2960 - Password Reset

Procedure to reset a Cisco 2960 (or 2950) password without losing the switch configuration.

Connect the blue console cable, and open a TTY session: 9600,8,n,1.
- Hitting return should give a prompt, confirming the connection.

Press and hold the front panel MODE button, and power-up the switch.
- After a few seconds, the following should display. Release the MODE button.

The system has been interrupted prior to initializing the
flash filesystem.  The following commands will initialize
the flash filesystem, and finish loading the operating 
system software:
 
    flash_init
    load_helper
    boot
    

At the prompt, enter the following command:

switch: flash_init
Initializing Flash...

List the files in the flash directory:

switch: dir flash:
Directory of flash:/
 
2    -rwx  5         <date>               private-config.text
4    -rwx  5048591   <date>               c2960-lanbasek9-mz.122-25.SED.bin
5    drwx  192       <date>               c2960-lanbase-mz.122-25.SEE2
620  -rwx  2061      <date>               config.text
 
19752960 bytes available (12761088 bytes used)

Rename the flash file config.text to config.text.old, and re-boot:

switch: rename flash:config.text flash:config.text.old
 
switch: boot
Loading "flash:c2960-lanbasek9-mz.122-25.SED.bin"...@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

When the switch reboots, it will launch the 'System Configuration Dialog', enter n to exit!
Rename the old configuration file back to config.text, and copy it into memory.

Switch>en
Switch#rename flash:config.text.old flash:config.text
Switch#copy flash:config.text system:running-config

With the old configuration restored, we can now change the password, and save.

Switch#config t
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
Switch(config)#enable secret newpassword
Switch(config)#end
Switch#wr mem

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