Troubleshooting Tip: FortiSwitch Registration status displays 'Registered to another account' in FortiGate

Description

This article explains how to resolve the FortiSwitch registration status error message 'Registered to another account' in FortiGate.

Scope

FortiGate, FortiSwitch.

Solution

When accessing System -> Firmware & Registration, the FortiSwitch registration status displays ‘Registered to another account’ as shown in the image below.

Ensure that the FortiSwitch status appears as online in FortiGate.

Next, verify that the FortiGate has proper connectivity with FortiGuard and FortiCloud.

It is necessary to focus on FortiGuard/FortiCloud connectivity troubleshooting. Check if the FortiGate can resolve FortiGuard FQDNs using DNS, such as globalupdate.fortinet.net (anycast FortiGuard) or update.fortiguard.net (unicast FortiGuard).

In this case, both the FortiGates and FortiSwitches are registered to different accounts.

Note: Both the FortiGate and FortiSwitch devices must be registered under the same FortiCloud account.

See Technical Tip: How to register FortiSwitch to FortiCloud from GUI 

It is possible to de-register the FortiGate from the original account and transfer it to the new account used for the FortiAP/FortiSwitch, though this does require direct access to both accounts (see: Technical Tip: FortiCloud account and FortiGate Cloud account transfer from GUI).

Alternatively, a ticket may be opened with Fortinet Customer Service to request the transfer of the FortiGate serial number from the original account to the new account, which requires approval from the original account holder.