How To Reset TPLink JetStream Switches To Factory Settings

by Ginard Guaki · Published September 20, 2023 · Updated September 20, 2023

Restoring a manageable switch to its default configuration.

What we have today is an old but manageable switch, a Jet Stream L2 Lite Managed Switch, specifically a TLS 3216. The great thing about this switch is its ability to be configured with VLANs. I’ll dive into that a bit later, but we do have one obstacle to overcome. This switch has a prior configuration from its previous use, so before we can configure it for anything new, we need to perform a full factory reset.

To do that, we require a serial cable that connects to the console port on the switch. However, this computer doesn’t have a serial port; it only has USB ports. So, we bought a cable that can convert the serial connection into a USB plug that’s compatible with the computer. Without this connection, we won’t be able to reset the switch unless we know the previous configuration details, like passwords.

Here’s a link for the same kind of adapter/connector we used;
https://amzn.to/3t5gf6k

We did research on the TP Link website to make sure that what we’re doing is right, . So next, we need to use a program called HyperTerminal to communicate with the switch. In Windows 7, HyperTerminal was included, but it’s not available in Windows 11. So, we had to download and install it. We used the Private Edition, which has a 30-day trial, which will allow us to perform what we need to do.

Once installed, we configured HyperTerminal to communicate with the switch by setting up the connection parameters. After a bit of troubleshooting, I successfully established a connection with the switch and saw the TP-Link logo.

*Just filling up the required information here.*

*As we can see, a connection is already established, which means our steps worked.*

With the connection established, I typed in “reset” to wipe the previous configuration, and then I initiated a reboot. The switch rebooted, and we were back to a clean slate.

This particular L2 switch has been in production since 2014, as you can see here. We’ve accomplished the factory reset, and we’ll soon show how to configure VLANs with this L2 managed switch. Stay tuned for that! See you soon! We also got a video of how it was done!