Session mode and command mode

There are two modes of operation in Telnet Client: Telnet command mode and Telnet session mode. Telnet command mode allows the Telnet terminal to open a connection to a remote host, close a connection to a remote host, display operating parameters, set terminal options, print the status, and quit the program.

For information about how to set Telnet options, see To set Telnet options. To learn how to send commands to the Telnet server, refer to To send commands to the Telnet server.

Once connected to a remote host, the Telnet client is in Telnet session mode. This mode is the most common. After logging on, users are given a command-prompt session. Users are then able to use character-based applications residing on remote computers as if they were logged on to the system directly.

If a user enters a command to run a Windows application on a remote Windows computer, the Windows application will run but will not display a window on the remote computer. The Windows application will automatically terminate when the user disconnects from the remote computer. If it is necessary to terminate the application before the user disconnects, the ps and kill commands can be used to identify and terminate the application, or the Administrator of the remote computer can use Task Manager to close the application.

Once connected to a host, you can return from session mode to command mode to change terminal settings. You can toggle between a Telnet session and the Telnet command mode by pressing the escape sequence (by default, CTRL+]). Information about switching modes is found in To switch to and from command mode.