How to Install and Enable Telnet in Windows 10, 8.1 and Windows 7

Telnet is one of the famous network protocol widely used to manage network devices and other equipment that support this protocol. If you are a system or network administrator, I’m sure that you know the importance of having telnet client utility on your Windows 7, 8.1 or latest Windows 10 desktop and laptop. For some strange security reasons, latest Windows versions do not come with an installed telnet client. By default, you can’t use Windows 10 or 8.1 to connect other network devices without installing telnet clients utilities.  Here is a simple guide shows you how to install and enable telnet on Windows 10 and earlier Windows 7/8.1.

If you search telnet in apps or type ’telnet’ in command prompt, it will return an error message saying ’not recognized as an internal or external command’. Installing the telnet client from the control panel in Windows 10 and 8.1/7 will solve this issue easily.

Installation medium such as CD/DVD, ISO or any other downloads are not required for this purpose, we can simply enable it from the control panel.

To Enable Telnet on Windows 10/8.1 & 7 – Follow these Steps.

1) Go to  Control Panel.

On Windows 10, you can use the start button to access the control panel. Right-click on the button and select Control Panel as shown below.

On Windows 8.1 and 8, you can use the charm bar (by moving the cursor to top right corner or press the Windows key + I ) from the desktop then select Control Panel. It is easy to access Control Panel from Windows 7.

2) Even though the following screenshots are taken on Windows 8.1, it’s very similar on Windows 10 computer.

In ‘Category’ control panel view, click ‘Programs’.

3) Click ‘Turn Windows features on or off’ in next screen as shown below.

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5) The earlier step will bring a dialog box where you can select extra features to install. Select ‘Telnet Client’  by ticking the box. A small installation will run once you have pressed OK.

That’s it, you do not need to restart the PC after the installation. You have successfully installed telnet client on Windows 10 and 8.1.

Now if you try telnet command in command prompt or search in Apps, you will get the correct telnet prompt as below.

Alternates for Windows Telnet on Windows 10/8.1

The built-in telnet client in Windows Operating Systems is pretty basic. You can’t manage or use it with more devices easily. If you are a professional network administrator, Windows telnet client utility will not be suitable for you. You must have an alternate and professional telnet client in this case.

PuTYY is a great telnet client which is freely available and fully compatible with Windows 10 and 8.1 and Windows 7.

Here we have listed even PuTTY alternatives that can be used to manage and customize telnet sessions from your computer. I hope this guide would be useful to install telnet client on Windows 10 and older versions. This is the way to install Telnet client on Windows server Operating Systems such as Windows 2012 R2 and Windows 2016 server versions.