One of the most common questions I come across when people are using Cisco routers for the first time is the simple question of “How do I reset my router to it’s factory default settings?”. As most people do struggle with learning all the ins and outs of the Cisco IOS, the procedure to resetting a router is not hard at all.

First make sure that your router is using the 0x2102 configuration register. You can set it to this register by issuing the following sequence of commands:

Router# configure terminal
Router(config)# config-register 0x2102
Router(config)# end

One of the most common questions I come across when people are using Cisco routers for the first time is the simple question of “How do I reset my router to it’s factory default settings?”. As most people do struggle with learning all the ins and outs of the Cisco IOS, the procedure to resetting a router is not hard at all.

First make sure that your router is using the 0x2102 configuration register. You can set it to this register by issuing the following sequence of commands:

Router# configure terminal
Router(config)# config-register 0x2102
Router(config)# end

Now we need to erase the current configuration that is issued at the routers boot time. You do so with the following command:

Router# write erase

We now have to reload the router, do this by using the reload command like so:

Router# reload

The router will now prompt you to save the system configuration. Do not save at this time. Then confirm that you wish to proceed with the reload.

The router will now reload and you will be prompted to enter the initial configuration, at this point you have now reset your router to the factory default settings.

… Yes, it’s that simple!

Enjoy,
Josh Diakun
http://www.joshd.ca