Every stage below stays on this hostname. Use the green Get PuTTY control or the Installers & packages page for the installer—both remain inside this site’s download path.
1. Install on Windows
Download the MSI aligned with your PC (64-bit covers most current Windows desktops).
Run setup and keep the default components so putty.exe, puttygen.exe, pscp.exe, psftp.exe, plink.exe, pageant.exe, and puttytel.exe all install together.
From the Start menu open the PuTTY folder and launch PuTTY.
2. Your first SSH session
In Host Name (or IP address), enter the hostname or IP your operator supplied.
Leave Port on 22 unless instructed otherwise.
Select SSH as the connection type.
Optionally name the profile under Saved Sessions and click Save.
Click Open. On the first handshake PuTTY displays a host key fingerprint—verify it with your administrator before selecting Accept.
Sign in with your username using password or key authentication as the host requires.
3. PuTTYgen (SSH keys)
Launch PuTTYgen from the Start menu after the Windows install.
Pick a key type (RSA or Ed25519 are frequent picks) and, for RSA, a robust bit length (2048 or 4096).
Click Generate and sweep the mouse across the blank area until the progress bar completes.
Add a strongly recommended Key passphrase and confirm it.
Use Save private key for a .ppk file, and Save public key when a separate public file is required.
Copy the Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file block when the server wants that exact format.
Inside PuTTY open Connection → SSH → Auth → Credentials and point to your .ppk for key login, or load material into Pageant if you prefer the agent.
Deeper key-format notes appear on the PuTTYgen page here.
4. Linux and macOS (short)
Package names shift by distro. Generally install putty for the GUI and putty-tools (or the equivalent) for the puttygen CLI. On macOS mainstream package managers expose the same binaries—adopt whatever your organization standardizes.
5. PSCP and PSFTP (files)
PSCP copies files over SCP from a shell, supplying host, remote path, and local path like other SCP utilities. PSFTP starts an interactive SFTP session where you can get and put objects. Both honor the host keys and credentials you already configured for SSH.
6. Stay safe
Install only packages you deliberately retrieved through this site’s download path when policy permits that channel.
Always verify the host key on first connect to sensitive systems.
Shield private keys behind a passphrase and harden filesystem ACLs on key files.
7. Technical: registry, files, and commands
Operators often need the precise registry keys and directories PuTTY touches. The snippets below echo the reference notes on the site home.
