Telnet.exe is a very old command line client tool designed as a client for the TELNET network protocol (circa 1969) . Use of the network protocol itself has been largely superseded, but the telnet.exe client tool in Windows is still used by many of us for testing basic network functions – sending a request to a specified port and looking at the response.
For example, from a command line,
To test if your SMTP outgoing email server is responding try,
telnet <servername> 25
It should respond with something like,
220 s1.l1.isp.net ESMTP Sendmail 8.12.11/8.12.11; Sun, 8 Jul 2007 00:38:41 +0100 (BST)
Or to see if SQL Server is listening try,
telnet <servername> 1433
I use this many times a day – from lots of different PCs & Servers. And unfortunately it’s not installed by default in Vista which is a bit of a pain.
To turn it on is simple :-
1. Open Control Panel -> Programs
2. Select “Turn Windows feature on or off”
3. Tick “Telnet Client” and press OK.
4. Wait.
5. And wait.
6. And wait.
7. And wait.
8. And wait.
9. Why does it take so long!???!?!? The program is only 200k!
10. And wait.
11. Finally it is installed ….
according to a techie 
THANKS Iain! I used XP for a long time until I switched to Ubuntu; I bought a Vista laptop about 6 weeks ago and was going to install and do a dual-boot with Ubuntu, but as a tech instructor I figured I should know a few things about Vista, so I’ve been forcing myself to use it. I had noticed this little function was missing (probably one of the few though). You’ve got a point about testing basic network functions, but I’m a bit old-school and still like to access certain applications with it – like the New York Public Library – they still run telnet access to their catalog.
Cheers man, had to jump into vista on my laptop (I use linux 99.9%of the time) amazed that this is not on by default, it is a very usefull and tiny program Vista is using up 15GB on my hdd and I have not even installed anything on it other than one set of updates. It took a very long time to install?
…erm, it did not install, an error occoured, this blows what a piece of ****. Gonna boot back into an operating system that actually operates.
A good substitute for Windows telnet client is AbsoluteTelnet from Celestial Software. Not only does it support telnet as the MS client does, but it also supports SSH, which is a better security choice. It has a tabbed interface, advanced security, and is translated into seven languages!
Thanks, m8! You were right about steps 5-10… that’s ridiculous.
THANKS ALOTT
Vista search was ok for the past 5 yrs, now it started misbehaving , a forum suggested restarting telnet, but in services, there was no telnet .. another search brought me here. now i’am in the waiting phase 15 mins have already gone by, hope it brings my vista search back to scratch .. ??
thanks
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