Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) 2025 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

When the configuration register is set to 0x2142 and the router is rebooted, the behavior of the router changes to facilitate recovery and troubleshooting of the device.

Setting the configuration register to 0x2142 tells the router to ignore the startup configuration stored in NVRAM during the boot process. This means that, after rebooting, the router will not load the saved configuration, allowing the administrator to access the router in a default state. As a result, the router will prompt the user to enter the initial configuration mode. This mode is designed for setting up the device for the first time or recovering access to the device when the original configuration is unknown or inaccessible.

Additionally, it’s important to note that typically the IOS image is loaded from flash memory unless the configuration register specifies other behavior. In this case, it will still load the IOS as it normally would.

Therefore, the correct outcomes of setting the configuration register to 0x2142 involve the router prompting for initial configuration, facilitating potential recovery actions.