Password Recovery Procedures for Symantec Web Gateway (SWG) 4.5.x Appliance

Products

• Web Gateway

Issue/Introduction

You seek to reset or recover either a password for the web interface of SWG or the admin password for the command line interface (CLI) of SWG.

Resolution

Do one of the following:

• Recover a web interface password on the login screen
• Reset a web interface password using a System User account with Administrator rights
• As a last resort or if you need to restore the password for the CLI, reset the Setup Wizard.

NOTE: Resetting the Setup Wizard clears the SWG Appliance of all current settings.



To recover a web interface password via email

1. Open the login page of the SWG Appliance in a web browser
2. Click Forgot Password
3. In the text field next to Username:, type the username of the account whose password you seek to reset.
4. Click Reset Password
   
   NOTE: At this point, the SWG will also continue to accept your old password, as well as the randomly generated password.
   
5. Check the mailbox associated with that System User account for an email with a subject line titled "Your new password from the Symantec Web Gateway". This message contains a randomly generated password.
6. With the random password, log into the web interface.
7. Click System Users
8. Click the name of your account, or on the pencil button on the same line as your account name.
9. Delete and re-type the contents of the "Password" and "Re-Type Password" fields.
10. Click Save.
    
    NOTE: Once you successfully save your new password without errors, the old password and the randomly generated password are both invalid.

To reset a password using a System User account with Administrator rights

1. Login to the SWG Appliance with a System User account that has Administrator rights
2. Click System Users
3. Click the name of the account whose password you seek to reset, or click on the pencil button on the same line as the name of the desired account.
4. Delete and re-type the contents of the "Password" and "Re-Type Password" fields.
5. Click Save.
   
   NOTE: Once you successfully save the new password without errors, SWG will no longer permit access with the previous password.

Technical Information

As the CLI is useful for a variety of reasons, Symantec recommends leaving the serial port of the SWG Appliance connected to another machine via crossover cable at all times, particularly when you have placed the SWG Appliance in a physical location which is not readily accessible, such as a co-location facility.