Making your first SSH connection with PuTTY

Four fields, one button, and one security prompt stand between you and a remote shell. Here is exactly what each of them expects and what a correct result looks like.

Fill in the Session screen

Host Name — a DNS name such as web01.example.com or an IP address.
Port — 22 unless your provider published something else.
Connection type — SSH.
Saved Sessions — a short label, then press Save.

Verify the host key

The first connection shows a security alert with the server's fingerprint. This is the only moment you can catch a machine-in-the-middle, so compare it with a fingerprint you obtained from the server owner out of band. Accept once and PuTTY remembers it.

Log in

Type your username at the login prompt, then your password or passphrase. Nothing appears while you type a password — that is intentional, not a frozen window.

Confirm you are where you meant to be with hostname and whoami before running anything that changes state.

Make the next connection faster

Set Connection, Data, Auto-login username to skip the login prompt.
Load your private key under Connection, SSH, Auth, Credentials.
Re-save the session so the settings stick.
Create a desktop shortcut with putty.exe -load "Session name".

Questions people ask about this

Why does the window close the moment I connect?

The server closed the session, usually because the account has no shell assigned or a login script failed. Enable session logging to capture the message before the window disappears.

How do I paste into PuTTY?

Right-click pastes, and selecting text with the mouse copies it automatically. Ctrl+V is not the default behavior.

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