USG FLEX H Series Firewall - reset or reboot the device and LED light indication your H Series Firewall

Created January 30, 2024 16:04 - Updated April 07, 2026 12:55

Serhii Boiarynov

This guide walks you through resetting and rebooting your device, including restoring the firewall to factory and default settings. We’ll cover key aspects of the reset process and provide step-by-step instructions for using the Web-GUI. Whether troubleshooting issues or optimising security, this article ensures a smooth firewall reset. Also in this article we will touch on what LED indication means.

LED Indication

User LED

The USER LED is located at the front panel of the Zyxel Device. Use this LED to check one of the following:
Admin account login status.
User IP address locked out status.
License status.
New firmware available for update.

Event:

Select how you want the USER LED to behave.
Select Admin login (green on) if you want the USER LED steady green when admin accounts are logged into the Zyxel Device.
Select User Lockout (amber on) if you want the USER LED to be steady amber when a user IP address is locked out of the Zyxel Device. A user's IP address will be locked out when the user has logged into the Zyxel.
The device was unsuccessful (for example, with the wrong password) more than three times.
Select License Expired (amber on) if you want the USER LED to be steady amber when a Zyxel Device service license has expired.
Select New Firmware Available (green blinking) if you want the USER LED to blink green when new firmware is available for upload.
Select Off to turn off the USER LED.

The difference between Reset and Reboot

Reboot

Press the button for about 5 seconds to reboot the Zyxel Device.
Reboot the device to its last custom settings, which the user saved.

Reset

Press the button in for about 7 seconds (or until the PWR/SYS LED starts to blink), then release it to return the Zyxel Device to the default configuration (the Login Password on the back label or 1234, the LAN IP address is 192.168.168.1 and so on).
Note: All configuration files, including those you saved on the Zyxel Device, will be deleted.

Press the button in for more than 30 seconds, then release it to return the Zyxel Device to factory defaults. The Zyxel Device PWR/SYS LED will blink green while booting up.

The standby partition becomes N/A after pressing the RESET button.

Suppose you press the RESET button and hold it for 30 seconds until PWR/SYS RED blinks. In that case, the standby partition performs system recovery, and the running partition will be reset to the system's default configuration.

If you need to reset the running partition to the system default configuration, press the RESET button and hold for 7-14 seconds.

Reboot the USG FLEX H model using the Web-GUI

The user can navigate the Web-GUI path Maintenance > Reboot/Shutdown > Enable Schedule Reboot > Click the 'Reboot' button to reboot the firewall.

Once the 'Reboot' button is clicked, the 'Rebooting' message will pop up. Please wait a while for the firewall to boot up successfully.

CLI Command
Important: Before any reboot, shutdown, or reset, always back up or save the configuration. This ensures you can restore the device if something goes wrong.

copy running-config startup-config

CLI Command Table for Reboot and Reset

With these commands, you can fully manage reboot, shutdown, and reset operations on your USG FLEX H-Series. Please always keep a configuration backup before you make any changes. Before any reboot, shutdown, or reset, always back up and save the configuration. This ensures you can restore the device if something goes wrong.

Command	Description
cmd reboot force	Immediately reboots the device without saving the current configuration. Always save first if you don’t want to lose changes.
cmd reboot delay	Reboots the device with a delay (default: 3 seconds).
cmd reboot cancel	Cancels a scheduled reboot.
cmd poweroff force	Immediately powers off the device without saving the current configuration.
cmd poweroff delay	Powers off the device with a delay (default: 3 seconds).
cmd poweroff cancel	Cancels a scheduled power off.
erase startup-config	Deletes the startup configuration (factory reset). Requires a reboot afterwards.
cmd config-apply system-default.conf	Restores the device to factory defaults using the built-in `system-default.conf` file. Password reverts to the one on the back label (or `1234`), LAN IP resets to `192.168.168.1`. VPN certificates and license bindings are retained.
copy running-config startup-config	Saves the current configuration as the startup-config so changes are not lost.