Testing POP3 via Telnet
Test the POP3 email protocol over a simple Telnet connection.
1 min read
To check the availability and basic function of a POP3 email service, Telnet or PuTTY is usually enough.
Note: when using PuTTY, entering the username shows “ERR Protocol error. 17” if the server is a Microsoft Exchange Server that expects a POP3-SSL session.
telnet mail.server.com 110
user <Username>
+OK
pass <Password>
+OK
list # List messages in the mailbox
+OK 2 1495 # 2 new messages, 1495 bytes
1 495 # Message ID 1, 495 bytes
2 1000 # Message ID 2, 1000 bytes
retr 1 # Retrieve message with ID 1
+OK
### Email incl. headers, text and attachments is printed ###
dele 1 # Delete message with ID 1
+OK
quit
+OK