Password Recovery

Question 1

What is the first step in the password recovery process for a Cisco router or switch?

Answer 1

The first step is to connect to the device using a console cable and a terminal emulator program (e.g., Tera Term or PuTTY).

Question 2

What mode must a Cisco device be in to perform password recovery?

Answer 2

The device must be in ROMMON (ROM Monitor) mode.

Question 3

What command is used to reset the configuration register to bypass the startup configuration on a Cisco router?

Answer 3

The command is confreg 0x2142.

Question 4

What does setting the configuration register to 0x2142 do?

Answer 4

It tells the router to ignore the startup configuration (which contains the passwords) during the next boot.

Question 5

After setting the configuration register to 0x2142, what is the next step?

Answer 5

Reboot the router using the reset command or power cycle the device.

Question 6

How do you access the startup configuration file to reset the password?

Answer 6

Use the command copy startup-config running-config

Question 7

How do you change the password once the running configuration has been copied to the startup configuration?

Answer 7

Enter global configuration mode using configure terminal and then set the new password using the appropriate command, such as

enable secret [newpassword]

Question 8

What should you do after changing the password and before saving the configuration?

Answer 8

Reset the configuration register to its original value using the command config-register 0x2102, then copy the running configuration to the startup configuration again and reload the device