Download file from DropBox via telnet on Windows XP?

On any Windows PC since Windows 2000, with telnet pre-installed...

 1. Open a CMD prompt.
 2. telnet -f GotHttpDataWithTelnet.txt
 3. open base.google.com 80
 4. GET /base/products.txt HTTP/1.0
 5. {press {enter}}
 6. {press {enter} again}
 7. {Press any key to continue...}
 8. {press {Q} then {enter} to quit Telnet}

If you examine the contents of the file GotHttpDataWithTelnet.txt you should find it contains the downloaded text data from the file http://base.google.com/base/products.txt

Thus you can see that there is a way to use telnet to download http text data from a dropbox file.

Whilst logging, telnet tacks 12 lines of junk onto the front of the log file, so you might need to strip this off manually using notepad, then rename the file to whatever you like (e.g. bootstrap.cmd).

You would need to customize lines 3 and 4.

Here is another example where I hypothetically use telnet to download data from dropbox:

 1. Open a CMD prompt.
 2. telnet -f GotHttpDataWithTelnet.txt
 3. open dl.dropbox.com 80
 4. GET /u/12345678/textfile.txt HTTP/1.0
 5. {press {enter}}
 6. {press {enter} again}
 7. {Press any key to continue...}
 8. {press {Q} then {enter} to quit Telnet}

However, for this example to work, you would need to replace the dropbox member number of 12345678 with your real dropbox member number, and textfile.txt with the actual name of the textfile you stored in the public folder in your dropbox account.

This is working for me, I thought it might be nice to share this knowledge.

Ozi Droid

Posted 2012-09-02T11:39:08.560

Reputation: 31

Would be interesting if it worked. But it doesnt. – Keltari – 2012-09-04T05:06:14.350

telnet -f dl.dropbox.com 80, then it boots me out. – Keltari – 2012-09-04T06:11:41.733

The telnet -f TelNetLogFileName.txt needs to be issued at the cmd prompt. (See telnet /?) for help. The commands 3-8 are issued inside telnet at the telnet prompt. open dl.dropbox.com 80 is a telnet command, not a cmd command. It is different to one's usual method of calling telnet, where one follows telnet with the url. – Ozi Droid – 2012-09-04T09:19:02.940

You can actually cut and paste my commands straight from the second example; you only have to customize the dropbox member number. – Ozi Droid – 2012-09-04T09:33:28.970

Maybe it is neater if you combine lines 1. and 2. like this: telnet -f TelnetLog.txt dl.dropbox.com 80 – Ozi Droid – 2012-09-04T09:47:46.250

im doing exactly what you are typing. after "opening" dl.dropbox.80 it drops the connection. it does put a partial http stream into the text file tho... in your answer you said it was "hypothetical." did you actually do this with dropbox? – Keltari – 2012-09-04T16:09:42.690

yes, the base.google.com example works verbatim, and you can use a normal web browser to compare your results. I also use this regularly to download a file from my dropbox, but am not giving out my dropbox member number. – Ozi Droid – 2012-09-05T10:50:42.067

there's no need to be snide, a simple comment on my answer would've been sufficient. Also, it's encouraged to share your answer. – Sathyajith Bhat – 2012-09-08T02:52:37.353

Much appreciated. :) – Ozi Droid – 2012-09-08T07:42:36.967

Download file from DropBox via telnet on Windows XP?

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