Cisco

Cisco 7200 and 12000 Series Router Password Recovery

Recover a lost enable password on Cisco 7200 VXR and 12000 GSR routers with the config-register bypass.

Overview

This guide provides step-by-step instructions for resetting lost or forgotten administrative passwords on enterprise networking hardware. Follow the procedure below carefully to regain access while preserving your device configuration.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding with password recovery, ensure you have a console cable, terminal emulation software configured to 9600 baud, and physical access to the device.

Step 1: Establish Console Connection

Connect your terminal cable to the console port of the device and open your serial terminal session.

Step 2: Interrupt the Boot Sequence

Power cycle the hardware and issue a Break key sequence during initial system startup to enter ROMMON mode.

Step 3: Reset Password & Configuration

Bypass startup configuration loading, boot into system software, set your new credentials, and save changes back to non-volatile memory.

Overview

Classic IOS platforms — the config-register bypass applies.

Prerequisites

Recovery Steps

  1. Connect the console and power-cycle the router.
  2. Send Break during boot to reach rommon 1 >.
  3. rommon 1 > confreg 0x2142
    rommon 2 > reset
  4. Answer no to the setup dialog.
    Router> enable
    Router# copy startup-config running-config
  5. Router(config)# enable secret <new-password>
  6. Router(config)# config-register 0x2102
    Router# write memory
    Router# reload

On 12000 series line-card-based chassis, recover on the route processor.