NetCrosswalk: Cross-Vendor Network Task Translator

Steps

1. CLI, full wipe: /system reset-configuration no-defaults=yes skip-backup=yes
2. Keep the default config: /system reset-configuration (omitting no-defaults).
3. Keep your users: add keep-users=yes.
4. Hardware: hold the reset button during boot until the LED flashes (timing differs per model).
5. Nuclear option: Netinstall over Ethernet, which reinstalls RouterOS itself.

Gotchas & notes

• no-defaults=yes gives you a truly blank device with no IP and no firewall — you can then only reach it by MAC (WinBox MAC-connect) or console. Without that flag you get MikroTik's default config, which usually includes 192.168.88.1/24 on a LAN port and a DHCP server.
• Default credentials after reset: user admin with a blank password on older releases; RouterOS 7 prompts you to set one on first login.
• skip-backup=yes prevents RouterOS from auto-saving a backup first. Leaving it off is safer if you might have made a mistake.
• Use Netinstall when the device is unbootable or you suspect the filesystem — a reset-configuration does not reinstall the OS.
• Files stored on the device (including backups you made) are removed. Download them first.

Steps

1. execute factoryreset — wipes config and reboots.
2. execute factoryreset2 — wipes the config but keeps log data / disk contents on models with storage.
3. There is no GUI factory-reset button; use the CLI Console or a serial console.
4. After reset, connect to the management/internal port and browse to the default address.

Gotchas & notes

• No GUI option exists — this must be done from the CLI, which matters if you were planning to reset a unit you can only reach via the web UI.
• Default state on most models: 192.168.1.99/24 on port1 (or the internal/mgmt port), username admin with a blank password. Some newer models default to a different port or require setting a password on first login — check the QuickStart guide for your model.
• factoryreset also clears the licence/registration binding on some models' local state; the unit re-validates against FortiGuard once it has internet, so it needs a working WAN path afterwards.
• Have a console cable ready. If the default port is not what you expect, the serial console is the only way in.
• The command takes effect immediately with no confirmation prompt on some versions — do not type it to 'see what it does'.

Steps

1. Physical: hold the device's reset button for ~10 seconds until the LED changes, then release. The device reboots to factory defaults and becomes adoptable.
2. From the controller: Devices → <device> → Settings → Manage Device → Forget this Device (this releases it, but does not always reset it).
3. From device SSH: set-default then reboot.
4. Resetting the controller/UniFi OS console itself is a separate operation, done from UniFi OS settings or its own reset button.

Gotchas & notes

• 'Forget' and 'factory reset' are not the same thing. Forgetting removes the device from the controller; the device may still hold config and need a real reset before it is adoptable elsewhere. Do both when repurposing hardware.
• A factory-reset AP or switch has no IP of its own — it takes DHCP and waits for adoption. There is no default 192.168.x.x address to browse to.
• Device SSH credentials revert to the defaults after a reset (ubnt/ubnt on older firmware), not to the ones you configured in the controller.
• Resetting a UDM/UDM-Pro wipes the controller and all site config with it, because the controller runs on the device. Take a backup off-box first — this catches people out badly.
• Forgetting a device also deletes its client history and any fixed IPs tied to it.

Steps

1. write erase (or erase startup-config) then reload and answer no to saving.
2. On a switch, also clear the VLAN database: delete flash:vlan.dat
3. If you cannot log in, use password recovery: break to ROMMON with the break sequence / hold the MODE button, set the config register to 0x2142, boot, then restore.
4. After reload the device enters the initial setup dialog — answer no to get a clean prompt.

Gotchas & notes

• write erase alone does not clear VLANs on a switch — the VLAN database lives in flash:vlan.dat and survives. A 'reset' switch that still has your old VLANs is this.
• Do not reload and save by accident: answering yes to 'System configuration has been modified. Save?' writes the running config back and undoes the erase.
• A reset device has no IP address and no credentials — console access is mandatory. Have the cable before you start.
• Config register 0x2142 skips loading the startup config; remember to set it back to 0x2102 afterwards or the device ignores its config on every future boot. This is a classic forgotten step.
• Licences and the boot variable are not part of the startup config; check show boot and show license after the reset.

Steps

1. From the CLI: request system private-data-reset (wipes config and logs, keeps licences/content) then confirm — the device reboots.
2. Full factory reset requires maintenance mode: reboot, and at the boot prompt type maint within the countdown, then choose Factory Reset.
3. After reset, connect to the MGT port and browse to the default address.
4. Verify: show system info after boot.

Gotchas & notes

• request system private-data-reset is usually what you want — it clears configuration, logs, and private data while keeping licences and content updates, so the box is ready to reconfigure without re-downloading everything. Full maintenance-mode factory reset also removes those.
• Default state: MGT interface at 192.168.1.1/24, credentials admin/admin, and PAN-OS forces a password change on first login.
• Maintenance mode requires console access and precise timing on the boot prompt; you cannot get there over the network.
• A factory reset reverts PAN-OS to the version in the boot partition, which may be much older than what you were running — plan an upgrade path afterwards.
• Export the device state before resetting if you might need the certificates or licence bindings back.

Steps

1. GUI: Diagnostics → Factory Defaults → confirm.
2. Console menu: option 4) Reset to factory defaults.
3. Alternatively restore a known-good config.xml instead of resetting — usually the better move.
4. After reset: LAN is 192.168.1.1/24 with DHCP, login admin / pfsense.

Gotchas & notes

• Default credentials after reset are admin / pfsense on LAN 192.168.1.1 — well known, so change them immediately, especially on a unit that will be plugged into a live network.
• A factory reset removes installed packages and their configuration; note which packages you had.
• The reset does not clear the config history in some versions, but do not rely on that — export config.xml first if there is anything you might want.
• If the problem is one bad setting rather than a broken box, use Diagnostics → Backup & Restore → Config History to revert instead of resetting.
• Console option 11) Restart webConfigurator and option 8) Shell solve most 'I cannot get into the GUI' cases without a reset.

Steps

1. Preferred/safe path: Device → Settings → Firmware and Backups, reboot into SafeMode, then choose Boot with Factory Default Settings against the Factory firmware image listed there.
2. Hardware path (if you're locked out): use the recessed pinhole reset button. A short press/release reboots the unit with its saved settings; press-and-hold for the longer, model-specific duration (watch for the front-panel status LEDs to change pattern, typically in the 10-20+ second range) forces a true factory-default reset.
3. After reset, connect to the default X0 management IP 192.168.168.168 (subnet 255.255.255.0), log in with admin / password, and you'll be dropped into the initial setup wizard.

Gotchas & notes

• The reset-button timing is tiered and model-dependent — too short does nothing or just reboots, too long wipes the config. It's easy to hold it 'a bit too long' during what was meant to be a routine reboot and accidentally factory-reset the box. Check the specific model's QuickStart guide for exact timing before touching it.
• Default recovery IP/credentials (192.168.168.168, admin/password) are the same well-known defaults across most SonicWall TZ/NSa appliances — don't assume they're unique to your unit.
• There is no user-facing CLI command for a self-service factory reset — it's strictly a physical button action or a GUI/SafeMode menu choice, keeping this destructive action out of the scriptable E-CLI entirely.
• Post-reset, the appliance often wants MySonicWall registration again before licensed security services (Gateway AV, IPS, Content Filtering) re-activate — budget time for that if this is a production box.

Steps

1. Routers and Orbi Pro APs: hold the recessed Reset/Factory Default button (paperclip) for up to ~30 seconds until the Power LED flashes amber, or trigger it remotely from Insight Cloud Portal/app → device → Factory Reset action if it's still reachable. Comes back at 192.168.1.1, username admin, password password (or via routerlogin.net) — and it drops out of Insight, requiring re-discovery/re-adoption (the device stays claimed under your Insight org by serial, so no new license purchase is needed).
2. Insight-managed Smart Switches: press the Factory Defaults button for ~2–10 seconds (varies by model), or use Insight → device → Reset device to factory default settings. Comes back at 192.168.0.239 (or DHCP if a server is present), username admin, password password.
3. M4200/M4300 (real CLI): clear config in Privileged EXEC, then write memory / reload, or use the boot menu (type 6 to erase config, then 11 to reboot). Comes back with mgmt IP 169.254.100.100 (DHCP client enabled) and OOB port default 192.168.0.239, username admin, no password at all (leave it blank at login).

Gotchas & notes

• The single biggest gotcha on this whole platform: if an Insight-claimed switch is factory-reset but still has internet reachability and hasn't been *removed* from your Insight organization, NETGEAR's own KB confirms it will pull its last cloud-saved configuration and password back down automatically on re-checking in — so a 'factory reset' on a still-claimed device is not a clean slate unless you first remove it from Insight (the 'extra flag' step people miss).
• M4200/M4300 defaults to a blank admin password, not password like everything else in the lineup — typing password at the login prompt after a CLI-level reset will fail.
• Three different default IPs across the lineup — 192.168.1.1 (routers), 192.168.0.239 (Smart Switches, and also the M4300's OOB port), and 169.254.100.100 (M4300 in-band default before DHCP kicks in) — plug into the wrong subnet expecting the wrong default and you'll assume the reset failed.
• Routers/Orbi Pro APs have zero CLI, so there is no erase/clear config command for them — the physical button (or the Insight GUI action, if it's still online) is the only way in.
• Resetting from within Insight vs. the physical button behaves differently: the Insight GUI action can leave the device still associated to your organization for easy re-adoption, while a blind physical-button reset on a device Insight thinks is still 'managed' can cause it to show as offline/conflicted in the portal until you manually remove and re-add it.