I recently had to reset admin password for my home network switch. I had to look around on multiple forums on the internet for instructions, and was finally able to figure out how to do it. I thought of sharing the instructions in this post to help others looking to reset password on this switch.
First, the ethernet cable (link) method didn’t work for me.
Therefore, the only possible option was to use the serial port and reset the password that way.
Buy Serial Cable. This one is $10 from Amazon, and connects to RJ45 serial port on switch and USB port on your computer.
Connect to the switch using the cable, and follow the instructions below. I performed this on my Macbook but am sure process is similar on Windows laptop, or Linux.
- Disconnect all ethernet cables from the switch. The only cables connected to the switch should be power cable and the serial cable.
- Open terminal on Mac, and find the device you need to connect to
ls -ltr /dev/*usb*For me, it showed two devices. You would choose the one that is tty.
- Replace the device name in the command below with the one you found above, and then run the command
screen /dev/tty.usbserial-A50285BI 38400 -8 -N -1- You may see a blank screen, and that should be ok
- Leave the screen on, and power cycle the switch (pull power plug, and put back on)
- On the screen you should see switch’s boot process starting
- Press Ctrl+B for extended boot options, when you see that message
- Then select Option 7 (should be like: skip configuration), then select Option to Reboot
- Switch should reboot, and you should see the boot process on your screen
- Once fully available, you should see a prompt “Press ENTER to get started”. Press ENTER and you should be on <HP> prompt. If not, press ENTER again
- Type ? (Question mark) and ENTER, you should see a menu of commands (Should say User view commands)
- Type
initiatializeand ENTER. This command should factory reset the switch - Switch will reboot, and you should be back in the business