Password Recovery for Catalyst 3500XL Series Switch

This is the procedure I used to recover the password for a Cisco Catalyst 3500XL series switch

1. Attach a cisco configuration cable to the console port of the switch and a com port on a PC. start up hyperterminal and use the following terminal settings:
   Bits per second (baud): 9600
   Data bits: 8
   Parity: None
   Stop bits: 1
   Flow Control: Xon/Xoff

2. Unplug the power cable.

3. Hold down the mode button located on the left side of the front panel, and reconnecting the power cable.

   Release the mode button after the LED above Port 1x goes out.

   You'll see the following instructions appear:

   The system has been interrupted prior to initializing the
   flash filesystem.  The following commands will initialize
   the flash filesystem, and finish loading the operating
   system software:
       flash_init
       load_helper
       boot
   switch:
   
   

4. Issue the flash_init command.

   switch: flash_init
   Initializing Flash...
   flashfs[0]: 143 files, 4 directories
   flashfs[0]: 0 orphaned files, 0 orphaned directories
   flashfs[0]: Total bytes: 3612672
   flashfs[0]: Bytes used: 2729472
   flashfs[0]: Bytes available: 883200
   flashfs[0]: flashfs fsck took 86 seconds
   ....done Initializing Flash.
   Boot Sector Filesystem (bs:) installed, fsid: 3
   Parameter Block Filesystem (pb:) installed, fsid: 4
   switch:
   
   

5. Issue the load_helper command.

   switch: load_helper
   switch:

6. Type the command dir flash: command.

   The switch file system is displayed something like this:

   switch: dir flash:
   Directory of flash:/
   2    -rwx  1803357   <date>               c3500xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC7.bin
   4    -rwx  1131      <date>               config.text
   5    -rwx  109       <date>               info
   6    -rwx  389       <date>               env_vars
   7    drwx  640       <date>               html
   18   -rwx  109       <date>               info.ver
   403968 bytes available (3208704 bytes used)
   switch:
   
   

7. Type rename flash:\config.text flash:\config.old to rename the configuration file. There's no output shown if the command is successful

   switch: rename flash:\config.text flash:\config.old
   switch:
   
   

    

8. Type the boot command to boot the system.

   switch: boot
   Loading "flash:c3500xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC7.bin"...###############################
   ################################################################################
   ######################################################################
   File "flash:c3500xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC7.bin" uncompressed and installed, entry po
   int: 0x3000
   executing...
   
   

9. Enter "n" at the prompt to skip the setup wizard

10. At the switch prompt type en to enter enable mode.

    Switch>en
    Switch#

11. Type rename flash:config.old flash:config.text to rename the configuration file with its original name.

    Switch#rename flash:config.old flash:config.text
    Destination filename [config.text] 
    Switch#
    

12. Copy the configuration file into memory:

    Switch#copy flash:config.text system:running-config
    Destination filename [running-config]? 
    1131 bytes copied in 0.760 secs
    Switch#
    

    The configuration file is now reloaded.

13. Change the password:

    Switch#configure terminal
    Switch(config)#no enable secret 
     !--- This step is necessary if the switch had an enable secret password. 
    Switch(config)#enable password Cisco
    Switch#(config)#^Z 
     !--- Control/Z. 
    

14. Write the running configuration to the configuration file with the write memory command:

    Switch#write memory
    Building configuration...
    [OK]
    Switch#