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38-4
Catalyst 2960 and 2960-S Switch Software Configuration Guide
OL-8603-09
Chapter 38 Troubleshooting
Recovering from a Lost or Forgotten Password
You enable or disable password recovery by using the service password-recovery global configuration
command. When you enter the service password-recovery or no service password-recovery command
on the stack master, it is propagated throughout the stack and applied to all switches in the stack.
Note Stacking is supported only on Catalyst 2960-S switches running the LAN base image.
Follow the steps in this procedure if you have forgotten or lost the switch password.
Step 1 Connect a terminal or PC with terminal-emulation software to the switch console port.
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 standalone switch or the stack master and, within 15 seconds, press the
Mode button while the System LED is still flashing green. Continue pressing the Mode button until the
System LED turns briefly amber and then solid green; then release the Mode button.
Several lines of information about the software appear with instructions, informing you if the password
recovery procedure has been disabled or not.
• If you see a message that begins with this:
The system has been interrupted prior to initializing the flash file system. The
following commands will initialize the flash file system
go to the “Procedure with Password Recovery Enabled” section on page 38-4, and follow the steps.
• If you see a message that begins with this:
The password-recovery mechanism has been triggered, but is currently disabled.
go to the “Procedure with Password Recovery Disabled” section on page 38-6, and follow the steps.
Step 5 After recovering the password, reload the standalone switch or the stack master:
Switch> reload
slot <
stack-master-member-number
>
Proceed with reload? [confirm] y
Step 6 Power on the rest of the switch stack.
Procedure with Password Recovery Enabled
If the password-recovery mechanism is enabled, this message appears:
The system has been interrupted prior to initializing the flash file system. The following
commands will initialize the flash file system, and finish loading the operating system
software:
flash_init
load_helper
boot
Step 1 Initialize the flash file system:
switch: flash_init