Catalyst 9300 Password Recovery

[cory.smith@rsmus.com]

I must be blind today because I cannot find any information about this. Can someone point me in the right direction?

[joshua.huang]

Thank you so much, this is correct! The old way of holding down the mode button was not worked for me and I was stumped.

[DarylHigginns1632]

did this, now I it wont prompt for password. startup config is correct with passwords, run config is default. Try copy start run, wr mem but does not stick on reload.??

[Russell_R]

Thank you Daryl, your answer worked for me!!

[atultamhane]

hi,

Guys. I was in process of IOS upgrade of my production stack. primary device got upgraded, secondary device shwoed version mismatch error once, then showed secondary switch was in provisioned mode but did not boot & went in rommon.

I tried to copy ios from usb, it did not allow. even tried to use set variables but no success. switch is still in rommon. Now I have disconnected it and have brought out of production.

please share steps to recover from this & add in stack again.

Thanks in advance.

[ehayric1320]

Did you add the auto-copy option to the end of the install command? It is unusual that you could not copy from USB though, what was the error you received? Make sure the 'software auto-upgrade' command is present on the master and then reconnect the member and then power on.  You may need to downgrade the master to match the member and start from scratch.

Just some ideas off the top of my head.

[Mohsin Raza]

Switch: SWITCH_IGNORE_STARTUP_CFG=1

is that command case sensitive ? 

[SatriaRadi30]

are these guide will to erase/default all config or just a reset/recovery password?

previously many thanks bout for the guided.

[ansonho2012]

Hi Minhaj Uddin,

What if the switch is stacked? Do we need to remote the switches from stack first? or assign master to another member?

Many thanks.

Anson

[commodorej]

You do not need to break the stack.

[Tshepo]

Thank you Miuddin,

This worked perfect!!

[jbannister@netsyncnetwork.com]

This is a pretty important process to remember because it is almost inevitable that a Catalyst  Admin will need to perform this process. It also works on Catalyst switches it is super useful '

[uttam.singh3@wipro.com]

Hi Smith,

As you mentioned, i have tried power cycle and hold the mode button but switch is not going to loader mode.

can you help me on that....

[tkaczoro]

Uttam,

I had the same problem as you did. In my case I found that the process differs very slightly from the 38/3650 in that instead of HOLDING the Mode button you need to press it multlple times 2-3 in my case just after it comes up with Initializing hardware.

System Management Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.x (Catalyst 9300 Switches) - Troubleshooting the Softwa…

Exceprt from documentation :

Procedure

---

Step 1	Connect a terminal or PC to the switch. Connect a terminal or a PC with terminal-emulation software to the switch console port. If you are recovering the password for a switch stack, connect to the console port of the active switch. Connect a PC to the Ethernet management port. If you are recovering the password for a switch stack, connect to the Ethernet management port of a stack member .
Step 2	Set the line speed on the emulation software to 9600 baud.
Step 3	Power off the standalone switch or the entire switch stack.
Step 4	Reconnect the power cord to the switch or the active switch. . The switch starts the boot process. Press the Mode button when it attempts to start booting. Press the Mode button 2-3 times until the switch fails to boot and goes to ROMMON mode. Initializing Hardware...  System Bootstrap, Version 16.6.1r [FC1], RELEASE SOFTWARE (P) Compiled Sat 07/15/2017  8:31:57.39 by rel  Current image running: Primary Rommon Image  Last reset cause: SoftwareReload         <---- Start pressing the mode button C9300-24U platform with 8388608 Kbytes of main memory  attempting to boot from [flash:packages.conf]  Located file packages.conf # #####################################################################  Unable to load cat9k-rpboot.16.06.02b.SPA.pkg Failed to boot file flash:user/packages.conf ERROR: failed to boot from flash:packages.conf (Aborted) <--- will abort switch: switch:  <---- ROMMON Proceed to the Procedure with Password Recovery Enabled section, and follow the steps.
Step 5	After recovering the password, reload the switch or the active switch . On a switch: Switch> reload Proceed with reload? [confirm] y  On the active switch: Switch> reload slot <stack-active-member-number> Proceed with reload? [confirm] y

Hope this helps !

[ehayric1320]

As others have said the method above, marked as the answer, may not work for some. On my 9300 running Fuji 16.9.3 I had to wait for the image to begin loading and then simply press the mode button once to interrupt it.

Initializing Hardware...

Initializing Hardware...

System Bootstrap, Version 16.9.1r [FC2], RELEASE SOFTWARE (P)
Compiled Tue 05/29/2018 14:59:59.99 by rel

Current ROMMON image : Primary
Last reset cause : PowerOn
C9300-48UXM platform with 8388608 Kbytes of main memory

boot: attempting to boot from [flash:packages.conf]
boot: reading file packages.conf
#################################  <~~~ Press 'Mode' button here to interrupt

boot: failed to load cat9k-rpboot.16.09.03.SPA.pkg
boot: failed to boot file flash:user/packages.conf
ERROR: failed to boot from flash:packages.conf (Aborted)
switch:

[Daryl Allen]

For password recovery on Catalyst 9300, look at this:

 https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst9300/software/release/16-6/configuration_guide/sys_mgmt/b_166_sys_mgmt_9300_cg/b_166_sys_mgmt_9300_cg_chapter_01100.html#task_nzq_q4z_n1b

Recovering from a Lost or Forgotten Password

Procedure

---

Step 1	Connect a terminal or PC to the switch. Connect a terminal or a PC with terminal-emulation software to the switch console port. If you are recovering the password for a switch stack, connect to the console port of the active switch. Connect a PC to the Ethernet management port. If you are recovering the password for a switch stack, connect to the Ethernet management port of a stack member .
Step 2	Set the line speed on the emulation software to 9600 baud.
Step 3	Power off the standalone switch or the entire switch stack.
Step 4	Reconnect the power cord to the switch or the active switch. As soon as the System LED blinks, press and release the Mode button 2-3 times. The switch enters the ROMMON mode. Initializing Hardware... System Bootstrap, Version 16.6.1r [FC1], RELEASE SOFTWARE (P) Compiled Sat 07/15/2017 8:31:57.39 by rel Current image running: Primary Rommon Image Last reset cause: SoftwareReload <---- Start pressing and releasing the mode button C9300-24U platform with 8388608 Kbytes of main memory attempting to boot from [flash:packages.conf] Located file packages.conf # ##################################################################### Unable to load cat9k-rpboot.16.06.02b.SPA.pkg Failed to boot file flash:user/packages.conf ERROR: failed to boot from flash:packages.conf (Aborted) <--- will abort switch: switch: <---- ROMMON Proceed to the Procedure with Password Recovery Enabled section, and follow the steps.
Step 5	After recovering the password, reload the switch or the active switch . On a switch: Switch> reload Proceed with reload? [confirm] y On the active switch: Switch> reload slot <stack-active-member-number> Proceed with reload? [confirm] y
Step 6	Power on the remaining switches in the stack.