Importing PuTTY sessions #14865

@synner88 commented on GitHub (Aug 13, 2021):

Putty sessions are stored at HKCU\SOFTWARE\SimonTatham\PuTTY\Sessions.
From there you can extract protocol, username, hostname, portnumber but many of the values are protocol-specific (e.g. PublicKeyFile).
Most importantly, you need to map protocol to a specific command/tool for Terminal to call (with a specific argument list).

@synner88 commented on GitHub (Aug 13, 2021): Putty sessions are stored at `HKCU\SOFTWARE\SimonTatham\PuTTY\Sessions`. From there you can extract `protocol`, `username`, `hostname`, `portnumber` but many of the values are protocol-specific (e.g. `PublicKeyFile`). Most importantly, you need to map `protocol` to a specific command/tool for Terminal to call (with a specific argument list).

claunia commented

@WSLUser commented on GitHub (Aug 13, 2021):

You could try creating a profile that calls putty.exe and if putty allows commandline parameters for choosing a particular saved session config, you could add that at the end. Otherwise, I'd suggest creating a profile using ssh.exe from Win32-OpenSSH and define the username@hostname there.

@WSLUser commented on GitHub (Aug 13, 2021): You could try creating a profile that calls `putty.exe `and if putty allows commandline parameters for choosing a particular saved session config, you could add that at the end. Otherwise, I'd suggest creating a profile using `ssh.exe` from Win32-OpenSSH and define the `username@hostname` there.

claunia commented

@KalleOlaviNiemitalo commented on GitHub (Aug 13, 2021):

A Windows Terminal profile that calls putty.exe would be inconvenient to use because PuTTY opens its own window instead of using the console.

@KalleOlaviNiemitalo commented on GitHub (Aug 13, 2021): A Windows Terminal profile that calls `putty.exe` would be inconvenient to use because PuTTY opens its own window instead of using the console.

claunia commented

@Draghmar commented on GitHub (Aug 13, 2021):

My suggestion was more on how to make it easier to import into Terminal. I know how can I do this manually (it's even in FAQ :P) but it would be so much more convenient if there was built-in tool for that (especially for lazy people like me ;)). And one of the reasons for that is the fact that you can't use putty.exe inside Terminal because it will open new window, as @KalleOlaviNiemitalo also pointed out.

@Draghmar commented on GitHub (Aug 13, 2021): My suggestion was more on how to make it easier to import into Terminal. I know how can I do this manually (it's even in FAQ :P) but it would be so much more convenient if there was built-in tool for that (especially for lazy people like me ;)). And one of the reasons for that is the fact that you can't use `putty.exe` inside Terminal because it will open new window, as @KalleOlaviNiemitalo also pointed out.

claunia commented

2026-01-31 04:21:42 +00:00

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Aug 16, 2021):

This is a fun idea for a dynamic profile generator. Thanks!

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Aug 16, 2021): This is a fun idea for a dynamic profile generator. Thanks!

claunia commented

@DHowett commented on GitHub (Aug 16, 2021):

Notes for someone who may be interested in working on it: putty ships a command-line SSH client of its own, plink, which is aware of putty profiles. That may be even easier than trying to gin up a ssh.exe command line.

@DHowett commented on GitHub (Aug 16, 2021): Notes for someone who may be interested in working on it: putty ships a command-line SSH client of its own, `plink`, which is aware of putty profiles. That may be even easier than trying to gin up a `ssh.exe` command line.

claunia commented

2026-01-31 04:21:42 +00:00

@KalleOlaviNiemitalo commented on GitHub (Aug 16, 2021):

When I last tried running plink.exe in Windows Terminal, I could not get the VT sequences to work. I don't remember whether the problem was in input or in output. Anyway, plink is not intended for interactive use.

