How to use PuTTY colorization settings in an SSH session?
Hi,
We are trying to use PuTTY colorization settings with an SSH session in Remote Desktop Manager.
When we launch PuTTY directly, the colors work correctly. In PuTTY we configured:
Window > Colours > Colorization > Enable Colorization
and the terminal output is displayed with the expected colors.
In RDM, we configured the same PuTTY installation under:
Settings > Application > Paths > Configure installation path > PuTTY
RDM detects the application correctly and shows Application is ready.
However, when we launch and authenticate to our SSH session from RDM, the PuTTY colorization settings are not applied.
I found this previous topic:
https://forum.devolutions.net/topics/42416/colors-are-not-transferred-from-putty-to-ssh
The feature/request there is marked as Implemented, so I assume there is now a way to transfer or use the PuTTY color settings in an RDM SSH session.
Could you please explain exactly how this should be configured?
Our goal is simply to have the SSH session launched from RDM display the same colors that we see when launching PuTTY directly.
Thanks!
Fernando Bueno
Recommended Answer
Hi Fernando,
Thanks for confirming, that's very helpful.
Since you're on RDM 2026.2.17.0 with a DVLS workspace and the entry type is the native SSH Shell, here's what's happening.
The SSH Shell entry never launches putty.exe, it has its own built-in terminal. So the installation path configured under Settings > Application > Paths > PuTTY, and any colorization set only inside putty.exe itself, have no effect on it.
The fix in the topic you referenced (implemented in RDM 2024.3) only applies at the moment you use the "Convert Putty to SSH Terminal Session" action on an existing PuTTY entry. At that point, the color configuration from the PuTTY entry is copied once into the resulting SSH Shell entry's Terminal > Display > Colors. Since your session was already an SSH Shell entry and wasn't created through that conversion, that copy never happened, so the colors were never applied.
To get the same colors you see in putty.exe, you have two options depending on scope:
For this specific session only: open the entry's Properties > Terminal > Display, set Colors to Override, and enter the same values you configured in PuTTY's Window > Colours.
For all your SSH sessions: go to File > Settings > Entry types > Sessions > Terminal > Colors, set Override mode, and enter the values there. This applies globally, and you can also use the Import/Export buttons on that screen if you want to save or share the color scheme.
Either way it's a manual match, but it's a one-time setup and it will look identical to your PuTTY session going forward.
Best regards,
Alexis Geller Peiro
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Hi Fernando,
Thanks for the detailed description, it's very helpful.
Before we go further, could you confirm a couple of details so we can point you to the right configuration?
- Which version of Remote Desktop Manager (Windows) are you currently running, and which workspace/data source is your vault connected to (DVLS, SQL Server, or Devolutions Cloud)?
- For the SSH session you launch from RDM, is the entry type the native "SSH Shell" (built-in terminal), or is it the deprecated "PuTTY" entry type?
This distinction matters here. The path you configured under Settings > Application > Paths > PuTTY only applies to the deprecated PuTTY entry type, which actually opens the real putty.exe embedded inside RDM. The native SSH Shell terminal does not use putty.exe at all, it has its own color settings, found in the entry's Properties > Terminal > Display > Colors (or globally under File > Settings > Types > Terminal > Colors, which applies to all sessions).
The topic you linked (42416) covers a different feature. It added the ability to carry over the Window > Colours configuration from a PuTTY entry at the moment you convert that entry into a built-in SSH Shell entry, available since RDM 2024.3. It's a one-time copy that happens during the conversion, not a live link that keeps reading PuTTY's settings afterward. So even with that fix in place, colors set only inside putty.exe won't automatically show up in an SSH Shell entry that was created independently or that already existed before running the conversion.
Once we know which entry type you're using, we can walk you through the right place to set this, either the SSH Shell terminal color override, or the PuTTY session referenced by the deprecated entry.
Best regards,
Alexis Geller Peiro
Hi,
We are currently using:
- Remote Desktop Manager 2026.2.17.0 64-bit
- Devolutions Server (DVLS) as the workspace/data source
- The session entry type is SSH Shell
Thanks.
Fernando
Hi Alexis.
Perfect. Thank you so much for the clarification!
Best regards,
Fernando