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?

Answer

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.