if you forget your line-level passwords, you can log on using the console and enter new passwords. once you enter the new passwords, other users who access these lines can use the new passwords. to make the changes permanent, save the new passwords to the startup configuration.

    if you forget your console or cli-level password that allows you to log on to the command line interface, you must reboot the switch and reset the password from boot mode in the cli. to do so, follow the steps below:

    1. if you have two management modules installed, pull the backup module out of its slot so that only one management module is active.

    2. connect to the serial console of the active management module, and then perform a power cycle to reboot the switch.

    3. interrupt the normal bootup sequence—at the point where it says: “press [enter] to execute or [esc] to abort”—by pressing the [esc] key (use the spacebar to skip the countdown sequence).

    this will put you into boot mode—the prompt will change to pmon].

    4. from boot mode, enter the following commands:

   

    the configuration process will then skip the startup configuration and the switch will boot up with the factory default settings.

    5. at the reboot, enter a new password.

    6. to make the changes permanent, save the new password setting to the startup configuration using the write memory command.

    if you have removed a backup management module, insert it back into its slot before entering write memory—this will synchronize both active and backup startup configurations to use the new password.

    the next time you reboot the system, you will be able to use the new password for access and authentication.