PuTTY & pscp
Obtaining PuTTY
PuTTY is a small, free-to-use program that provides SSH functionality under Windows. The PuTTY executable can be downloaded free of charge from the PuTTY website. There is also a secure copy client, pscp.exe that is available from the same website. Both programs run as standalone executables, so you can run them from your hard-disk, from a floppy or from a cdrom.
Using PuTTY
See the list of available servers that you can connect to.
- The first time that you use PuTTY (e.g. by double clicking the PuTTY icon) the PuTTY configuration dialogue box will be launched. This dialog box allows you to control everything PuTTY can do (see the User Manual for further details).
- In the Host Name box, fill in the details of one of the School's SSH enabled servers - e.g. tinky-winky.cs.bham.ac.uk
- Select SSH as the protocol
- You can save this session information as - e.g. SoCS
- Click Open to make a connection to the server
- If this is the first time that you have connected to the server, PuTTY will warn you that that the "server's host key is not cached in the registry". Click Yes to add the key to PuTTY's registry.
- You can then login to the server with your username/password
Using PSCP
PSCP is used to transfer files securely between computers. It is a command line application, so you cannot just double click its icon to use it. Instead you must run it from an MS-DOS / Command Prompt.
- To run PSCP it should be in your PATH or in the current directory.
- If you type pscp.exe from the command prompt, you will get basic usage information.
- If this is the first time you have connected to the server you will be asked whether you trust the host. Type y to add the host to PuTTY's cache. You will then be asked for your password.
- Usage as per the example image opposite
- If you prefer working with a graphical user interface, WinSCP is freely downloadable from http://winscp.sourceforge.net/
Note that we do not support WinSCP, it is just listed here for your information.