RFE: Change directory when opening PuTTY session

Hi,

would it be possible to set the current directory in PuTTY to that one opened in WinSCP?

Lars

I have also been wanting this behavior...

Thanks for your post. This issue is being tracked already:
Issue 326 – Open PuTTY in the same directory as current WinSCP working directory
Suggestions are welcome.

Suggestions on what aspect?

How to implement that technically. I'm not aware of any reliable solution. See discussions in threads linked from tracker.

Hello, thanks for entertaining this option. I would be also very interested in automatically opening a PuTTY session in the same directory as it is currently viewed in WinSCP.

How about using a file to transfer the target directory to the target machine?

Example:
The user has to append the own .cshrc (.bashrc ...) on the target machine with:
Hence, before launching PuTTY, WinSCP creates the file in the user's home dir (it knows home dir already) with content of the target dir. Then, when the SSH session is established and initializes through .cshrc, it picks up the directory and deletes the file.

On regular login's the file will not be present and default behavior is not altered.

What can go wrong? Worst case if SSH session does not work out, the user would be redirected once to an old directory next time the user logs in normally (acceptable risk to me).

Thanks
Gunar

PS: Shell code to put into user ~/.*rc file depends on user shell.

Hello,

I tried my own suggestion above using the custom commands and it works nicely!

Added a custom remote command "SSHDir":
Now, I just trigger the "SSHDir" command first (from toolbar), and then click on PuTTY button.

These two clicks get me into a PuTTY ssh shell in the target directory – NICE.
Certainly, an integration into WinSCP would be nicer.

Thanks in advance,
Gunar

Thanks for your suggestion!

In .bashrc:
In WinSCP commands:

I wrote a little C# app to help with this, if anybody is interested. The steps were:

1. modify your .bashrc as mentioned above (I changed the variable name):
   

   if [ -f $HOME/pwdputtyscript.sh ]
   then
     source $HOME/pwdputtyscript.sh
     cd $PUTTYSTARTDIR
     rm -f $HOME/pwdputtyscript.sh
   fi

2. Add a custom command in WinSCP to say:
   

   "C:\mydir\WinSCPPutty.exe" !U !P !@ !/

   and give it a shortcut like Shift+Ctrl+Alt+P
   
3. Make a C# console app with the following in Program.cs:
   

   using System;
   using System.Collections.Generic;
   using System.Linq;
   using System.Text;
   using System.IO;
   using System.Diagnostics;
    
   namespace WinSCPPutty
   {
       class Program
       {
           static void Main(string[] args)
           {
               //args = [user pass host dir]
               string user, pass, host, dir;
               if (args.Length < 3)
                   return;
    
               if (args.Length < 4)
                   dir = "~";
    
               user = args[0];
               pass = args[1];
               host = args[2];
               dir = args[3];
    
               string puttyexe = @"C:\Program Files (x86)\PuTTY\putty.exe"; //you'll need to edit the putty location as needed
               string filename = Path.GetTempPath() + "cdputty.txt";
    
               string txt = "echo PUTTYSTARTDIR=" + dir + " > ~/pwdputtyscript.sh";
    
               string logintxt = user + "@" + host + " -pw " + pass;
               File.WriteAllText(filename, txt);
    
               ProcessStartInfo ps = new ProcessStartInfo(puttyexe, logintxt + " -m \"" + filename + "\"");
               ps.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
               Process p = Process.Start(ps);
               p.WaitForExit();
    
               File.Delete(filename);
    
               Process.Start(puttyexe, logintxt);
           }
       }
   }

note: after creating the project, I noticed that setting project properties to output a "Windows application" instead of console kept it from popping up unnecessary windows.

Now when you click the shortcut, it calls that new EXE and feeds it your current username, password, host, and current dir. The EXE then launches PuTTY once (invisibly) to create the ~/pwdputtyscript.sh on the remote computer. It then launches PuTTY, logs you in, and the .bashrc stuff brings you to the correct directory and cleans everything up. Importantly, no information about your username or password are ever saved in any file... they're all being transmitted between applications as arguments.

It's a hack to be sure, but it does the job.

@puttyperson2012: Thanks for sharing this!

I have found this page where it is solved: <removed by admin>

I enhanced it a little bit for my needs;

Remark
I use PuTTY as installed program not the portable version

So what does it do?
It creates a temporary file putty.txt in you temporary directory.
This will contain the commands which are to be called on the remote server

Example:

See PuTTY documentation:
https://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/htmldoc/Chapter3.html

Anonymous wrote:

I have found this page where it is solved: <removed by admin>

That page only copies WinSCP documentation:
https://winscp.net/eng/docs/integration_putty#putty_startup_directory

@Bryanhoop: Thanks! Here's my solution for tail -f
(my WinSCP session runs sudo su - so I have to account for PuTTY launching non elevated)
.bashrc

WinSCP Command
The only thing is that rm -f $HOME/tailputtyscript.sh doesn't remove the file.