Juniper EX-series Switch Password Recovery

Summary:

This article describes how to recover a lost or forgotten password for the EX-series Switch.

 

Problem or Goal:

Lost root password for the EX-series Switch.

 

 

Solution:

Troubleshooting Loss of the Root Password on the EX-series Switch

Problem:
If you forget the root password for the switch, you can use the password recovery procedure to reset the root password.

NOTE: You need physical access to the switch to recover the root password. This is done by direct console access or through a console server to the console port on the EX Switch.

Solution To recover the root password:

1. Power off your switch by unplugging the power cord or turning off the power at the wall switch.

2. Insert one end of the Ethernet cable into the serial port on the management device and connect the other end to the console port on the back of the switch.

3. On the management device, start your asynchronous terminal emulation application (such as Microsoft Windows Hyperterminal) and select the appropriate COM port to use (for example, COM1).

4. Configure the port settings as follows:

• Bits per second: 9600
• Data bits: 8
• Parity: None
• Stop bits: 1
• Flow control: None

5. Power on your switch by plugging in the power cord or turning on the power atthe wall switch.

6. When the following prompt appears, press the Spacebar to access the switch's bootstrap loader command prompt:

Hit [Enter] to boot immediately, or space bar for command prompt.
Booting [kernel] in 1 second...

7. At the following prompt, type boot -s to start up the system in single-user mode:

loader> boot -s

8. At the following prompt, type recovery to start the root password recovery procedure:

Enter full path name of shell or 'recovery' for root password recovery or RETURN for /bin/sh: recovery

A series of messages describe consistency checks, mounting of filesystems, and initialization and checkout of management services. Then the CLI prompt appears.

9. Enter configuration mode in the CLI:

user@switch> cli

10. Set the root password. For example:

user@switch# set system root-authentication plain-text-password

11. At the following prompt, enter the new root password. For example:

New password: juniper1

Retype new password:

12. At the second prompt, reenter the new root password.

13. If you are finished configuring the network, commit the configuration.root@switch# commit

commit complete

14. Exit configuration mode in the CLI.

root@switch# exit

15. Exit operational mode in the CLI.

root@switch> exit

16. At the prompt, enter y to reboot the switch.

Reboot the system? [y/n] y