ARCHIVED: In Windows, how do I use the default telnet client?

This content has been archived, and is no longer maintained by Indiana University. Information here may no longer be accurate, and links may no longer be available or reliable.

UITS recommends, and in most cases requires, that Indiana University students, faculty, and staff use a client supporting the more secure SSH and SSH2 standards.

Note: SSH Secure Shell Client for Windows is no longer available for download from IUware or SSH Communications. For alternative SSH and SFTP clients, see SFTP clients recommended for use at IU

For less secure networks, Windows includes a basic telnet client that you can use to connect to remote hosts. Though it has fewer features than commercial clients such as Hummingbird, it is sufficient for most purposes. To use it:

From the Start menu, select Run....
In the window that appears, enter:
```
  telnet hostname
```
Replace hostname with the name of the computer to which you are connecting.

Note: In Windows 7 and Vista, the telnet client is not installed by default. To install Telnet for Windows 7 or Vista:

Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
From the Control Panel window, click Programs And Features.
Click Turn Windows features on or off. From the "Windows Features" list that appears, check Telnet Client.

Note: If this doesn't match what you see, refer to ARCHIVED: Get around in Windows.
Click OK.

Telnet may not show up among the Start menu items; if it doesn't, from the command prompt, enter telnet to start a telnet session.