HPE MSA 2040: recover a forgotten administrator password using the local USB CLI

Problem

The administrator password for an HPE MSA 2040 is unknown and the Storage Management Utility (SMU) cannot be accessed. The storage may still contain volumes and active host mappings.

Scope and evidence

• Hardware: HPE MSA 2040.
• Firmware observed in a successful field recovery: GL225R003.
• Management Controller version observed: GLM225R003-01.
• Result: the operator regained access after correcting an incorrectly entered serial number.
• The observed session did not establish compatibility with every MSA firmware version or demonstrate that a factory reset is safe.

Do not publish the actual array serial number, management IP, customer identifiers or recovered passwords.

Safety and prerequisites

Authorized personnel and physical access only. Confirm array identity and maintenance approval. If the array is in production, verify host I/O, backup status and operational impact beforehand.

Do not run restoredefaults as a routine password-recovery step. It is a different, potentially disruptive recovery path. Do not delete disks, pools, volumes or host mappings simply to restore administrative access.

Required equipment:

• USB Type-A to Mini-USB Type-B data cable, compatible with the MSA CLI port.
• Windows or Linux workstation.
• HPE MSA USB serial driver on Windows if the virtual COM port is not detected.
• A serial terminal such as PuTTY.

The local USB CLI is an out-of-band management path; SSH/Telnet to the management IP is not equivalent for this recovery workflow.

Recovery procedure

1. Connect directly to a controller

1. Connect the Mini-USB connector to the CLI port of Controller A or B.
2. On Windows, locate the Disk Array USB Port (COMn) or corresponding virtual COM interface in Device Manager.
3. In PuTTY choose Serial, enter the detected COM port, and use the serial settings documented for the installed controller/driver.
4. Press Enter until the controller banner and login: prompt appear.

If no COM port appears, verify the cable supports data, install the official HPE driver if required, and reconnect.

2. Record the version and identify the correct serial

A sanitized banner may resemble:

System Version: GL225R003
MC Version: GLM225R003-01
Serial Number: <CONTROLLER_SERIAL_NUMBER>
<MANAGEMENT_ADDRESS> login:

Read the serial carefully from the controller session. Do not assume a chassis label, inventory record or number copied from another controller is interchangeable. A typo is sufficient to cause Login incorrect.

3. Try ordinary credentials only if appropriate

For an unchanged legacy configuration, HPE documentation lists the default account manage with password !manage. Some configurations may use admin / !admin; avoid repeated guessing or lockout.

4. Recover users through the physical CLI

For the legacy MSA 2040 procedure reported in HPE Community, enter:

login: restoreusers
Password: <EXACT_SERIAL_FROM_CONNECTED_CONTROLLER>

The password input is not echoed. This is a privileged recovery mechanism, not an ordinary user account. Follow on-screen prompts; the user-account recovery can restart the Management Controllers and interrupt management access temporarily. Do not assume it is non-disruptive without checking your firmware and HPE guidance.

If the login fails:

• Confirm you are connected by physical USB CLI, not SSH or Telnet.
• Re-read each serial-number character (including zero versus letter O), without spaces.
• Check that the serial matches the connected controller.
• Avoid switching to restoredefaults; escalate to HPE support if restoreusers remains unsuccessful.

Field observation: the initial Login incorrect was caused by entering the serial incorrectly; correcting it allowed recovery.

5. Secure and verify the recovered access

After the recovery finishes, log in with the resulting authorized management credentials. Inspect users, then immediately set a new strong password or create a named administrator according to your access-control policy.

For a supported manage account, HPE's CLI reference includes the interactive syntax:

show users
set password manage

Enter the new secret only at the interactive prompt. Do not put real passwords into shell history, tickets, screenshots or KB articles.

Validation

• Confirm an authorized administrator can log in to the SMU and CLI.
• Confirm both controllers report their expected state.
• Review hardware and disk health, pools, volumes and host mappings.
• Confirm that ESXi hosts still see their expected paths/datastores if the array was already in use.
• Review alerts and any Management Controller restart events.

Regaining access alone does not prove that all storage services are healthy.

Recovery / rollback

There is no meaningful rollback of an unknown old password. If recovery affects management access, verify controller IPs and management services via the local CLI and consult HPE documentation before restarting any controller. Preserve existing storage configuration and avoid destructive operations.

Prevention

Keep credentials in an approved vault, maintain accurate per-controller inventory and support details, test a secondary authorized administrative account, and document firmware-specific recovery instructions in the change record.

Sources and evidence limits

HPE documents the MSA 2040 USB CLI physical access method; the restoreusers mechanism and serial-number workflow are described in HPE Community reports and are additionally supported here by one successful field case on the listed firmware. This does not amount to a universal vendor support guarantee.