Can't find Telnet in Vista? : RichMercer.com

Can't find Telnet in Vista? Wednesday, November 14 2007

I figured someone else might come across this problem, so hopefully this information will help. I was trying to diagnose a problem with my Dad's email account, and in doing so, wanted to try to Telnet to the mail server to get more information about the problem. It sounded like a straightforward thing to do, but it seems Vista doesn't recognize the 'telnet' command. By default, Vista doesn't come with Telnet installed, so here's how to get it.

Go to 'Start->Computer' and then click 'Uninstall or change a program' that should be on the button bar at the top. Then click 'Turn Windows features on or off' and after you click 'Continue' on the security prompt, you should see a list of components. Scroll down to 'Telnet Client' and check it. When you click 'Ok' it will install it for you and you should be all set to Telnet to your hearts content.

115 comment(s) so far

Dan P wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks!

Marc wrote on January 23, 2008

Simple! Thanks for saving me from head-butting my monitor.

Ash wrote on January 23, 2008

Sweet.

Striker6 wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks Rich, just another way Microsoft makes decisions that usually end up pissing me off.

MasterModz wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks man. Saved me alot of time and the cost of a shotgun to kill Bill Gates

Happy telnet user wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks a lot

VistaIsAPain wrote on January 23, 2008

Indeed, I was starting to loose it... Amazing how frustrating Vista has been so far!

dhaval patel wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks a lot buddy...i was stuck & confused by not having telnet by default on vista..now life is easy

Linda wrote on January 23, 2008

Thank you so much for posting this information!!!

bharath wrote on January 23, 2008

thanks mate. good one!

mike wrote on January 23, 2008

thank you

Gary wrote on January 23, 2008

I went in and checked the Telnet Client option, but where is it supposed to show up? I looked under Accessories, but could not find it. I checked in the Control Panel and still nothing!

Help!

Ben wrote on January 23, 2008

Cheers for that

Zack wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks much sir...Stupid Vista Business edition.

ravell wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks! Does not have telnet!!! ppftt

mike wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks, thats what happen to new OS

Tamer wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks a lot

Tzoris wrote on January 23, 2008

Thank you SOOOOOOOOO much!

Swede :-) wrote on January 23, 2008

Thank you very much!!!

Shaik wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks !! It was really a great help for me

SoMeOnE wrote on January 23, 2008

indeed tyvm for that info i can now hack my bthomehub on vista \o/

Bob wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks - how can Microsoft stay in business when they are just so user unfriendly - So miracles do happen!

Apo77o wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks this was really helpful

Brian Pence wrote on January 23, 2008

One great replacement for MS telnet is AbsoluteTelnet from Celestial Software.

It supports telnet, ssh, serial, dialup, etc...

www.celestialsoftware.net/telnet

Brian

Ravali wrote on January 23, 2008

hey Thank You very much

Delighted :-)

Tim wrote on January 23, 2008

My god, hurrah! Thanks :D

KJ wrote on January 23, 2008

thnxxxx bud

dandymcgee wrote on January 23, 2008

Wow thanks... that helped me out a lot. I can't believe they didn't install the necessary tools by default... simply ridiculous.

Captain Crunch wrote on January 23, 2008

Your the F'ing man bro

Dave wrote on January 23, 2008

thanks bra

Rohan wrote on January 23, 2008

Champion.

Wayne wrote on January 23, 2008

Much obliged old bean.

I wish I'd stuck with XP

LoaVeve wrote on January 23, 2008

THX!! When I saw "telnet is not recognized as an

operable program or batch file." the back of my head blew off!! haha!

PS wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks a gazillion. Microsoft is evil.

marco wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks! ... :-D

Obaid Ibrhaim wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks buddy!! those who shows the path to others always get a path from the devine one.

Nadav wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks, helped me very much

An Orange wrote on January 23, 2008

Cheers bud.....Stupid Micro people

Anjali wrote on January 23, 2008

Hey, Thanks for the info!!

sean wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks!

Any other time you have helpful hints, please post again :)

mYsTiKaL wrote on January 23, 2008

THANKS SO MUCH DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Johnnyb0y wrote on January 23, 2008

Got frustrated with Vista (as per the norm grrrrrr) and hit Google and found your words of wisdom.

A pearl of a website.

Cheers mate.

Sangeeta wrote on January 23, 2008

You're amazing!!! Thanks a million!!!!!

Phiiiil wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks mate!! Vista is SOOO annoying... I'm going back to XP ... or Linux :)

Ahmed wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks a lot man it' working now.

said wrote on January 23, 2008

said

Hamez wrote on January 23, 2008

Well played.

Thanks.

Jeffrey wrote on January 23, 2008

Your tips are well served. I don't know why Microsoft has to forced users to user Vista yet at the same time pissed them off.

I believe your pointer will save many users from going insane.

Thank You very, very much.

J wrote on January 23, 2008

YEA

Maz wrote on January 23, 2008

Man, that was quickest resolution ever, thanks mate

Sal wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks.

Doug B wrote on January 23, 2008

Excellent, fast, and easy.

Too bad this wasn't the "Feeling lucky" link on google for "vista telnet". Maybe this comment will help.

