Recover or Bypass the running configuration on a Cisco Catalyst 9300 switch, follow these step-by-step instructions:

If you are locked out or need to bypass the running configuration, follow these steps:

Step 1: Connect to the Switch Console

1. Connect your computer to the console port of the Cisco 9300 switch using a console cable (USB-to-serial or RJ-45).
2. Use a terminal emulator like PuTTY, Tera Term, or SecureCRT with the following settings:
   • Baud rate: 9600
   • Data bits: 8
   • Parity: None
   • Stop bits: 1
   • Flow control: None

Step 2: Power Cycle the Switch & Enter ROMMON Mode

1. Turn off the switch.
2. Turn it back on and hold the “Mode” button on the front of the switch for about 10-15 seconds until the system LED turns amber and the switch enters ROMMON mode (switch: prompt).

Step 3: Ignore the Startup Configuration once you are at the “switch” prompt:

1. Enter the following command to ignore the startup configuration:

   SWITCH_IGNORE_STARTUP_CFG=1
   
   
   
2. Boot the switch without loading the configuration:

   boot
   

    

3. The switch will boot up with factory defaults, but the original configuration is still stored in memory.

Step 4: Copy the startup configuration to the running configuration by adding the following command.

Step 5: Once the running configuration is loaded, you can remove any unnecessary configurations, make the required changes, and then save the updated configuration to memory to ensure it persists after a reboot.