what command do you use to change the name of a directory via telnet?

mv

tried it. it would let me change files names with mv but not directory names.

what OS are you using?

just use "mv <old dir> <new dir>"

are you owner of the directory, do you have root access?

that can be the reason as well.

I don't have any problem changing directory name with mv.

But I do it all the time with root. (Yea, I use su in my telnet all the time)

So, try to do that with root. Maybe your directory's permission is set for root only.