Sending or viewing emails using telnet – (mt) Media Temple

Applies to: All Service Types
- Difficulty: Easy
- Time Needed: 10
- Tools Required: Email account

Last modified: March 10, 2020

Introduction

When troubleshooting email issues, it may be useful to read or send emails from your server directly using an smtp command through the telnet application. This guide shows some basic steps to send an email from your server and how to check your email using telnet.

Before you start

STATEMENT OF SUPPORT:
Please keep in mind that troubleshooting the configuration/functionality of third-party applications is not covered by our statement of support. These resources were provided as a courtesy to assist you to the extent of our abilities. For more information on our statement of support, feel free to click here.

This article assumes that you know how to get to a command prompt on your computer. If you need help with this please see our article Using telnet.

Windows Users

You may need to install the Telnet Client to run telnet commands. To do so:

Click Start and select Control Panel.
Select Programs and Features.
Select Turn Windows features on or off.
Select the Telnet Client option.
Click OK.
A dialog box will appear to confirm installation.

How to send email using telnet

NOTE:
The following article will be using the domain, example.com, for reference. When following these instructions, be sure to replace this with your own domain.

Open your command prompt.
Now, connect with telnet using the following command:
```
telnet example.com 25
```
Type ehlo example.com. Some servers also accept helo in place of ehlo.
```
ehlo example.com
```
Type mail from: username@example.com:
```
mail from: username@example.com
```
Type rcpt to: friend@hotmail.com, friend2@yahoo.com (replace with your actual recipient name):
```
rcpt to: friend@hotmail.com, friend2@yahoo.com
```
To write the message - type data, followed by your subject and message. To end the message, put a period on a line by itself and press enter:
```
data
Subject: My Telnet Test Email

Hello,

This is an email sent by using the telnet command.

Your friend,
Me

.
```
Type quit to exit telnet.

How to check or read email with telnet

Open your command prompt.
At the command prompt, type in
```
telnet example.com 110
```
Type user and the email address (username@example.com) of the user for which you wish to view emails:
```
user username@example.com
```
Then type in pass followed by your password:
```
pass yourpasswordgoeshere
```
Type list to bring up a list of your emails:
```
list
```

You will see a list of items with labels like "1 897" and "2 5136." Here is an example:

list
+OK POP3 clients that break here, they violate STD53.
1 897
2 5136
3 1884
4 2973
5 2595
6 3063
7 3509
8 2283
9 1926
10 2763
11 1795
12 2780
13 2342
14 2342
15 2342
16 3833
17 2211
18 793
19 797
20 2599
.

If you wish to read an email message such as 2 5136, you can type the following:
```
retr 2 
```
If you want to delete a message such as 1 897, type dele 1:
```
dele 1
```
When you are done checking your email, type quit.

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