Recovering from a Lost Password

Recovery from a lost password requires direct access to the serial port and a system reset.

Note: You can perform this procedure only from the CLI.

Follow the steps given below to recover from a lost password.

  1. Start a CLI session over the serial interface to the device.
  2. Reboot the device. 
    device# reboot
  3. At the initial boot prompt at system startup, enter b to enter the boot monitor mode. 
    device> b
  4. Enter the no password command at the prompt. (You cannot abbreviate this command.) This command will cause the device to bypass the system password check. 
    device-Boot> no password
  5. Enter the boot_primary command at the prompt. 
    device-Boot> boot_primary
  6. After the console prompt reappears, assign a new password.
Parent topic: Managing User Accounts