This guide walks you through installing a telnet client on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04 with just a few terminal commands. It explains why telnet can still be handy for troubleshooting old devices and shows how to verify that the binary is correctly installed by checking its path and version output. The instructions caution against using telnet for sensitive data, recommend keeping firewalls tight in lab environments, and suggest switching to SSH whenever possible. Finally, it tells you how to clean up by removing the package if you no longer need it and offers help if any issues arise.

How to Install Telnet on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04

If you’re still juggling old‑school services or need a quick test against an appliance that only speaks telnet, this guide will get the client up and running on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04 in a few clicks.

Why You Might Need Telnet

Telnet is basically “plain‑text HTTP.” It’s useful for troubleshooting legacy devices, checking port availability, or connecting to a remote console that hasn’t been upgraded. I’ve seen it pop up on network switches and industrial controllers where the only remote protocol available is telnet.

Installing via apt

1. Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T).

2. Refresh your package lists – this guarantees you’re pulling the latest version of Telnet from Ubuntu’s repositories:

   sudo apt update

3. Install the telnet client. On recent Ubuntu releases, the telnet package contains a lightweight CLI that does exactly what you need. If you prefer the older inetutils-telnet, swap out the name.

   sudo apt install -y telnet

The -y flag skips the confirmation prompt; feel free to omit it if you want to double‑check before installing.

Verifying the Installation

After installation, confirm that the binary exists and is executable:

which telnet
# /usr/bin/telnet

telnet -v

If you see a version string or usage help, the client is ready to go. A quick sanity check against your own machine:

telnet localhost 23

You should get a connection attempt that immediately times out (unless you have something listening on port 23). The command itself proves telnet can reach a host.

Using Telnet Safely

1. Never use it for sensitive data – everything travels in clear text, so passwords and payloads are exposed to anyone sniffing the network.

2. If you only need it for local debugging or for an isolated lab environment, keep your firewall tight.

3. When possible, replace telnet with SSH (ssh user@host) or a vendor‑specific secure console.

Cleaning Up (If You’re Done)

If you installed telnet just to poke around and don’t need it anymore, uninstall it the same way you did:

sudo apt remove -y telnet

That’s all there is to it. No hidden dependencies, no extra configuration files to edit. Just a couple of commands and your Ubuntu box can talk over plain‑text telnet whenever you need.

Hope that helps—drop me a line if you run into any hiccups!