Procedure With Password Recovery Disabled - Cisco Catalyst 3550 series Software Configuration Manual

Chapter 37 Troubleshooting
Note This procedure is likely to leave your switch virtual interface in a shutdown state. You can see which
interface is in this state by entering the show running-config privileged EXEC command. To re-enable
the interface, enter the interface vlan vlan-id global configuration command, and specify the VLAN ID
of the shutdown interface. With the switch in interface configuration mode, enter the no shutdown
command.

Procedure with Password Recovery Disabled

If the password-recovery mechanism is disabled, this message appears:
The password-recovery mechanism has been triggered, but
is currently disabled.
through the password-recovery mechanism is disallowed at
this point.
reset back to the default system configuration, access
to the boot loader prompt can still be allowed.
Would you like to reset the system back to the default configuration (y/n)?
Returning the switch to the default configuration results in the loss of all existing configurations. We
Caution
recommend that you contact your system administrator to verify if there are backup switch and VLAN
configuration files.
•
•
Follow these steps when the password-recovery mechanism is disabled:
Elect to continue with password recovery and lose the existing configuration:
Step 1
Would you like to reset the system back to the default configuration (y/n)? Y
Load any helper files:
Step 2
Switch# load_helper
Step 3 Display the contents of Flash memory:
switch# dir flash:
Directory of flash:
13
17
16128000 bytes total (10003456 bytes free)
78-11194-09
Access to the boot loader prompt
However, if you agree to let the system be
If you enter n (no), the normal boot process continues as if the Mode button had not been pressed;
you cannot access the boot loader prompt, and you cannot enter a new password. You see the
message:
Press Enter to continue........
If you enter y (yes), the configuration file in Flash memory and the VLAN database file are deleted.
When the default configuration loads, you can reset the password.
drwx 192 Mar 01 1993 22:30:48
-rwx 27 Mar 01 1993 22:30:57
5 -rwx 90 Mar 01 1993 22:30:57
c3550-i5q3l2-mz-121-0.0.53
env_vars
system_env_vars
Catalyst 3550 Multilayer Switch Software Configuration Guide
Using Recovery Procedures
37-5