Windows Windows 7 Windows Vista

Windows 7 – Enable Telnet

June 14, 2009

It’s very rare that I use Telnet these days, so it took a long time for me to notice that by default it was not packaged with Windows 7. I did some research and found out that this was also true for Windows Vista. More than likely this was an attempt to make Windows more secure by default, as Telnet is very insecure and whenever you have the choice you should always use SSH. However, with that being said, you can quickly re-enable Telnet by following these steps:

  1. Start
  2. Control Panel
  3. Programs And Features
  4. Turn Windows features on or off
  5. Check Telnet Client
  6. Hit OK

After that you can start Telnet via Command Prompt.

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  6. I have an old Cobalt RAQ3 server which freaks out if I try and install SSH. So I’m forced to use Telnet if there’s something I need to do that I can do through the web admin panel.

  8. The comments section on that article broke my mind for a minute. I’ve never seen that sort of integration with reddit posts.
    Assumed people here were copying comments from there. Then noticed identical usernames, from established users.

  12. Telnet shouldn’t be removed mainly because it’s the basis for most internet protocols.

    For communications though, yeah, ssh is best.

  14. It would be nice if microsoft would roll in their own SSHD and SSH client and support that crap with powershell.

  15. Leaving telnet turned off becuase it is is insecure?

    Probably should turn off IE then too, and I guess turn off anything running Windows O/S come to think of it…

    How many 1000’s of patches have they released already, yet still monthly get 3-12 Critical security updates indicating an attacker can easily compromise my computer. Can only say WOW.

  16. Thank you very much, actually I surprised when I found Telnet command unrecognized by windows 7 Dos console but then i searched in the google for telnet problem in windows 7 and i found your briefly answer.

    Thanks again

  20. waohh thanks a lot that hepls me a lots thanks man

    keeepitup

    thanks a lot again keep on helping people like me eeeeee….. 🙂

  23. I need to open the Telnet command OF WIN 7 & VISIT FROM COMMAND PROMPT.
    ie. I type Command in RUN box & The DOS shell opens in win 7. Now what to do, how to open the telnet command from there with out opening from control pannel-program featchers.
    Pleae help

  24. @Vicky – Did you read the article? That’s what it was about. Following these steps shows you how to enable telnet so it can be used in the command prompt window…

  27. For those not in classic view of the control panel, the “Programs And Features” is replaced by “Uninstall a program”.

    Then on the left hand side, you’ll see the “Turn Windows features on or off” and can follow the guide as normal.

  30. Why do people say “Why would you want to do this” …..BECUASE WE WANT TO! , do we need to have a reason to satisfy you ? Telnet is a great tool, but can be a gateway for intrusion, just enable the client and your sorted #:)

  33. Telnet can be very usefull sometimes … like right now, when I NEED IT!!! My very 1st use of Windoze 7 and no telnet – how DARE M$ TURN IT OFF!!!
    Post is very helpful,l thank you. Amusing comments from some of you (expecially from Ben Dover – one can tell he/she is a House M.D. fan)
    rofl

  37. Another example of M$ trying to fix stuff that ain’t broke,
    i think telnet would only be used by people who know what they are doing, and that group
    wants telnet to be there (in spite of using better tools such as putty) on every winblows pc they access, and are very aware of the risks in using it.

    Microsoft should stop and think of the admins for a change; put out an admin pack for all i care; i just want full control over their OS. That being said i must say win 7 , though still idiotic at times, is a huge improvement on the ‘end user friendly’ crap that is Vista, but there is still a huge pile of work to be done for it to be embraced by me as an admin. The ppl at M$ who decided to treat all their users like children should be lined up and shot.

    Yay for linux and unix which have and always will treat their users like grownups.

  39. Hey all,

    I followed your method/instructions above, enabled telnet etc but I still get this message/weird pop-up box which reads:

    This link needs to be opened with an application:
    (Gives me two choices:)
    1) Internet Shortcut Shell Extension DLL – (when i click on this it does nothing)
    2) Choose an application – (basically links me up to my C://)

    Anyone know what I should do to enable telnet for MUDS?

  40. @Bobby
    Simply follow the instructions and launch telnet using the new “search/run” command, or launch “cmd” and then start telnet from there. Simply specify the dns and port.
    Such as:
    telnet

  41. For some reason my placeholders wouldn’t post.
    telnet (mudname or dns) (portnumber)

  42. Thanks for the article. It solved my problem.

    I am a Computer Science student (1st term yet) and I need to conect to the university’s server from home and the only way to do it as I have been tought so far is using Telnet.

  43. Windows telnet won’t let me use any port but 25. Error message – “Cannot connect…”
    Anyone have a solution for this? I can telnet to a linux box through 25, and once logged on
    I can telnet from there to localhost: 3000 for example, but an outside windows box cannot
    use a different port.

  44. How are you stating the port? Using a colon (as in your example) is not the correct method, you would want a space before the port. For example:
    telnet localhost 110

  46. this does not work because “Turn Windows features on or off (link)” in “Programs and Features” is blank and doesn not allows enabling or disabling of anything

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