Reset a Cisco 2960 Switch To Factory Default Settings

Flattening a switch before re-deployment is one of those simple tasks that I always find myself having lookup on the web, so I thought I’d save myself some time in future and document it here.

Step 1.

Connect up your console cable and power on the switch, whilst holding down the “mode” button:

  

This interrupts the boot process before the Flash file system can initialize, and after a short while (continue holding the “mode” button) you will see the following prompt:

Using driver version 1 for media type 1

Base ethernet MAC Address: 4c:30:2d:81:ef:80

Xmodem file system is available.

The password-recovery mechanism is enabled.

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

 boot

switch:

Step 2.

Initialize the flash file system with the command: flash_init

switch: flash_init

Initializing Flash...

mifs[2]: 10 files, 1 directories

mifs[2]: Total bytes : 1806336

mifs[2]: Bytes used : 612352

mifs[2]: Bytes available : 1193984

mifs[2]: mifs fsck took 1 seconds.

mifs[3]: 0 files, 1 directories

mifs[3]: Total bytes : 3870720

mifs[3]: Bytes used : 1024

mifs[3]: Bytes available : 3869696

mifs[3]: mifs fsck took 0 seconds.

mifs[4]: 5 files, 1 directories

mifs[4]: Total bytes : 258048

mifs[4]: Bytes used : 9216

mifs[4]: Bytes available : 248832

mifs[4]: mifs fsck took 0 seconds.

mifs[5]: 5 files, 1 directories

mifs[5]: Total bytes : 258048

mifs[5]: Bytes used : 9216

mifs[5]: Bytes available : 248832

mifs[5]: mifs fsck took 1 seconds.

 -- MORE --

mifs[6]: 566 files, 19 directories

mifs[6]: Total bytes : 57931776

mifs[6]: Bytes used : 28429312

mifs[6]: Bytes available : 29502464

mifs[6]: mifs fsck took 21 seconds.

...done Initializing Flash.

Step 3.

Delete the config.text file from the flash directory:

switch: del flash:config.text

Are you sure you want to delete "flash:config.text" (y/n)?y

File "flash:config.text" deleted

Step 4.

Delete the vlan.dat file from the flash directory:

switch: del flash:vlan.dat

Are you sure you want to delete "vlan.dat" (y/n)?y

File "flash:vlan.dat" deleted

Step 5.

Reboot the switch and you’re done:

switch: boot

Loading "flash:c2960s-universalk9-mz.122-58.SE2.bin"...

--- System Configuration Dialog ---

Enable secret warning

----------------------------------

In order to access the device manager, an enable secret is required

If you enter the initial configuration dialog, you will be prompted for the enable secret

If you choose not to enter the intial configuration dialog, or if you exit setup without setting the enable secret,

please set an enable secret using the following CLI in configuration mode-

enable secret 0

----------------------------------

Would you like to enter the initial configuration dialog? [yes/no]:

% Please answer 'yes' or 'no'.