🔑 Cisco NX-OS Password Recovery
If you’ve ever been locked out of a Cisco NX-OS device, you know how critical it is to restore access quickly without losing your configuration. Fortunately, NX-OS provides a structured way to recover administrator access through the boot process.
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| Fig 1:Cisco NX-OS Password Recovery |
In this guide, we’ll walk through the essential steps for entering boot mode, resetting the administrator password, and reloading the NX-OS image.
✅ Step 1: Enter Boot Mode
When your Cisco NX-OS device is powering on, you need to interrupt the normal boot process to enter boot mode.
If you are on a console session (for example via PuTTY or SecureCRT), press:
This key sequence escapes to the terminal session prompt. From there, send the break command to stop the boot sequence and access the boot loader.
💡 On some terminal emulators, you may need to configure the "break" key combination (sometimes Ctrl + Shift + 6 followed by b, or a menu option called Send Break).
Once successfully interrupted, the system will drop into boot loader mode (switch(boot)#).
✅ Step 2: Reset the Administrator Password
Inside boot mode, enter configuration mode and reset the admin password:
⚠️ Note: Remote authentication for console login is disabled at this stage, so this step must be performed directly on the console connection.
Exit configuration mode:
✅ Step 3: Locate the NX-OS Software Image
Use the following command to view the files stored in bootflash::
This will list all images in the flash memory. Identify the NX-OS system image (e.g., nx-os.bin).
✅ Step 4: Load the NX-OS System Software
Now load the correct system image:
⚠️ Make sure you load the system image (nx-os.bin) and not the kickstart image.
✅ Step 5: Log In with the New Password
Once the system reloads, log in with your newly configured password:
At this point, full administrator access is restored without erasing your running configuration.
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