Password Recovery Procedure For Catalyst 4500
Password Recovery Procedure For Catalyst 4500
Password Recovery Procedure For Catalyst 4500
10GE Module and Catalyst 4900 Switches that Run Cisco IOS Software
Introduction
This document describes how to recover a lost or unknown password on a Catalyst 4500/4000
switch with a Supervisor Engine II-Plus (WS-X4013+), Supervisor Engine II-Plus-TS (WS-
X4013+TS), Supervisor Engine II-Plus-10GE (WS-X4013+10GE), Supervisor Engine III (WS-
X4014), Supervisor Engine IV (WS-X4515), Supervisor Engine V (WS-X4516), Supervisor
Engine V-10GE (WS-X4516-10GE) module, Cisco Catalyst 4948, Cisco Catalyst 4948 10GE,
and Cisco Catalyst 4900M switches.
Note: In Catalyst 4500/4000 Series Switches, Supervisor Engines II+, II+10GE, II+TS, III, IV,
V, and V-10GE support only Cisco IOS® Software and Supervisor Engines I and II support only
the Catalyst OS Software. In order to recover the password on the Supervisor Engines I or II,
refer to Password Recovery Procedure for the Catalyst 1200, 1400, 2901, 2902, 2926T/F,
2926GS/L, 2948G, 2980G, 4000, 5000, 5500, 6000, 6500 Running CatOS.
Prerequisites
Requirements
Conventions
Refer to Cisco Technical Tips Conventions for more information on document conventions.
Step-by-Step Procedure
Complete these steps to recover your password:
Note: Make sure that you have physical access to the switch and that you use console access to
the Supervisor Engine module while you perform these steps. For details on the switch console
connection, refer to Connecting a Modem to the Console Port on Catalyst Switches.
Tip: Configuration of the switch is not lost if the procedure is followed as mentioned. As a best
practice, Cisco recommends that you have a backup copy of the configuration of all Cisco
devices at the TFTP server or a Network Management server.
In order to power cycle, turn the device off, then back on.
Press Ctrl-C within 5 seconds to prevent autoboot. This action puts you in ROM monitor
(ROMmon) prompt mode.
**********************************************************
* *
* Welcome to ROM Monitor for WS-X4014 System. *
* Copyright (c) 1999-2000, 2001 by Cisco Systems, Inc. *
* All rights reserved. *
* *
**********************************************************
Make the selections that appear here in boldface for password recovery:
Configuration Summary :
=> load ROM after netboot fails
=> console baud: 9600
=> autoboot from: commands specified in 'BOOT' environment
variable
Configuration Summary :
=> load ROM after netboot fails
=> ignore system config info
=> console baud: 9600
=> autoboot from: commands specified in 'BOOT' environment
variable
Note: You can also use the confreg 0x2142 command at the ROMmon prompt in order
to set the configuration register value to bypass the startup configuration stored in
NVRAM.
Due to the changes that you made in step 2, the module reboots but ignores the saved
configuration.
Resetting .......
rommon 3 >
**********************************************************
* *
* Welcome to ROM Monitor for WS-X4014 System. *
* Copyright (c) 1999-2000, 2001 by Cisco Systems, Inc. *
* All rights reserved. *
* *
**********************************************************
This value makes the module boot from Flash without a load of the saved configuration.
Issue the enable command at the Switch prompt to go to enable mode. Then, issue the
show version command to check the configuration register value.
Switch> enable
Switch#show version
Cisco Internetwork Operating System Software
IOS (TM) Catalyst 4000 L3 Switch Software (cat4000-IS-M),
Version 12.1(8a)EW, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
TAC Support: http://www.cisco.com/tac
Copyright (c) 1986-2002 by cisco Systems, Inc.
Compiled Thu 24-Jan-02 17:34 by ccai
Image text-base: 0x00000000, data-base: 0x00AA2B8C
ROM: 12.1(10r)EY(1.21)
Switch uptime is 5 minutes
System returned to ROM by reload
Running default software
Switch#
Do not issue the configure terminal command, which shows the default configuration on
the module.
Switch#configure memory
6. Issue the show ip interface brief command to make sure that the interfaces that were in
use earlier show an "up up" status.
If any of the interfaces that were in use before the password recovery show "down", issue
the no shutdown command on that interface to bring the interface up.
7. Issue the write terminal command or the show running-config command to display the
saved configuration on the module.
8. c-4006-SUPIII#show running-config
9. Building configuration...
10.
11. Current configuration : 3014 bytes
12. !
13. version 12.1
14. no service pad
15. service timestamps debug uptime
16. service timestamps log uptime
17. no service password-encryption
18. service compress-config
19. !
20. hostname c-4006-SUPIII
21. !
22. boot system flash bootflash:
23. !
24. vtp mode transparent
25.
26. !--- Output suppressed.
27.
28. line con 0
29. stopbits 1
30. line vty 0 4
31. login
32. !
33. end
34.
c-4006-SUPIII#
Complete these steps at the config prompt to change and verify the configuration
register value.
c-4006-SUPIII(config)#config-register 0x2102
c-4006-SUPIII(config)# ^Z
c-4006-SUPIII#
00:19:01: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console
c-4006-SUPIII#write memory
Building configuration...
Compressed configuration from 3061 bytes to 1365 bytes[OK]
c-4006-SUPIII#show version
ROM: 12.1(10r)EY(1.21)
c-4006-SUPIII uptime is 20 minutes
System returned to ROM by reload
Running default software
c-4006-SUPIII#
c-4006-SUPIII> enable
Password:
Password:
Password:
% Bad secrets
**********************************************************
* *
* Welcome to ROM Monitor for WS-X4014 System. *
* Copyright (c) 1999-2000, 2001 by Cisco Systems, Inc. *
* All rights reserved. *
* *
**********************************************************
Configuration Summary :
=> load ROM after netboot fails
=> console baud: 9600
=> autoboot from: commands specified in 'BOOT' environment variable
Configuration Summary :
=> load ROM after netboot fails
=> ignore system config info
=> console baud: 9600
=> autoboot from: commands specified in 'BOOT' environment variable
Resetting .......
rommon 3 >
**********************************************************
* *
* Welcome to ROM Monitor for WS-X4014 System. *
* Copyright (c) 1999-2000, 2001 by Cisco Systems, Inc. *
* All rights reserved. *
* *
**********************************************************
Module 1 Passed
Exiting to ios...
######################################################### [OK]
ROM: 12.1(10r)EY(1.21)
Switch uptime is 5 minutes
System returned to ROM by reload
Running default software
Switch#
Switch#configure memory
!
interface Vlan1
ip address 172.16.84.140 255.255.255.0
ip pim dense-mode
!
interface Vlan2
no ip address
shutdown
!
interface Vlan20
no ip address
shutdown
!
!--- Output suppressed.
!
line con 0
stopbits 1
line vty 0 4
login
!
end
c-4006-SUPIII#configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
c-4006-SUPIII(config)#no enable secret
!--- This step is necessary if the switch had !--- an enable secret password.
ROM: 12.1(10r)EY(1.21)
c-4006-SUPIII uptime is 20 minutes
System returned to ROM by reload
Running default software
c-4006-SUPIII#