Master PuTTY: Step‑by‑Step Guide to SSH into Remote Servers

PuTTY is an open‑source connection tool maintained by Simon Tatham and released under the MIT license. It includes components such as PuTTY, PuTTYgen, PSFTP, PuTTYtel, Plink, PSCP, and Pageant, and defaults to the SSH protocol on port 22.

Completely free

Runs smoothly on Windows 9x/NT/2000 and later versions

Fully supports SSH‑1 and SSH‑2

Portable executable – no installation required

Small footprint (under 1 MB)

Simple, single‑panel interface

Installation steps:

Download the appropriate 32‑bit or 64‑bit version from the official site: https://chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html .

The download provides a single executable file named putty.exe; no installation is needed.

Basic usage:

Launch PuTTY to open its main interface.

Enter the target server’s IP address or hostname (e.g., 202.118.86.79) in the "Host Name (or IP address)" field, provide a session name in "Saved Sessions", and click Save .

In the "Default Settings" list, select the saved session and click Open .

When prompted, enter the username and password for the remote host; you may need to confirm a host key on first connection.

After successful login, you can operate the remote server through the PuTTY terminal just as if you were directly on the machine, with convenient copy‑and‑paste support.

Important note: PuTTY stores session information locally; always clear saved sessions and credentials when using a shared or public computer.