What happens when you can’t reset a lost admin password on a Fortinet 100D?

I had a 100D  that I had forgotten what I had set the admin password to.   I followed this document that explains how to gain access and reset the admin password:

http://docs.fortinet.com/d/fortigate-restting-a-lost-admin-password

This did not work no matter how many times I tried it.  There is a 14 second window in which you need to enter the maintainer username and password.  Support pointed this out so I made sure I was entering the username and password within 14 seconds.  Still, no access.

Once I figured out that I was not going to be able to access the firewall by resetting the password, I had to go to plan B.  It was time to download a fresh copy for firmware a deploy it via TFTP.

Loading FortiGate firmware image using TFTP :

http://kb.fortinet.com/kb/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=10338&sliceId=1&docTypeID=DT_KCARTICLE_1_1&dialogID=11127237&stateId=0%200%2011125401

On a 100D, make sure you plug the Ethernet cable into the MGMT interface as the Internal interface won’t work.   This is one more reason why it is very important to backup you configs periodically….

-Colin

2/24/2015