Forgot Password
If you forgot the password for the system it can be reset easily with console access. Get to the physical console (Keyboard/Monitor, or Serial) and use option 3) to reset the WebGUI password.
Forgotten Password with Locked Console
If the console is password protected and you do not know the password, all is not lost. It will take a couple reboots to accomplish, but it can be fixed with physical access to the console:
- Reboot the pfSense box
- Choose option 4 (Single User Mode) from the loader menu (The one with the ASCII pfSense logo)
- Press enter when prompted to start /bin/sh
- Remount the drive as rewritable:
/sbin/mount -o rw /
- If you made multiple partitions/slices you may just want to mount everything:
/sbin/mount -a -t ufs
- Run the built-in password reset command:
/etc/rc.initial.password
- Follow the prompts to reset the password
- Reboot
You should now be able to access the system with the default password (admin / pfsense)
Note: The ease of this process should serve as a reminder that anyone with physical access to your pfSense system can bypass basic security measures like password protecting the console. If you are password protecting the console to keep out anything more than accidental logins/low-knowledge users, you may want to rethink your security strategy.
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