How to Enable Telnet Client in Windows 10

Telnet client allows you to connect to remote hosts over a TCP/IP connection via Telnet protocol. And you need to have the telnet client installed on your computer to use telnet. Besides third-party clients, you can also use Windows’ native Telnet client. But telnet client in Windows 10 is disabled by default. So, you will have to enable telnet client in your Windows 10 PC before you can use it.

Third-party telnet clients provide several additional features, but if you need only basic functionality, Windows native Telnet Client is the best choice for you. However, as mentioned earlier, it is disabled by default. And if you try to use the telnet command before enabling the telnet client, you get the “telnet is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file” error. So, for using the telnet client in Windows 10, you need to enable it first in Windows Features.

SEE ALSO: How to Remotely Access your Files via TeamViewer?

Enable Telnet Client in Windows 10 from Windows Features

Let’s start the process of enabling the telnet client in Windows 10. We will be using the Windows Features utility via Control Panel to enable telnet. Just follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Windows Features from Control Panel

Open the Control panel from the Start menu.

Open Control Panel In Windows 10
Open Control Panel in Windows 10

Search for “windows features” in the Control Panel and click on “Turn Windows features on or off” from search results.

Search For Windows Features In Control Panel And Click On Turn Windows Features On Or Off
Click on “Turn Windows features on or off”

This will open the Windows Features window where you can turn on or off Windows features.


Step 2: Enable Telnet Client from Windows Features

In the Windows Features window, scroll down and check the box next to Telnet Client, and then click on OK. This will enable the Telnet client on your Windows 10 PC.

Check The Box To Enable Telnet Client And Click Ok
Check the box next to “Telnet Client” and click OK

It will take some time for Windows to apply these changes. After successfully enabling the telnet client, click on Close.

Telnet Client Enabled In Windows 10 Successfully
Telnet Client Enabled in Windows 10 Successfully

Step 3: Test the Telnet Client in Windows 10

After you enable the telnet client, you should test it first. We can easily test the telnet client by running telnet commands in the Command prompt. To use telnet, type the command in the following format CMD window and press Enter.

telnet <hostname/IP address> <port>

You can avoid providing the port number to use the default port. You can use the following address for example: “towel.blinkenlights.nl

Use Telnet Command In Command Prompt
Run Telnet Command in Command Prompt

The above telnet server can be used for watching Star Wars in ASCII mode.

CMD Tricks to Play Ascii Version Of Star Wars In Command Prompt Window
Telnet successfully connected via Command Prompt

SEE ALSO: Check 10 Cool Command Prompt Tricks You should Know.


Enable and Use Telnet Client in Windows 10

The above tutorial explained how you can enable the telnet client in Windows 10. The process is quite easy. You can easily enable it in Windows Features and you are good to go. Besides, the native telnet client in Windows 10, Putty is also a good choice and is widely used for testing network connectivity.

You can also enable other services using the same process. In case you need to disable telnet in Windows 10, you can go to Windows Features again and disable it from there. Feel free to drop your queries and suggestions in the comment section below.

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