This tutorial has its origin on a thread at Digit forum where a member asked if we can restore lost password from router. I decided to put my CCNA skills to use. And indeed after some adventures with ATMOS commands, I figured it out. So here it goes.

The problem this guy had was this: He had an Airtel connection and Huawei MT880 Adsl router. His ISP username and password is saved on the router and it gets connected when he turn on the router. Now he forgot his password and wanted to change it. And couldn’t because it was saved in the router. Using those asterisk removing utilities didn’t work too. So he was stuck there. Now if you have the same story, you could try this too :

You will need your router password to reset your ISP password. This is different from your ISP acount’s password. On most routers, the default username / password combination is admin/admin or admin/1234 . If you have changed your router password and forgot it too, then I cant help you. You can though reset router password with Reset slot in your router.
I’ll be using HyperTerminal for Telnet as it has got some nice functions. You can use other telnet utils too… So lets start:

  • Run HyperTerminal by Start > Programs > Accesories> Communications > HyperTerminal.
  • Enter any name for the Connection. Click on OK.
  • In the Connect Using combo box, select TCP/IP (WinSock) and enter 192.168.1.1 as Host address. (192.168.1.1 is usually your router’s address ). If you have customized your router’s ip address then enter the customized address. The Port Number 23 is fine, no need to change it. Click on Connect.
  • You will get a login prompt. Enter your router username and password here. If all goes allright you will get a prompt saying “Login Successful”.
  • Now on the console, type this:
  •       console enable {Press Enter}
  • You’ll get a prompt like this:
  •       Quantum>
  • Now on the prompt, type this:
  •       Quantum> fm {Press Enter}
  • The prompt will change to Quantum fm>.
  • Now in HyperTerminal, click on Transfer > Capture Text. Enter a location to save the settings file. For example My Documents\mysettings.txt .
  • Click on Start. You will be back to the router prompt.
  • Now type this:
  •       Quantum fm> cat im.conf {Press Enter}
  • This is quite a big file and it will take a while to list. Just wait until the listing is complete and you get back to the prompt.
  •       Click on Transfer > Capture Text > Stop.
  • Now the tough part is over.
  • Type these commands on the console to quit telnet:
  •       Quantum fm>home {Press Enter}
  •       Quantum>exit {Press Enter}
  •       >user logout {Press Enter}
  • Now you can quit HyperTerminal .

Now open the file we saved in Notepad and press Ctrl F.
Enter weLogin in the string to find.
And here you can see your ISP login details in clear text. :P …

I have tested this on Huawei MT880 and MT 882 routers. I cannot guarantee that they work on other routers too. But Atmos commands are usually same on all devices so they should work on other routers too.. And finally, you shouldn’t try it if you aren’t comfortable with command line usage. Don’t hold me accountable if you screwup doing things you shouldn’t be doing. Hope this helped… !