Butch wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks man, Searched for Vista Telnet and found this on the first page, and Now I am back in business!

tristan wrote on January 23, 2008

thanks so much! its much more safe to be there virtually than get caught deleting *** on someone elses account while at my school!

rob wrote on January 23, 2008

...Now if they would only get smart and include an ssh client too, then we might not have to b#itch and moan so much.

azaturkmen wrote on January 23, 2008

thanks dudy :)

Chris wrote on January 23, 2008

@ rob:

One word: PuTTY.

pastilan wrote on January 23, 2008

thanks... i thought i was the only one who do not know how to telnet in vista ...

Distance wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks

Ocean wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks. And good job man, you're on top in Google.

sweemoo wrote on January 23, 2008

ty very much man was wondering where telnet was since i got my new comp

Bill wrote on January 23, 2008

Thank you, very helpful!

abh wrote on January 23, 2008

thanks a lot buddy.

nuwan wrote on January 23, 2008

thanks !!!!!!!!

Trina wrote on January 23, 2008

Thank you so much!

Rajas wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks a lot...It worked.

Rajas wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks a lot..It was really helpful!

hulk wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks was a great help in trying to solve email problem

Schnail wrote on January 23, 2008

Gracias hombre

David M wrote on January 23, 2008

yep Thanks

101% RIGHT \

\YEAH\vISTA

smitty wrote on January 23, 2008

just another reason why vista is a POS.

sokmunki wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks a ton man!

David wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks A Lot save me a lot of time finding this

DOD wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks a lot. Much appreciated.

Handy wrote on January 23, 2008

Nice. Thanks

David wrote on January 23, 2008

You can also go into Windows xp pro and grab hyper terminal and all of its dlls. Sorry, i forget what they are. And place them back in vista in the same spots and it works as well.

Patrick wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks for posting this.

Mark wrote on January 23, 2008

Thank you! Saved me from headbutting my monitor.

Doru wrote on January 23, 2008

Ure a life saver,thank you

nathan wrote on January 23, 2008

thank you!

matt wrote on January 23, 2008

why did i have to do this.. thanks.

Chris C. wrote on January 23, 2008

Thank you! I was about to curse Microsoft for not including Telnet with Vista. You just saved me a world of frustration.

Bill K wrote on January 23, 2008

Sorry, Telnet was not listed as program to be installed.. What now?

Brian T wrote on January 23, 2008

Oh come one people! If something isn't installed by default, you complain because it isnt availible. If it was installed you'd complain that it was taking up space.

If there is something that was part of the previous OS, then most likely you will have the ability to install it. It took all of 45 seconds of my time to install it. Geeze

Brandon wrote on January 23, 2008

Telnet is 211k I wouldn't complain about it using that space.

I think it's very valid for people to complain. Microsoft should know that Telnet is a program used by quite a few people and not including it by default was going to cause a lot of people frustration. And it actually cost me a lot more than 45 seconds. It took me about 5 minutes, I had to google “telnet vista”, then I had to read through the article, then I had to install, then I read through some of the comments :)

Sarah wrote on January 23, 2008

Thank you so much!

Naylagabar wrote on January 23, 2008

Thank you very very very much!

Godoot wrote on January 23, 2008

Thank you very much.

mehatzri wrote on January 23, 2008

thank u so much. !

Snark wrote on January 23, 2008

Thank you for that advice. I didn't believe my eyes when tried to telnet a host from Vista and got a message that telnet is not there....

You've saved me a lot of time for trying to find the cause :)

Dylan T. wrote on January 23, 2008

omfg! TYSM!!! i don't see wwhy telnet isn't enabled by default...

Rob B wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks also... Can't believe I didn't notice until 6 months after you posted... BUT... Your info is now filed away for future reference!

AJSmith wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks for the info! It's amazing such a basic feature is not the default in Vista.

Captain Sky wrote on January 23, 2008

This was a great eye opening discovery of vista and how things are now being deployed. I used the telnet feature under IE but this truely better having the client available when needed. I have not completed install the client since I'm also installing games and some other things that I like from other version of Windows. Good looking out!

Monica wrote on January 23, 2008

Appreciate you sharing this information !! By any chance you know how can I get HyperTerminal to work with Windows Vista as well ?

Janardan wrote on January 23, 2008

Great!

eppy wrote on January 23, 2008

BIG thank you to you.

BIG f**kyou to M$.

Nick wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks man, i jus installed vista for games and couldnt find telnet....after almost throwing my comp i saw this site......thank u Rich

Bob Stiles wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks a lot. Very to the point. Exactly what I needed.

boak wrote on January 23, 2008

genius! wish all answers were this easily found. heh

lyon wrote on January 23, 2008

Good advice. And this blog is easy to be found. Thx.

Robo Ryan wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks for the quick info and fix!

David wrote on January 23, 2008

Thank you very much!

starting to like vista... just a lil bit wrote on January 23, 2008

this can be done through control panel as well.

start/control panel/programs/torn windows features on or off/telnet client

Philip wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks a lot!

Robert wrote on January 23, 2008

Thanks for the information about the telnet client. I now get most of my technology information from personal blogs now a days, because you guys rock.