Unifi Switch - How To Reset

Resetting an Unifi Switch

Each Unifi Switch will have a reset button on the back. With a small paperclip, you will need to press to the button for 5 seconds to factory reset the switch. But there is more to it:

1. Power off the device - Just unplug the power cable

2. Forget the device in the controller - Open your controller, select the device, click settings and scroll down to forget
   

1. Unplug all network cables - A PoE enabled switch won’t factory reset when it’s providing PoE to connected devices

2. Plug power back in - Plug the power back in and let the device boot, don’t press the reset button yet!

3. Wait until the led turns dark blue - Wait for the device to fully boot, the led will turn dark blue (or stay white if it wasn’t adopted before, approximately 5 minutes max)

4. Press the reset button for 5 seconds - Use a paperclip to press the button for 5 seconds to initiate the factory reset

5. Adopt the device in the controller - When the reboot is completed the led will turn pale blue. You can now adopt the switch in the controller

If this doesn't work you may need to update the Switch itself, you can do this by either pushing a Firmware update or using Putty to manually update the Switch

Firmware update required

So when you get an error that a firmware update is required you can try two things. Manually install the firmware on the device or cache it in the controller. Sometimes the downloading of the firmware is what causing the problems.

To cache the firmware in your controller you open your controller and go to the settings (lower left gear icon). Search for Firmware and select Device Firmware Cache (or select Updates > Firmware in the settings menu)

Cache the firmware for the device you are trying to adopt. When the firmware is downloaded, initiate the adoption again.

Installing Firmware Manually on Unifi Device

If you keep having problems with the installation of the firmware you can also try to install it your self directly on the device. To do this we are going to access the device using SSH.

1. Open Putty (Download Here - https://www.putty.org/)

2. Enter the IP Address of the device (you might find it in the Unifi Controller under devices)

3. Leave the port on 22 and click on open (you can ignore the warning)

4. If the device is factory reset, then the login is ubnt / ubnt

5. Find the latest Firmware on the Download page at ui.com

6. Click on Download, accept the terms and you will get a direct download url

7. Now use the following command in Putty to upgrade the firmware upgrade https://dl.ui.com/path/to/upgrade-vX.Y.Z.bin