Each step below stays on this domain. Use the green Download PuTTY control or the Download builds page for the installer—both keep you inside this site’s download flow.
1. Install on Windows
Download the MSI that matches your PC (64-bit suits most current Windows desktops).
Run setup and retain 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 start PuTTY.
2. Your first SSH session
In Host Name (or IP address), type the hostname or IP your operator provided.
Keep Port on 22 unless you were told otherwise.
Choose SSH as the connection type.
Optionally label the profile under Saved Sessions and press Save.
Press Open. On the first handshake PuTTY shows a host key fingerprint—confirm it with your administrator before choosing Accept.
Log in with your username using password or key authentication as the host expects.
3. PuTTYgen (SSH keys)
Start PuTTYgen from the Start menu after the Windows install.
Select a key type (RSA or Ed25519 are common) and, for RSA, a strong bit length (2048 or 4096).
Click Generate and move the mouse over the blank field until the progress bar finishes.
Add a strongly recommended Key passphrase and confirm it.
Use Save private key for a .ppk file, and Save public key when you need a separate public file.
Copy the Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file block when the server expects that literal format.
Inside PuTTY open Connection → SSH → Auth → Credentials and browse to your .ppk for key login, or load the material into Pageant if you use the agent.
More detail on key formats lives on the PuTTYgen page here.
4. Linux and macOS (short)
Package names vary by distro. Typically install putty for the GUI and putty-tools (or the equivalent) for the puttygen CLI. On macOS common package managers expose the same binaries—follow 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 tools. PSFTP opens an interactive SFTP session where you can get and put objects. Both respect the host keys and credentials you already configured for SSH.
6. Stay safe
Install only packages you intentionally fetched through this site’s download flow when policy permits that route.
Always confirm the host key on first connect to sensitive systems.
Protect private keys with a passphrase and tighten filesystem ACLs on key files.
7. Technical: registry, files, and commands
Operators often need the exact registry keys and folders PuTTY touches. The snippets below mirror the technical notes on the main hub.
