How to Enable Telnet on Windows 10?
In Windows systems, Telnet is disabled by default. To check if Telnet is already activated, open your command line, and run telnet:
If the command prompt does not recognize the command, there are two possible ways to enable the Telnet client in Windows.
Option 1: Enable Telnet using GUI
To activate the Telnet command using the GUI:
1. Open the Programs and Features options in Control Panel:
2. Click the Turn Windows features on or off setting:
3. Locate the Telnet Client option on the list, select it and click OK to install the feature:
4. When Windows completes the requested change, click Close.
5. Open the command prompt and run telnet to open the Microsoft Telnet Client:
6. Run quit to exit the Telnet client.
Option 2: Enable Telnet Using Command Prompt
To activate the Telnet client from the command prompt:
1. In the command prompt, run:pkgmgr /iu:"TelnetClient"
2. Restart the command prompt and run telnet to open the Microsoft Telnet Client.
3. Run quit to exit the client:
How to Use Telnet in Windows to Test Open Ports
The Telnet syntax for testing open ports is:telnet <address> <port number>
The command accepts both symbolic and numeric addresses. For example:telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl 23
Or alternatively:telnet 127.0.0.1 80
After running the command, one of the following three options happen:
1. The command throws an error, indicating the port is not available for connection:
2. The command goes to a blank screen, indicating the port is available.
3. Running the command on an open port 23 displays the screen of the telnet host, confirming an established Telnet connection:
