This article has been written to help those who are practicing with Cisco devices and will describe how to recover the IOS image in Flash memory on a Cisco 2950 Switch

The IOS image file is stored in Flash memory on a 2950 series Switch. On booting the IOS image file is decompressed and copied into RAM, making available the command prompt for configuration

When the IOS image is corrupted or the boot variable is incorrectly set the Switch will normally no longer boot and will provide the following message:

Error loading “c2950-i6q4l2-mz.121-9.EA1.bin”

Interrupt within 5 seconds to abort boot process

Boot process failed…

Resulting in a prompt of: Switch:

At this prompt type: flash_init This will initialise flash

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This article outlines the procedure to recover a lost password to gain access to a 2500 series Cisco Router by modifying and reviewing the Configuration Register

Procedure

• Power off then on the Router (this would be the only option if a password is lost)
• Within 60 seconds of reboot hit CTRL BREAK keys, this will take you into a prompt of: > Which is the ROM monitor

NOTE: The key sequence used will be dependant on the emulation software in use on the PC

• At the prompt Type: O/R 0×2142 Then press Enter. This command will overwrite the original register value of 0×2102 and reset bit 6.

• Type: INITIALIZE This will reboot the Router and use the new register value assigned

The router will now reboot ignoring its saved configuration. The Router will now enter Setup Mode and the following question will then be asked on reboot:

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At long last Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has confirmed at the recent Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Los Angeles that the next version of Windows Server currently using the code name – “Longhorn”, will be called Windows Server 2008.

Longhorn beta 3 is already available to download from the Microsoft Web Site and Microsoft hopes to release Windows Server 2008 to manufacturing later this year.

This article outlines the general procedures to recover a lost password to gain access to a 2600 Router by modifying and reviewing the Configuration Register

NOTE: These are the GENERAL procedures but procedures may vary on different series of Cisco devices

Procedure

• Power off then on (this would be the only option if a password is lost)
• Within 60 seconds of reboot hit the keys: CTRL BREAK this will take you into a prompt of >, which is known as the ROM monitor

NOTE: This key sequence will be dependant on the emulation software in use on the PC

The following will then be displayed:

“Monitor: command “boot” aborted due to user interrupt” This is then followed by a prompt of ROMMON 1>

• Type: CONFREG 0×2142 - Then hit the Enter Key to boot from Flash without loading the current configuration.
• At the: ROMMON 2> prompt type: RESET - Then hit the Enter key.

The router will now reboot ignoring its saved configuration. The following question will then be asked on reboot:

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A common question that I am regularly asked is can you still log in to your Windows XP Computer when you have forgotten your password, without formatting and re-installing the operating system?

The answer is Yes!, the simplest way is to use a password reset disk assuming you have already created one.

Objectives

This tip sheet will show you how to create and use a password reset disk, it will also review the other common options available to log in to a Windows XP computer when you have forgotten your password.

To create the disk

Log onto the Windows XP computer

1. Open the Control Panel and double click on User Accounts.
2. Select the user account with your name.
3. Under Related Tasks located on the left side of the window, select Prevent a forgotten password to open the Forgotten Password Wizard, click Next.
4. Select the drive that contains the media you want to create the information on for example a floppy disk, then click on Next.
5. Enter your current password, and click Next, then Finish when prompted.

A file called USERKEY.PSW is created, which is an encrypted version of your password.

This disk once created should be stored in a safe place for future use if or when needed.

NOTE: This disk will only work if the password is current.

Using the password reset disk

Now that we have created a disk we can see how to use it

Boot into the Windows XP Welcome screen

1. At the Welcome screen, Click use your password reset disk to start the Password Reset Wizard.
2. Follow the instructions in the Password Reset Wizard to create a new password.
3. Log on with the new password, and then store your password reset disk in a safe place in case you need it to reset your password in the future. You do not need to make a new password reset disk.

Using the Administrators Password

Let us assume that you have forgotten to create the password reset disk, the following procedure can be used if the Administrators password for the computer is known:

1. Log onto the computer with the administrators account.
   NOTE: In a workgroup, you will need to boot into safe mode before logging on with the administrator account
2. Open the Run menu and type: CONTROL USERPASSWORDS2 then click on OK
3. Select the user account from the User Accounts window with the forgotten password.
4. Click on Reset Password.
5. Enter a new password, confirm it, and click OK.

The drawback of this procedure on a Windows XP Professional computer is that you will now no longer to be able to access encrypted files or encrypted email messages.

Alternatives

1. Restore the System State data
   In which you do remember the password from backup, however this option has the disadvantage that any changes since the last backup will be lost
2. Use third party tools
   A good place to start is a tool used to recover lost Windows XP (NT, 2000 or 2003) administrator and user account passwords, this tool works with encrypted files and does not change the password it just shows the existing one to you. Patience is needed for a result as this is a free service.
   A quicker priority service is also available, for further information visit: Loginrecovery.com

Microsoft has decided to phase out the availability of Windows XP as an available Operating System with new computer systems from the 31 January 2008, pushing users instead who are buying new systems towards the Windows Vista Operating System.

Microsoft has announced the release of the Beta 3 version of its next generation of Windows Server known as Longhorn.

New features include Windows PowerShell – a command line scripting tool, additional Server Core roles and the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.

Beta 3 is the first public release of the Operating System, this can be downloaded from the Microsoft Web Site: CLICK HERE