Troubleshooting Cisco 3850/3650 password recovery procedure

1. Console into the switch

2. Power cycle the switch

3. Press and hold the Mode button until it glows amber

4. When in the boot loader mode ("Switch:" prompt):

++ initialize the flash system:
Switch: flash_init

++ load any helper files:

Switch: load_helper

++ display the content of the Flash location:

Switch: dir flash:

view the file system.

Directory of flash:
   13  drwx         192   Mar 01 1993 22:30:48 switch_image
   11  -rwx        5825   Mar 01 1993 22:31:59  config.text
   18  -rwx         720   Mar 01 1993 02:21:30  vlan.dat

16128000 bytes total (10003456 bytes free)

5. Create a new boot variable to bypass current STARTUP-CONFIG:
       Switch: SWITCH_IGNORE_STARTUP_CFG=1

6.Verify/Make sure the disable password recovery variable is not set to 1:

Switch: SWITCH_DISABLE_PASSWORD_RECOVERY=0



7. Boot the switch using the image you want (e.g. flash: packages.conf  or flash: switch_image)

Switch: boot flash:packages.conf     

or  

Switch:  boot flash:switch_image    <---- image you want to use

8. When in IOS XE EXEC mode, update and save the updated startup config


Switch> enable

Switch# copy startup-config to running config or

Switch# config terminal

Switch(config-if)# enable secret password

Switch(config-if)# end

Switch# copy running-config startup-config



9. Reload the switch

Switch# reload

10. Break into boot loader one more time (step 3: Press and hold the Mode button until it glows amber)

11.  When back in boot loader mode ("Switch:" prompt), remove the bypass startup config entry and reboot

12.Unset the variable:

Switch: unset SWITCH_IGNORE_STARTUP_CFG

13. Boot the switch image as done before

Switch: boot flash:packages.conf     

or
Switch:  boot flash:switch_image
<--- image you want to use.