# telnet prompt issue

**URL:** <https://forums.suse.com/t/telnet-prompt-issue/24959>\
**Category:** SLES Configure-Administer\
**Created:** [January 6, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/telnet-prompt-issue/24959 "2014-01-06T22:11:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![thesunlover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@thesunlover](https://forums.suse.com/u/thesunlover)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/telnet-prompt-issue/24959/1 "2014-01-06T22:11:03Z")

</div>

Hi, I have a simple question about telnet. The current telnet login prompt is “hostname login:”. How can I remove the hostname from the prompt and make it only show “login:”? Thank you in advance!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jens-U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d78d45/32.png) [@Jens-U](https://forums.suse.com/u/Jens-U)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 1:36pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/telnet-prompt-issue/24959/2 "2014-01-07T13:36:11Z")

</div>

Hi thesunlover,

> [@thesunlover;18442](#):
>
> Hi, I have a simple question about telnet. The current telnet login prompt is “hostname login:”. How can I remove the hostname from the prompt and make it only show “login:”? Thank you in advance!

from man telnetd:

> [@](#):
>
> -H Instruct the login program to suppress printing the hostname before the prompt.

Regards,  
Jens

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mikewillis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@mikewillis](https://forums.suse.com/u/mikewillis)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/telnet-prompt-issue/24959/3 "2014-01-07T14:40:28Z")

</div>

First, read the comments in /etc/init.d/xinetd which explain why you shouldn’t use telnet. I hope you’re not using it to log in from anywhere other than your network. Then add this line to /etc/init.d/xinetd

```auto
	server_args	= -h -H
```

The restart xinetd

```auto
$ service xinetd restart[/CODE]

Before
[CODE]me@mine:~> telnet 172.16.54.133
Trying 172.16.54.133...
Connected to 172.16.54.133.
Escape character is '^]'.
Welcome to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP3 (x86_64) - Kernel 3.0.101-0.8-default (2).

localhost login: 
```

After:

[CODE]me@mine:~\> telnet 172.16.54.133  
Trying 172.16.54.133…  
Connected to 172.16.54.133.  
Escape character is ‘^]’.

login:  
[/CODE]

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@ab1](https://forums.suse.com/u/ab1)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/telnet-prompt-issue/24959/4 "2014-01-07T14:45:25Z")

</div>

And for those (like me) too lazy to type -H over and over:

## Code:

## echo “alias telnet=‘telnet -H’” \>\> ~/.alias

Hopefully this goes without saying, but telnet should never be used  
anymore. It’s been replaced by a dozen other, and secure, tools. telnet  
makes sniffing passwords as easy as it gets, and there are no workarounds  
there so if anything you do via telnet matters, please stop.

–  
Good luck.

If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface,  
show your appreciation and click on the star below…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jens-U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d78d45/32.png) [@Jens-U](https://forums.suse.com/u/Jens-U)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/telnet-prompt-issue/24959/5 "2014-01-07T15:04:06Z")

</div>

Hi ab,

it was about the server, not the client 😉

Regards,  
Jens