I want to save the configurations for all saved sessions in PuTTY

Question

I have nearly 50 sessions saved in PuTTY to connect to different servers. Now I want to configure the behaviour for all the servers. How can I do it?

These configurations should reflect to all the saved sessions.

Answer 1

Here is a method which involves some effort, but is much easier than recreating all 50 sessions.

Use with caution!

1. Make a copy of your current PuTTY settings:

   Start Menu > Run then enter the following:

   regedit /e putty.reg "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY\Sessions"
   

   putty.reg is now saved in C:\Documents and Settings\{yourusername} (or C:\Windows\system32 in Windows 10) -- rename it to putty_older.reg, putty_backup.reg, whatever you prefer.

2. Using the PuTTY GUI, load one session (i.e. your first one), make all desired changes and save the session.

3. Repeat step #1 so you have a new copy of putty.reg.

4. (Optional, could be done manually) Open both files (putty.reg and putty_backup.reg) in WinMerge and you have a complete line-by-line record of all the changes you just made.

5. The changes will look something like this:

   "TermWidth"=dword:0000006e
   "TermHeight"=dword:0000002b
   

6. Use your favorite text editor to find/replace all for the old value. E.g.

   "TermWidth"=dword:'_default setting_'
   
   *(the original code)* - replace with:
   
   "TermWidth"=dword:0000006e
   
   *(the new setting)*
   

7. After saving the new version of putty.reg, double-click and confirm you want to import into the registry.

The above method was tested with five sessions and worked fine.

Answer 2

You can't do this with PuTTY as it is right now.

However, if the sessions differ only by the adddress (user/host/port), you can just have one default session, and put the address in PuTTY's command line options. You can create 50 shortcuts on your Desktop - one for each host; or connect through Start -> Run, or through Command Prompt.

putty [e-mail]