Telnet won't run from cmd prompt in windows 7

Edit:I am running windows 7, 64 bits.

I have Telnet Client installed, and if I go to c:\windows\system32 i do find the file "telnet.exe"; if I click it, telnet runs perfectly.

However, if I type telnet in cmd prompt, it gives me the "command not recognized" message.

I think it's because c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe is actually running files from windows\sysWOW64 (which also has a cmd.exe), and so I tried copying telnet.exe to this folder; When I type telnet in the cmd line (regardless of which cmd.exe i use) I no longer get an error message, and instead get... well, nothing. It just sits there, like when awaiting input, but if I type something (e.g., "quit") it once again does nothing and awaits input.

Finally, I tried, in windows\sysWOW64, deleting telnet.exe, creating a telnet.lnk shortcut to telnet.exe in system32, and creating a telnet.bat file in windows\sysWOW64, that runs telnet.lnk. Now, if I double click telnet.bat, telnet start perfectly (in a system32\cmd.exe window); if I type telnet in cmd prompt (again, doesn't matter which) it runs telnet.bat whith no problems at all (checked this testing other commands), but returns "Acess denied" when opening Telnet.lnk.

So,

-- telnet is installed and runs when double clicking

-- shortcuts to it work perfectly if double clicked

-- neither telnet nor shortcuts (nor files calling shortcuts) can be run from either cmd prompt.

And that is how far i've gone. So, yeah... Any ideas?

Solution 1:

It appears that on Win7 64 bit, telnet.exe is a 64 bit command. You can run it from 64 bit shell (or cmd prompt), but a 32 bit shell will attempt to load it from SysWOW64, and it won't be found there.

I suspect that you are running a 32 bit command prompt (for example, from SysWOW64). If you run 64 bit command prompt, telnet should work.

You can test this by going to Start Menu > Run, type cmd and then run telnet from this command prompt.

How are you starting your command prompt? If it's a link, take a look at the properties. If it's from another program, and that program is 32 bits, then that could be the issue.

Solution 2:

Realise this post is (very!) late but just had the same issues. Resolved it by also copying C:\windows\system32\en-us\telnet.exe.mui to the corresponding folder in syswow64. Hope this helps someone else out in future.