First, a real quick point to the original poster of this question. The subject line question did not match the question contained in your post at all. To answer the question in your subject line, here are some possible good answers to the question of what is the quickest way to reload a router: 1. Press the 1 O switch to the O position and quickly back to the 1 position. 2. Yank the 3 pronged power cord and plug it back in rapidly. 3. If you are a fast typist and assuming your system configuration had been saved since the last boot, type the following three letters, "rel" and press enter twice. Of course, none of thse answers solves the real question you posed. I assume that the real question you wanted answered was "what is the quickest method to restore a Cisco router to an ROTB". For the uninitiated, that would be a "Router outta the box", as in, how it arrives directly from Cisco. To restore a router to ROTB state, you need only type either "wr er", which is short for "write erase", or "er start", which is short for "erase startup-config". This will ensure that when the router reboots, it will have a default empty configuration. What I assume you really want is to make that running configuration you have, look like an ROTB config. You have a couple of choices. First, you can "no out" every single line you entered in your configuration to make it look the way that it presently does. This means that if you typed "user bob pass cisco" at global configuration mode, you would need to type, "no user bob pass cisco" to remove that line from your running config. If you are a fast typist, this may not take long. If you are not a fast typist, or you have a very long config, let me recommend one of the three listed methods above. There is no way that you can take "copy start run" and have the startup config replace the running config. The reason for this is that nobody probably ever told you that the running config really does not exist - not in the strictest sense. It is not a file that you can manipulate, such as the startup config. It is actually only pointers in memory (RAM). When you want to see all those memory pointers, you just type the command, "show run" and it tells you something. Didn't you ever notice the message? it says, "building config". How does it build it? It goes to all the memory locations where the interface configurations are stored, the router statements, access list statements, etc. Once it gathers all of these memory lines up, it displays it to you at the console. That is why any time you modify the running configuration, you merge it. Merge means that if there is a parameter stored (no shut for example), and you modify it (shut), the paramters will be changed. If you do not modify the parameter, it will remain the same. So, what's the real answer to your question? My money goes with "wr er" and power cycle the router. HTH, Paul Werner > Subject: RE: What is the quickest way to reload a router? [7:15247] > > I don't have anything to try on right now, but it occurs to me that this > might work: > > erase start > copy start run > > in theory, at least. ________________________________________________ Get your own "800" number Voicemail, fax, email, and a lot more http://www.ureach.com/reg/tag Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=15428&t=15428 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]