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Cisco Intrusion Prevention System Sensor CLI Configuration Guide for IPS 7.2
OL-29168-01
Chapter1 7 Administrative Tasks for the Sensor
Recovering the Password
Table 17-1 lists the password recovery methods according to platform.
Recovering the Password for the Appliance
This section describes the two ways to recover the password for appliances. It contains the following
topics:
Using the GRUB Menu, page 17-3
Using ROMMON, page 17-4

Using the GRUB Menu

Note
You must have a terminal server or direct serial connection to the appliance to use the GRUB menu to
recover the password.
For the IPS 4355, IPS 4360, IPS 4510, and IPS 4520 applian ces, the password recovery is found in the
GRUB menu, which appears during bootup. When the GRUB menu appears, press any key to pause the
boot process.
To recover the password on appliances, follow these steps:
Step 1
Reboot the appliance to see the GRUB menu.
GNU GRUB version 0.94 (632K lower / 523264K upper memory)
-------------------------------------------
0: Cisco IPS
1: Cisco IPS Recovery
2: Cisco IPS Clear Password (cisco)
-------------------------------------------
Use the ^ and v keys to select which entry is highlighted.
Press enter to boot the selected OS, 'e' to edit the
Commands before booting, or 'c' for a command-line.
Highlighted entry is 0:
Step 2
Press any key to pause the boot process.
Step 3
Choose
2: Cisco IPS Clear Password (cisco)
. The password is reset to cisco. Log in to the CLI with
username cisco and password cisco. You can then change the password.
Table17-1 Password Recovery Methods According to Platform
Platform Description Recovery Method
4300 series sensors
4500 series sensors
Standalone IPS appliances GRUB prompt or ROMMON
ASA 5500-X IPS SSP
ASA 5585-X IPS SSP
ASA 5500 series adaptive security
appliance IPS modules
Adaptive security appliance CLI
command