How do I recover or reset the administrator password for a SonicWall firewall appliance?

In some instances the administrator user name or password for the SonicWall appliance may be lost or corrupted. When this occurs there is no way to reset the password or discover it as an administrator, nor can SonicWall technical support provide any reset or recovery for lost administration credentials.

SonicWall appliances are first and foremost security devices, meaning they are not programmed with backdoors or other exploitable methods of access. While this has the downside of potentially locking an administrator out of their device, the benefit of a hardened and secure network outweigh these concerns and make sure your firewall and environment are fully protected from intrusions and attacks.

If the administration credentials for a SonicWall are misplaced then the only option is to reset to factory default and re-import your settings backup (if available and supported) or reconfigure from scratch.

1. Enter the safe mode utility: Accessing Safemode when firewall is not reachable via CLI or GUI
2. Boot the SonicWall to the current firmware (or an Upgraded Firmware) with Factory Default Settings.
3. Connect to the SonicWall with the following method and credentials.
   
   ANY DEVICE:
   1. Connect to Interface X0 with a computer.
   2. Set your computer NIC Adapter to the IP Address: 192.168.168.20.
   3. Use the gateway: 192.168.168.168.
   4. The SonicWall firewall will be reachable at https://192.168.168.168
   5. Enter the default administration Credentials: admin | password.
      
      NOTE: NSA, Supermassive and NSsp devices also have an additional port called MGMT. This port by default is set to 192.168.1.254/24 and you can use it as an alternative to connecting to X0 but the computer NIC settings will have to be changed to match this new port.
      
      
4. Register the SonicWall by following the prompt in the upper right-hand corner of the GUI.
   TIP: If you cannot register the SonicWall due to a DNS Error navigate to Network | DNS and set the SonicWall DNS for any public DNS Server (8.8.8.8 | 4.2.2.2).
   
   
5. Configuring the device:

1. 1. If you have a supported backup of your settings: Import the desired Settings File. When the SonicWall reboots, the credentials will be set to Default and they can be changed by navigating to System | Administration.
      
      
   2. If you do not have a backup of your settings (or it's unsupported as it's coming from an incompatible firmware/device): reconfiguration of the firewall from scratch is required.