New Cisco switch - onboarding with password issue

[Rassic]

Hi, 

I have a new Cisco switch that is straight out the box and wish to onboard it using Catalyst CatC PnP. The new Cisco switch is prompting for a new password twice. Is there a way to bypass the initial password request or can it be performed in the Day 0 template?

 Thanks in advance.

Rassic

[Enes Simnica · Accepted solution]

Hey there Cisco friend. On new Cisco switches, the initial password prompt u see is part of Cisco’s Secure by Default feature (introduced in IOS XE 17.x and later). It’s mandatory at first boot and cannot be bypassed,  even for Catalyst Center (CatC) Plug and Play onboarding.

U’ll need to set the password manually the first time via console. After that, u can fully automate the rest using a Day 0 template in CatC or a bootstrap config from USB/PnP file. But the first password entry is always required for security reasons.

Hope it helps and PEACE!

-Enes

[balaji.bandi]

Are you using DNAC(Catalyst center ) for device on-boarding ?

i do not think you can skip that option, rather you can setup a common password in template. later you can use that as fall back password if you have any TACACS or Radius setup.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/solutions/Enterprise/Plug-and-Play/solution/guidexml/b_pnp-solution-guide.html

Some workflow :

https://www.ciscolive.com/c/dam/r/ciscolive/emea/docs/2025/pdf/BRKOPS-2566.pdf

[Rassic]

Thank you for your responses, as per the advice it looks like manual intervention to set this password to proceed.