Juniper EX 15.X Password Reset

Published: 2021-08-15

Intro

Recently, I was trying to reset the root password on an EX2200. Following the normal process of entering single user mode did not work. In this post I will cover the workaround to reset the root password.

The Issue

On an EX2200/3200/3300/4200/4500/4550 running code version 15.1R1 - 15.1R6 password recovery via entering boot -s from the loader prompt to enter single user mode results in the switch booting from the alternate slice rather than entering single user mode.

The Workaround

This post has the workaround. The steps are as follows:

  • Press CTRL + C to enter u-boot mode.
  • Remove the boot_unattended environment variable.
  • Boot the switch.
  • Follow the normal password reset process found here.
cmd
U-Boot 1.1.6 (Feb  6 2008 - 11:27:42)

Board: EX4200-24F 2.20

EPLD:  Version 6.1 (0x85)

DRAM:  Initializing (1024 MB)

FLASH: 8 MB

USB:   scanning bus for devices... 2 USB Device(s) found <span class="hljs-string"># <<<<< Type Ctrl + C here</span>


=> <span class="hljs-string"># remove "boot_unattended" environment variable</span>


=> setenv boot_unattended

<span class="hljs-string"># Issue "boot" command, get into "loader>"</span>


=> boot <span class="hljs-string"># Follow the normal password reset process</span>

Outro

In this post, I covered the process of resetting the root password on a Juniper EX switch running code version 15.1R1 - 15.1R6. Thanks @python and future Brad, you are welcome.