CISCO router password recovery

– Attach a terminal or PC with terminal emulation to the console port of the router.
Use these terminal settings:

* 9600 baud rate
* No parity
* 8 data bits
* 1 stop bit
* No flow control
– If you can access the router, type show version at the prompt, and record the configuration register setting. See Example of Password Recovery Procedure in order to view the output of a show version command
Note: The configuration register is usually set to 0x2102 or 0x102. If you can no longer access the router (because of a lost login or TACACS password), you can safely assume that your configuration register is set to 0x2102.

– Press **Break** (**Ctrl-Break** Windows XP) on the terminal keyboard within 60 seconds of power up in order to put the router into ROMMON.
– Type **confreg 0x2142** at the rommon 1> prompt in order to boot from Flash. This step bypasses the startup configuration where the passwords are stored.
– Type **reset** at the rommon 2> prompt. The router reboots, but ignores the saved configuration.
– Type **no** after each setup question, or press **Ctrl-C** in order to skip the initial setup procedure.
– Type **enable** at the Router> prompt. You are in enable mode and should see the Router# prompt.
– Type **configure memory** or **copy startup-config running-config** in order to copy the nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM) into memory. **Important**: Do not type **copy running-config startup-config** or **write**. These commands erase your startup configuration.
– Type **show running-config**. The **show running-config** command shows the configuration of the router. In this configuration, the **shutdown** command appears under all interfaces, which indicates all interfaces are currently shut down. In addition, the passwords (enable password, enable secret, vty, console passwords) are in either an encrypted or unencrypted format. You can reuse unencrypted passwords. You must change encrypted passwords to a new password.
– Type **configure terminal**.
– The hostname(config)# prompt appears.
– Type **enable secret <password>** in order to change the enable secret password. For example: hostname(config)#**enable secret cisco**
– Issue the **no shutdown** command on every interface that you use. If you issue a **show ip interface brief** command, every interface that you want to use should display up up.
– Type **config-register <configuration_register_setting>**. Where **configuration_register_setting** is either the value you recorded in step 2 or **0x2102** . For example: hostname(config)#**config-register 0x2102**
– Press **Ctrl-z** or **end** in order to leave the configuration mode. The hostname# prompt appears.
– Type **write memory** or **copy running-config startup-config** in order to commit the changes.