Saving, backing up and migrating PuTTY sessions

A saved session is a settings bundle with a name. Once you have thirty of them, backing them up is no longer optional — and Windows makes it a one-line export.

Save a session correctly

Enter the host name and port on the Session screen.
Adjust every other setting you want first — appearance, keys, keepalives.
Return to the Session screen, type a name, and click Save.
Test by selecting the name and clicking Load, then Open.

Name them so the list stays usable

PuTTY has no folders, so the name carries the structure. A prefix pattern such as prod-web01, lab-switch-a and client-acme-db sorts related hosts together alphabetically.

Back up to a file

Everything lives under one registry key:

reg export HKCU\SOFTWARE\SimonTatham\PuTTY putty-sessions.reg

Copy that .reg file plus your .ppk key files into your normal backup. Restoring on a new Windows PC is a double-click on the .reg followed by re-pointing each session at the key path if it changed.

Launch a session in one click

"C:\Program Files\PuTTY\putty.exe" -load "prod-web01"

Create a desktop or taskbar shortcut with that target for the two or three hosts you open every day.

Questions people ask about this

Can I edit the exported file by hand?

Yes. It is plain text, and host names are readable, so a search and replace works when a whole subnet is renumbered.

Do saved sessions store my password?

No, and that is deliberate. Use key authentication with Pageant if you want unattended logins.

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