@KalleOlaviNiemitalo commented on GitHub (Aug 16, 2021): When I last tried running plink.exe in Windows Terminal, I could not get the VT sequences to work. I don't remember whether the problem was in input or in output. Anyway, plink is not intended for interactive use.

claunia commented

2026-01-31 04:21:42 +00:00

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Aug 16, 2021):

Anyway, plink is not intended for interactive use.

After 30 seconds of experimentation - yea that's the impression I get. Arrow keys definitely didn't work, and Ctrl+C did instantly kill plink, instead of get sent to the client. Output seemed generally okay, but that's probably because we're opting them in to VT processing by default for output. (I idly wonder if this would work if we also opted them in to vt input by default)

That being said, the sessions are all listed in Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY\Sessions, so enumerating them is easy enough. It's just the input thing that seems wonky.

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Aug 16, 2021): > Anyway, plink is not intended for interactive use. After 30 seconds of experimentation - yea that's the impression I get. Arrow keys definitely didn't work, and Ctrl+C did instantly kill `plink`, instead of get sent to the client. Output seemed generally okay, but that's probably because we're opting them in to VT processing by default for output. (I idly wonder if this would work if we also opted them in to vt _input_ by default) That being said, the sessions are all listed in `Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY\Sessions`, so enumerating them is easy enough. It's just the input thing that seems wonky.

claunia commented

2026-01-31 04:21:43 +00:00

@DHowett commented on GitHub (Aug 16, 2021):

Ah, that's a fair point. Thanks!

@DHowett commented on GitHub (Aug 16, 2021): Ah, that's a fair point. Thanks!

claunia commented

2026-01-31 04:21:43 +00:00

@pathomas commented on GitHub (Aug 18, 2021):

I realize we're all used to PuTTY, but ssh has been part of windows for a while now. You can definitely get the same effect with Ctrl+C working if you use ssh instead of plink.

The command line I use is
C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH\ssh.exe pathomas@waffles

@pathomas commented on GitHub (Aug 18, 2021): I realize we're all used to PuTTY, but ssh has been part of windows for a while now. You can definitely get the same effect with Ctrl+C working if you use ssh instead of plink. The command line I use is C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH\ssh.exe pathomas@waffles

claunia commented

2026-01-31 04:21:43 +00:00

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Aug 18, 2021):

I mean, yes, we're all aware that you can use ssh.exe instead. The whole point of this thread is to make it easier for someone to migrate the settings that they have already in putty directly to Windows Terminal profiles 😝

Using ssh.exe as the client commandline definitely would work, but then we'd need to manually reconstruct the rest of the ssh commandline from the putty registry settings, where plink doesn't have that issue. I'm sure there's a happy medium between those two.

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Aug 18, 2021): I mean, yes, we're all aware that you can use `ssh.exe` instead. The whole point of this thread is to make it easier for someone to migrate the settings that they have already in putty directly to Windows Terminal profiles 😝 Using `ssh.exe` as the client commandline definitely would work, but then we'd need to manually reconstruct the rest of the `ssh` commandline from the putty registry settings, where `plink` doesn't have that issue. I'm sure there's a happy medium between those two.

claunia commented

@Kipjr commented on GitHub (May 15, 2022):

@zadjii-msft , xould you take a look at this and perhaps give some feedback?

As this is not yet fixed I've got a small workaround for this:
https://github.com/Kipjr/powershell/blob/main/Putty2WinTerminal.ps1
It parses the Putty configuration and adds it to Settings.json

@Kipjr commented on GitHub (May 15, 2022): @zadjii-msft , xould you take a look at this and perhaps give some feedback? As this is not yet fixed I've got a small workaround for this: https://github.com/Kipjr/powershell/blob/main/Putty2WinTerminal.ps1 It parses the Putty configuration and adds it to Settings.json

claunia commented

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Oct 3, 2022):

(I'm tagging this for discussion because I never saw the above comment till today, and I want to circle back on it once I'm off paternity leave)

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Oct 3, 2022): (I'm tagging this for discussion because I never saw the above comment till today, and I want to circle back on it once I'm off paternity leave)

claunia commented

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Dec 5, 2022):

That's a slick script, and looks like it does most of what people would want. We're trying to draw the right balance here between what dynamic profile generators to include in-box, and which to exclude. If we add too many, then people's settings get polluted with quite a few dynamic profiles, and our experience for configuring those today is... less than great.

