator, of the computer you have connected to.
PuTTY does not process the commands you type into it. It's only a communications tool. It makes a connection to another computer; it passes the commands you type to that other computer; and it passes the other computer's responses back to you. Therefore, the precise range of commands you can use will not depend on PuTTY, but on what kind of computer you have connected to and what software is running on it. The PuTTY team cannot help you with that.
(Think of PuTTY as being a bit like a telephone. If you phone somebody up and you don't know what language to speak to make them understand you, it isn't the telephone company's job to find that out for you. We just provide the means for you to get in touch; making yourself understood is somebody else's problem.)
If you are unsure of where to start looking for the administrator of your server, a good place to start might be to remember how you found out the host name in the PuTTY configuration. If you were given that host name by e-mail, for example, you could try asking the person who sent you that e-mail. If your company's IT department provided you with ready-made PuTTY saved sessions, then that IT department can probably also tell you something about what commands you can type during those sessions. But the PuTTY maintainer team does not administer any server you are likely to be connecting to, and cannot help you with questions of this type.
A.6.3 How can I make PuTTY start up maximised?
Create a Windows shortcut to start PuTTY from, and set it as ‘Run Maximized’.