Technical Tip: How to delete the default 'admin' user account on a FortiGate unit

[ighita]

Description

This article decsribes how to delete the default 'admin' user on FortiGate.

Scope

Any supported version of FortiGate.

Solution

The following error shows upon attempting to delete the default admin user normally:

config sys admin
delete admin
Cannot delete super admin 'admin'!
command_cli_delete:5242 delete table entry admin unset oper error ret=-37
Command fail. Return code -37

Use the following steps to delete the default admin account on a FortiGate.

1. If only one (the default) admin account exists with the 'super_admin' profile assigned, create a second super_admin account.
2. Close all administrative access sessions opened with the default admin account (log out from the web admin GUI, log out from the SSH/telnet CLI, and so on).
3. Log in with the new super_admin account.
4. Delete the original 'admin' account.

To delete the admin account, run the following in the CLI:

delete admin
end