CISCO ROUTER PASSWORD RECOVERY
1. Attach a terminal or PC with terminal emulation to the console port of the router.
Use these terminal settings:
- 9600 baud rat
- No parity
- 8 data bits
- 1 stop bit
- No flow control
2. Power cycle the router.
3. Press Break on the terminal keyboard within 60 seconds of power up in order to put the router into ROMmon.
4. ALSO TRY CNTRL+ALT+FN+Pause or CNTRL+ALT+FN+F12 if you can’t find the break key
Platform | Operating System | Try This | |
Hyperterminal | IBM Compatible | Windows XP | Ctrl-Break |
Hyperterminal | IBM Compatible | Windows 2000 | Ctrl-Break |
Hyperterminal | IBM Compatible | Windows 98 | Ctrl-Break |
Hyperterminal (version 595160) | IBM Compatible | Windows 95 | Ctrl-F6-Break |
Kermit | Sun Workstation | UNIX | Ctrl-\l |
Ctrl-\b | |||
MicroPhone Pro | IBM Compatible | Windows | Ctrl-Break |
Minicom | IBM Compatible | Linux | Ctrl-a f |
ProComm Plus | IBM Compatible | DOS or Windows | Alt-b |
SecureCRT | IBM Compatible | Windows | Ctrl-Break |
Telix | IBM Compatible | DOS | Ctrl-End |
Telnet | N/A | N/A | Ctrl-], then type send brk |
Telnet to Cisco | IBM Compatible | N/A | Ctrl-] |
Teraterm | IBM Compatible | Windows | Alt-b |
Terminal | IBM Compatible | Windows | Break |
Ctrl-Break | |||
Tip | Sun Workstation | UNIX | Ctrl-], then Break or Ctrl-c |
~# | |||
VT 100 Emulation | Data General | N/A | F16 |
Windows NT | IBM Compatible | Windows | Break-F5 |
Shift-F5 | |||
Shift-6 Shift-4 Shift-b (^$B) | |||
Z-TERMINAL | Mac | Apple | Command-b |
N/A | Break-Out Box | N/A | Connect pin 2 (X-mit) to +V for half a second |
Cisco to aux port | N/A | Control-Shft-6, then b | |
IBM Compatible | N/A | Ctrl-Break |
5. Type confreg 0x2142 at the rommon 1> prompt in order to boot from Flash.
This step bypasses the startup configuration where the passwords are stored.
6. Type reset or i at the rommon 2> prompt.
7. The router reboots, but ignores the saved configuration.
8. Type no after each setup question, or press Ctrl-C in order to skip the initial setup procedure.
9. Type enable at the Router> prompt.
You are in enable mode and should see the Router# prompt.
10. IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE EXISTING CONFIG THE GO TO STEP 17 otherwise continue to step 10.
11. Type copy startup-config running-config in order to copy the nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM) into memory
12. Warning: Do not type copy running-config startup-config or write. These commands erase your startup configuration.
13. Type configure terminal.
The router(config)# prompt appears.
14. Type enable secret <password> in order to change the enable secret password. For example:
hostname(config)#enable secret cisco
15. Issue the no shutdown command on every interface that you use.
16. If you issue a show ip interface brief command, every interface that you want to use should display up up.
17. Type configure terminal.
router(config)# prompt appears.
Type config-register 0x2102
Example router(config)#config-register 0x2102
18. Issue the no shutdown command on every interface that you use.
19. If you issue a show ip interface brief command, every interface that you want to use should display up up.
20. Press Ctrl-z or end in order to leave the configuration mode.
21. The hostname# prompt appears. Type ; write memory or copy running-config startup-config in order to commit the changes.
