FortiGate 40C USB MGMT, Console on ethernet?

[Emmanuel]

Hi Guys, im having a major issue here. 

having to work on this network with no documentation at all, we have Fortigate 40C running where I obviously have to recover the Admin Password. 

I have, an USB Type-B labeled as MGMT

I have, an Ethernet port labeled as Console 

I have, An USB Type-A labeled as USB 

(picture attached) 

now, for the love of it, i simply cannot follow the instructions. I dont know how i can connect this via putty, and connecting with FortiExplorer and using its provided terminal, i always get a "login incorrect" as in following PDF at the very end.

http://docs.fortinet.com/uploaded/files/1707/Using_the_USB_MGMT_console_port.pdf

Does anyone have a set of instructions that i can follow to reset my Password because resetting the whole Firewall could be a serious problem. 

thanks a lot for all ideas and pointers,

best wishes

Emmanuel 

 (edit, tried to attach picture of my firewall but it doesnt seem to work, sorry) 

[Toshi_Esumi]

All FG40Cs we have have a Console port on the back panel. So yours must be a different hardware revision. But according to this doc you can still do the password recovery via USB MGMT port+FortiExplorer:

http://docs.fortinet.com/...ost_admin_password.pdf

[Emmanuel]

I plug a USB cable from my computer to the mgmt port of the FG40C

I start fortiexplorer

it almost immediately detects my device

I have 3 option to communicate, I chose Command Line Interface

it opens a terminal style window and asks for a login.

so here is where its different from all the tutorials.

so while I am connected, I still follow the tutorial and unplug the device. The FortiExplorer window closes too. I replug the device and it takes a while to start up. FortiExplorer recognizes the device again and displays it. I can again chose the command line option.

but after all this, the 14 seconds are long over.

or am I understanding this wrong, do I still need to use putty?

thanks,

emmanuel

[Toshi_Esumi]

What I remember is even when you reboot it FortiExplore doesn't close. Only console window closes. But why do you need to unplug the USB? If FortiExplore is still running and it's connected, it should automatically detect when it boots up.

[loic]

the easiest way is to use the ethernet console port with an USB to console adapter

You can't access in 14 sec. to the maintainer login using USB console and fortiexplorer

With fortiexplorer, at startup, you can access the menu to format partition and re-install a firmware but you loose your config