Open session in PuTTY goes to obsolete replaced destination host name

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Open session in PuTTY goes to obsolete replaced destination host name

Using WinSCP 5.9.5 (Build 7441) on Windows 10 Pro.

Before attempting to start any PuTTY sessions, the initial WinSCP connect and login was failing because it had the wrong host name. The host name was edited and replaced with the correct current host name. This allowed the login to proceed correctly, after which WinSCP operations worked, including "Open terminal".

However, even then "Open session in PuTTY" would fail to connect. This seemed to be because it persisted in attempting to connect to the wrong destination host name. Though I cannot establish this, I suspect the host name it was using might have been the earlier obsolete host name that was failing for WiinSCP before it was edited and replaced with the current host name. In other words, that change doesn't seem to have propagated to being used by "Open session in PuTTY".

I used "Clone to a New Site" to duplicate all settings, but I did not make any changes. Supposedly that should have been identical. However, the operation of cloning the settings appeared to create a consistent set of specifications for the host name. In the new cloned session, "Open session in PuTTY" worked as expected.

Yet even after cloning a new session, the original session from which it was cloned still failed to be able to "Open session in PuTTY" despite having exactly the same WinSCP destination and the same login specifications. It appeared to still be insisting on going to the wrong destination host name.

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martin
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Re: Open session in PuTTY goes to obsolete replaced destination host name

Do you still have the original session? Can you reproduce the problem?

If you hold down Ctrl and Shift keys while clicking the Open in PuTTY, WinSCP copies the command to execute PuTTY to clipboard (instead of actually executing PuTTY). What the command is?

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Eradicant
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Re: Open session in PuTTY goes to obsolete replaced destination host name

martin wrote:

Do you still have the original session? Can you reproduce the problem?

If you hold down Ctrl and Shift keys while clicking the Open in PuTTY, WinSCP copies the command to execute PuTTY to clipboard (instead of actually executing PuTTY). What the command is?

The problem is reproducible. When I use Ctrl Shift the result for either pull down "Open in PuTTY" or icon "Open session in PuTTY" is

"C:\Program Files (x86)\PuTTY\putty.exe" -load LinuxTB

where LinuxTB is the name I had given to that site.

The effect is a new window in which top bar shows an intended destination, e.g.
ec2-54-aaa-bbb-ccc.compute-1.amazonaws.com
(where aaa-bbb-ccc are actual numbers).

The problem is that the actual Public DNS (IPv4) for the correct destination is not
ec2-54-aaa-bbb-ccc.compute-1.amazonaws.com
but rather
ec2-54-xxx-yy-zzz.compute-1.amazonaws.com
(where xxx-yy-zzz are completely different actual numbers).

So I'm not surprised at all that it fails. I am surprised that it isn't trying to go to the same Public DNS (IPv4) that I have specified clearly as my "Host name:" for the site.

I have an unconfirmed suspicion that the destination that it is trying to use might be the former "Host name:", which needed to be replaced due to a change of the virtual host. Otherwise, I have no idea where it is getting the wrong destination host name.

If I Clone everything as a New Site with default name of "LinuxTB (1)", the new cloned copy works correctly, even though I did not change anything apart from just making a clone.

Interestingly, for the cloned version, the result for the Ctrl Shift test is this.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\PuTTY\putty.exe" -load "WinSCP temporary session"

If I try a different site altogether, it also gives me this second result, not the site name.

For one last bit of weirdness, when no one responded for a few days, I deleted the original bad "LinuxTB" Site entry and renamed the working "LinuxTB (1)" to "LinuxTB" (the original name). So I was afraid that the behavior would no longer be reproducible when I saw your reply. However, the "new" version of "LinuxTB" also fails just as before, while making a new Clone also succeeds just as before.

Other than the PuTTY problems, I have not noticed any other operations that have problems or confusions about the destination site. The normal WinSCP connection works. The "Open terminal" Console works, both as a pull down and as an icon.

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martin
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Re: Open session in PuTTY goes to obsolete replaced destination host name

Eradicant wrote:

The problem is reproducible. When I use Ctrl Shift the result for either pull down "Open in PuTTY" or icon "Open session in PuTTY" is

"C:\Program Files (x86)\PuTTY\putty.exe" -load LinuxTB
That means that you have "LinuxTB" stored session in PuTTY with an old host name.

When you have a stored session in PuTTY with the same name as the current session in WinSCP, WinSCP will tell PuTTY to use its own settings, regardless what WinSCP settings are.

See https://winscp.net/eng/docs/integration_putty#session_configuration

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Eradicant
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Re: Open session in PuTTY goes to obsolete replaced destination host name

martin wrote:

...
That means that you have "LinuxTB" stored session in PuTTY with an old host name.

When you have a stored session in PuTTY with the same name as the current session in WinSCP, WinSCP will tell PuTTY to use its own settings, regardless what WinSCP settings are.

See https://winscp.net/eng/docs/integration_putty#session_configuration

Your assessment was correct. By starting up PuTTY directly (not through WinSCP) I had the opportunity to manage the named session settings that were stored there long, long ago.

Just wanted to say Thank You for clarifying the cause of this behavior.

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