What does Factory reset do?

[bruce C]

Can anyone tell me exactly what the factory reset does on a RV325.

I have an issue with a router which is working but the Administration GUI reports several missing files (.htm type) and does not allow certain functions due to the missing files. These functions include firmware updates, backup and restore, time, etc.

I am trying to determine if those web pages get restored with a factory reset as flashing older firmware via tftp did not seem to solve any of the missing pages. Or did I need to use an older firmware to flash first, i just tried downgrading one release, which worked but did not fix the issues.

Not sure I want to do this if I am not pretty certain it will correct the issue.

[marce1000]

 - Hm, besides https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/smb/routers/cisco-rv-series-small-business-routers/smb4347-reset-to-factory-default-settings-on-rv320-and-rv325-vpn-rou.pdf , there is not much more to tell then to 'expect' that the device will behave as coming from factory , not sure it will help for you if other severe internal corruption is present  . 

  M.

[Flavio Miranda]

Hi

 When you buy a device it comes with some or zero configuration and then you put configuration there. Factory reset is supposed to wipe out the config you put and nothing more.

 Factory reset was not supposed to fix any issue on the device if not related to confuguration change.

[bruce C]

Thanks again Marce, and Flavio.

Flavio, what I am trying to determine if a reset would reinstall the original web gui pages which I have several of which appear to be missing. For example, if I try to do a factory reset (I know the other method) from the GUI, I get a 404 error, :The requested server-side includes filename, sys_factory_htm seems not to exist. Same issue with several other sections of the GUI, the time function is missing time.htm, the backup restore page can not find sys.setting.htm and the firmware seems to exist but the upgrade just hangs if attempting to use it after hitting the update button.

I am assuming either internal corruption to the files or it was attacked by one of the vulnerabilities and some of the files erased, not sure which.

My fear is if I do a factory reset, and it does not solve my issue by restoring the missing pages,  so I can reload the updated firmware and hopefully configuration (but could be done from scratch), it has just become worthless. At the moment it at least seems to be working, i just can not do much maintenance.

[Flavio Miranda]

Well, I will stick with what I said before. Factory reset is meant to wipe any configuration out. I dont believe Factory reset will restore missing files. Of course, we never know everything about any device and I can be surely wrong about my statement.

But, I would expect file to be restore in a new IOS install or maybe upgrade but If I were to conduct a factory reset in any device I will ever touch, I dont want this to change any file inside the device, only wipe the config I made out.

[Bearry]

Happy to hear that! Your comment made mine.

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@bruce C wrote:

Can anyone tell me exactly what the factory reset does on a RV325.

I have an issue with a router which is working but the Administration GUI reports several missing files (.htm type) and does not allow certain functions due to the missing files. These functions include firmware updates, backup and restore, time, etc.

I am trying to determine if those web pages get restored with a factory reset as flashing older firmware via tftp did not seem to solve any of the missing pages. Or did I need to use an older firmware to flash first, i just tried downgrading one release, which worked but did not fix the issues.

Thanks for the clarification

[bruce C]

Bearry - Not sure what your reply is intending to say. Are you having the same issue? I would be interested to know if others are having the same problem.

[bruce C · Accepted solution]

Just to close this issue. I finally decided to do a reset using the 30/30/30 method as seen on other posts.

After doing that, the user interface seemed to be restored completely, and the firmware was retained to the latest installed version not the version which shipped with the router. The configuration needed to be restored and it must be done using the same user as the user who created the backup (something that took me a while to figure out) it will fail to restore otherwise.