How to export/import PuTTy sessions list?

Question

Is there a way to do this?

Or I have to take manually every record from Registry?

Answer 1

For those of you who need to import Putty from offline registry file e.g. when you are recovering from crashed system or simply moving to a new machine and grabbing data off that old drive there is one more solution worth mentioning:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/registry_file_offline_export.html

This great and free console application will export the entire registry or only a specific registry key. In my case i simply copied the registry file from an old drive to the same directory as the exporter tool and then i used following command and syntax in CMD window run as administrator:

RegFileExport.exe NTUSER.DAT putty.reg "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham"

After importing the .reg file and starting Putty everything was there. Simple and efficient.

Answer 2

This was so much easier importing the registry export than what is stated above. + Simply:

1. right click on the file and
2. select "Merge"

Worked like a champ on Win 7 Pro.

Answer 3

If you, like me, installed new Windows and only after you remember about putty sessions, you can still import them, if you have old Windows hard drive or at least your old "home" directory backed up (C:\Users\<user_name>).

In this directory there should be NTUSER.DAT file. It is hidden by default, so you should enable hidden files in your Windows explorer or use another file browser. This file contains the HKEY_CURRENT_USER branch of your old Windows registry.

To use it, you need to open regedit on your new Windows, and select HKEY_USERS key.

Then select File -> Load Hive... and find your old "home" directory of your old Windows installation. In this directory there should be NTUSER.DAT file. It is hidden by default, so, if you didn't enable to show hidden files in your Windows explorer properties, then you can just manually enter file name into File name input box of "Load Hive" dialog and press Enter. Then in the next dialog window enter some key name to load old registry into it. e.g. tmp.

Your old registry's HKEY_CURRENT_USER branch now should be accessible under HKEY_USERS\tmp branch of your current registry.

Now export HKEY_USERS\tmp\Software\SimonTatham branch into putty.reg file, open this file in your favorite text editor and find-and-replace all HKEY_USERS\tmp string with HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Now save the .reg file.

You can import now this file into your current Windows registry by double-clicking it. See m0nhawk's answer how to do this.

In the end, select HKEY_USERS\tmp branch in the registry editor and then select File -> Unload Hive... and confirm this operation.

Answer 4

1. Launch Run, then type in the Open drop down window: regedit

2. Navigate to, just like in Window's Explorer:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham

3. Right click on 'SimonTatham' key (directory icon), select Export
   Give the file a name (say) putty.reg and save it to your location for
   later use.
4. Close Registry Editor.

Done.

Answer 5

If You want to import settings on PuTTY Portable You can use the putty.reg file.

Just put it to this path [path_to_Your_portable_apps]PuTTYPortable\Data\settings\putty.reg. Program will import it

Answer 6

m0nhawk's answer didn't work for me on Windows 10 - it required elevated command prompt and refused to emit a file.

This worked and didn't require elevation:

reg export HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY putty.reg