How to import/export PuTTy sessions list

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It is very important to maintain a list of sessions when you are connecting to a lot of VM’s or remote SSH. 

There are quite a few reasons why you would want to keep a backup of all your sessions – 

  • Re-installation of OS
  • Moving to another machine
  • Sharing with colleagues

Export

Command Prompt (cmd.exe), required elevated prompt

C:\Windows\system32> cd <path-to-reg file>

Only sessions: 

regedit /e "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\putty-sessions.reg" HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY\Sessions

All PuTTy settings:

regedit /e "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\putty.reg" HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham

PowerShell

Only sessions: 

reg export HKCU\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY\Sessions ([Environment]::GetFolderPath("Desktop") + "\putty-sessions.reg")

All PuTTy settings:

reg export HKCU\Software\SimonTatham ([Environment]::GetFolderPath("Desktop") + "\putty.reg")

Import

Double-click on the *.reg file and accept the import.

Alternatively, using a command line option as below:

Command Prompt (cmd.exe), required elevated prompt

regedit /i <path-to-reg file>\putty-sessions.reg
regedit /i <path-to-reg file>\putty.reg

PowerShell

reg import <path-to-reg file>\putty-sessions.reg
reg import <path-to-reg file>\putty.reg