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How to enable Telnet on Windows 7

Guest Poster

Telnet

Editor’s note: If you run a web server, or like to mess around with networking gear, then you might be familiar with Telnet and SSH. Only the truly geeky need apply. Today, 40Tech is pleased to present you with a guest post from James Sudbury of Netzen Solutions Ltd. James takes a look at how to get up and running with Telnet on Windows 7.

Telnet is an old outdated protocol that is used for remote command line administration on various devices such as Cisco routers. I would recommend the use of SSH over Telnet in any circumstance; however I still find the Telnet command useful for testing mail servers and for checking open TCP ports. The ability to use Telnet might not be obvious on Windows 7, but it can be done.

Follow these instructions to enable Telnet on Windows 7:

  1. Click the Start Button
  2. Click “Control Panel”
  3. Click “Programs and Features”
  4. On the left you should see “Turn Windows features on or off”, Click it.
  5. Tick the box for “Telnet Client” and click ok

You should now be able to access telnet via the Windows 7 Command Prompt.

This article is written by James Sudbury, the Managing Director of Netzen Solutions Ltd, an IT Support company in Bristol , U.K., with 10+ years of experience in the IT sector working with Windows, Linux & Mac operating systems.