Palo Alto

Palo Alto Networks Firewall Password Recovery

Recover a lost admin password on a Palo Alto firewall by booting into maintenance mode from the console or management interface.

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

PAN-OS provides a maintenance-mode recovery that lets you set a new administrator password without losing the configuration.

Prerequisites

Recovery Steps (maintenance mode)

  1. Reboot the firewall and, when the maintenance-mode prompt appears, choose to enter it. On appliances this is done from the console; on VM-Series, press the key sequence shown during boot.
  2. In maintenance mode select Set/Reset Administrator Password.
  3. Set the new password and continue booting PAN-OS normally.
  4. The configuration is preserved — verify the management interface settings afterwards.

Alternative — factory reset

If maintenance mode is unavailable, a factory reset from the maintenance menu erases the configuration. Take a configuration export first if you have any access at all.