WinSCP with PuTTY and Pageant

Why Combine Them

PuTTY provides the terminal, Pageant is the SSH agent that holds unlocked private keys, and WinSCP handles file transfer. Together they give a full remote workflow with a single key.

Pageant Setup

Start Pageant, add your private key (.ppk) and enter the passphrase once. WinSCP then authenticates through the running agent without asking for the passphrase again, and PuTTY sessions behave the same way.

Generate Keys with PuTTYgen

Create a key pair in PuTTYgen, save the private key as a .ppk for Pageant, and install the public key on the server. Loading that .ppk in WinSCP's authentication panel works identically to the agent.

Open a Terminal from WinSCP

Right-click a remote folder and choose Open in PuTTY to drop into a shell at exactly that directory. This merges browsing and command-line work without leaving the session.

Key Points

• Pageant holds decrypted keys for both tools.
• PuTTYgen produces .ppk private keys.
• Open in PuTTY starts a shell in the browsed folder.
• One key unlocks terminal and file transfer sessions.