VLANs, Stack# and PKI Certificate still present after reset. C9300-48

[brianw360]

Repurposed a switch from a 3 member stack.  #3 is being repurposed.  Running IOS v16.12.04

Factory reset by pushing the Mode button 3 times to get into ROMMON, and followed procedures listed at https://community.cisco.com/t5/switching/c9300-switch-reset-to-factory/td-p/3358278

During reload, I noticed two different "Validate packages: SH-1hash:" remarks along with "Both links down, not waiting for other switches  Switch number is 3"

Hostname did reset back to "Switch"

SHO INT STATUS confirms that ports are labeled as Gi3/0/1-48    ???????????  Considering this will also be a #3 in a new stack, I presume it doesn't make much difference.

Deleting the vlan.dat and then reload had no affect.  Tried this 3 times. Finally went into CONF T and applied NO VLAN to all the ones I wanted to get rid of manually.

Still show a PKI certificates for IOS-Self-Signed and Trust Point.

My co-worker pointed me to this page (a year later than the previous link) and its still not a complete "reset"  https://community.cisco.com/t5/networking-documents/cisco-catalyst-c9300-factory-reset/ta-p/3890868  The PKI certificates went away.

However the last remaining head scratcher....why does still think it's a 3rd member of stack after all that? 

Manually entered the STACK 3 RENUMBER 1 to get back to the Gi1/0/1

So if you "reset" a switch to factory configs, then why do you not get the AUTO CONFIGURATION WIZARD after booting up?

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

Mode button is no longer the method to do a factory-reset of a switch on IOS-XE. 

The command "factory-reset all" will erase everything, including all the files in the flash.  Make sure there is a copy of the firmware in a USB thumb drive before using this command.

[brianw360]

What ever happened to the "good ol' days" when one could reset a switch and not worrying about needing to do anything with the IOS bin file???    Is this because of the Linux integration??

[Leo Laohoo]

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@brianw360 wrote:

What ever happened to the "good ol' days" when one could reset a switch and not worrying about needing to do anything with the IOS bin file???    Is this because of the Linux integration??

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Cisco wants to "re-invent" the wheel.  

In the past, upgrading the firmware of a Catalyst switch (classic IOS), requires one command.  Since the dawn of IOS-XE, one will need, a minimum of, two commands, plus ROMMON/golden capsule upgrade, plus platform specific commands, plus version commands (the command for 3.X.X and 16.X.X are different and, coming soon, a new set of undocumented commands will be introduced in 17.7.X and forward).  

To be frank, I mean, all of this "hassle" would have been tolerable if the steps were spelled out properly in the Release Notes.  But it is not the case.  

Back then, people were reluctant to upgrade the (classic) IOS because they did not know how to.  Nowadays, people are more reluctant to upgrade (IOS-XE) because the higher chance of "bricking" the router, switch, AP, WLC, etc because the developers have made it more difficult to do so.  

I have been "beta testing" Cisco codes since 2010 and I have never been more busy since IOS-XE came out -- Read between the lines.