The code in #13763 might help with this, for letting floks nest profiles in the dropdown easily, but that's not a good enough solution.

I think (at the moment), I'd rather this stay an external tool. Something folks can easily run and synthesize profiles for themselves, but not forced on everyone by default. We've got near-ish term plans for dynamic profiles as extensions, and this would make a GREAT test case for that. In fact, I'm putting it into the planning timetable as our prototypical example of such an extension.

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Dec 5, 2022): That's a slick script, and looks like it does most of what people would want. We're trying to draw the right balance here between what dynamic profile generators to include in-box, and which to exclude. If we add too many, then people's settings get polluted with quite a few dynamic profiles, and our experience for configuring those today is... less than great. The code in #13763 might help with this, for letting floks nest profiles in the dropdown easily, but that's not a good enough solution. I think (at the moment), I'd rather this stay an external tool. Something folks can easily run and synthesize profiles for themselves, but not forced on everyone by default. We've got near-ish term plans for dynamic profiles as extensions, and this would make a GREAT test case for that. In fact, I'm putting it into the planning timetable as our prototypical example of such an extension.

claunia commented

@nikunj436 commented on GitHub (Mar 23, 2023):

Do we able to get this feature in windows terminal as tab? like supperputty? In supperputty I workaround used permanet doskey to saved my username and password and limit windows terminal to one so every new session can open that same supperputty, but I would like 1 place for everything to terminal. it would more clean view if this can happen in terminal.

doskey I used like be
p=putty -l username -pw pass_example $*
s=superputty -l username -pw pass_example $*

p ip or s ip

it will open all and login,

openssh one issue it take -l argument but do not take -pw argument, secondly have to add all algorithm setting as i login to some devices are old that support old one, putty this support bydefault.

@nikunj436 commented on GitHub (Mar 23, 2023): Do we able to get this feature in windows terminal as tab? like supperputty? In supperputty I workaround used permanet doskey to saved my username and password and limit windows terminal to one so every new session can open that same supperputty, but I would like 1 place for everything to terminal. it would more clean view if this can happen in terminal. doskey I used like be p=putty -l username -pw pass_example $* s=superputty -l username -pw pass_example $* p ip or s ip it will open all and login, openssh one issue it take -l argument but do not take -pw argument, secondly have to add all algorithm setting as i login to some devices are old that support old one, putty this support bydefault.

claunia commented

@SailorMax commented on GitHub (Apr 1, 2023):

While it is not integrated in WT, you can try this solution: https://github.com/SailorMax/psh

@SailorMax commented on GitHub (Apr 1, 2023): While it is not integrated in WT, you can try this solution: https://github.com/SailorMax/psh

claunia commented

@blgram commented on GitHub (Oct 17, 2023):

While it is not integrated in WT, you can try this solution: https://github.com/SailorMax/psh

Is it possible to use it for Serial Connections?

@blgram commented on GitHub (Oct 17, 2023): > While it is not integrated in WT, you can try this solution: https://github.com/SailorMax/psh Is it possible to use it for Serial Connections?

claunia commented

@SailorMax commented on GitHub (Oct 17, 2023):

Is it possible to use it for Serial Connections?

Currently only ssh. I never used Serial Connections.
Can you check plink.exe? I'll try to use it for Serial Connections if it has acceptable functionality.

@SailorMax commented on GitHub (Oct 17, 2023): > Is it possible to use it for Serial Connections? Currently only ssh. I never used Serial Connections. Can you check plink.exe? I'll try to use it for Serial Connections if it has acceptable functionality.

claunia commented