Forgot Hikvision Password? See How To Reset/Restore Hikvision Password | All Options Covered

You’re here because you’ve forgotten your Hikvision’ appliance password – Clear, let’s get to the instruction. It works for Hikvision NVR’s, DVR’s, and any security camera out there. To mention, we got a lot of high-end Hikvision stuff on a Pipl Systems Store along a worldwide delivery – specify you are subscribed and get your special offer right away.

Available Hikvision Password Reset Options

Hikvision have abandoned a scheme of factory-setting a default password for their devices for some years now and requires us to create a unique password every time as we activate a new camera or recorder. Of course that was a right move, considering how easy it is to bypass a default password and get into your system owing to a common user’s inattention. And though we are used with a regular password reset procedures on a various sources, when they can just email you a password reset link, here with a middle and high-end CCTV equipment that process is more complicated for a good reason.

So how to reset a password on your Hikvision equipment? Here are your options:

1. Locating and using physical reset push-button on a body of your device if it has one;
2. It’s assumed that you’re still logged into a SADP or IVMS-4200 software and can reset a camera from there;
3. You start from extracting an .XML-file from a camera via SADP tool and then you send it to your local distributor, from whom you bought a device / to a Hikvision Support in your country / To Pipl Systems Technical support in case you’ve purchased an equipment from us. Unfortunately, the most time-consuming, but a 100% verified way;

Option #1: Reset Push Button

Locate a reset button on a body of your camera, try looking under a screwed cover. Commonly your camera has this button if it also has a memory card slot, and they regularly located near each other. The same is indicated by the “F” letter, standing for “flash”, in a product code. What you do next – unplug the camera from a power supply, and after that is done, press-hold a reset button and restore a power supply while you continue to hold a button for a further 10-15 seconds. Then release a button and just wait until a camera reboots completely. This is what called a “factory default” and thus you will see an “inactive” status in the SADP tool or IVMS-4200 after that is done and you’ll be asked to create a new password and activate a camera as a new device.

Option #2: Reset Via SADP Tool / IVMS-4200

Yet there are a cameras having no any reset push-button and we are forced to go for option #2 and #3. As Hikvision produces mostly a professional equipment, the activation process happens via manufacturer’s PC software, which is mainly a SADP and IVMS-4200 tools. Thus it is assumed that your camera was activated via those tools. Option #2 is even easier, but it’s possible only if you are still logged into IVMS-4200 on your PC, so launch up the program and head to a “device management” tab.

Once you are there, locate your camera in a device management field, you will see it’s online if it says “active” and shows a globe icon. Now click on it to highlight and press a remote configuration, from here you need to go into a “system” tab, select a maintenance, press “Default” and confirm when it displays a warning. Done! Your camera is going to reboot, that’s gonna take about a minute, then you’ll have to create a new password and activate it manually via SADP / IVMS-4200 tool.

Option #3: Exporting an .XML-file

We address the option #3 if there’s nothing else left and unfortunately, the previous ones are unavailable. Every camera is obligated to be activated via SADP or IVMS-4200 software, so you probably have it installed on your PC and your camera has an active status in there. What you do: open up a SADP and you’ll be able to see all the equipment within your sub net. Locate the one you need to reset and mark up the box left to it, the tab on your right will unfold, and there, below a modify button, you’ll find a “forgot password” inscription – press it. In that pop-up window you press an export button, select a folder and download a generated XML-file onto the computer. From this point – you need to send this XML-file to the company, from which you have purchased a camera.

Note, that you must not unplug a power supply and disconnect a camera from Ethernet while you are waiting for a response with a modified .XML-file. Contact the technical support department of a company from which you’ve purchased a camera by phone or email, briefly describe your situation and attach this file. They usually require you to specify an order id, your name and your email-address to make sure you are a device owner. If that’s not your option – contacting a Hikvision support in your country, or a nearest to it, should do the thing. And of course we always take this kind of requests from our customers.

In the end you will receive an email with the XML-file attached, that you save onto your computer, go back into SADP tool and open that “forgot password” pop-up again, with that difference that this time we’re importing that file that you have received under a Step #2 in here, so we tick left to “import file” and select that received file. Create a new password now and replicate it one more time. If done right, the next thing you’ll see will be a success message and the pop-up will vanish. Now your camera is restored, activated again afterwards with a new password, that you probably won’t forget this time.

A Full Video on Youtube:

Timestamps for every option:

1. Use A Reset Button On A Device’ Body (If it has one): 2:11
2. Set Default Settings Via SADP / IVMS Software (If still logged in): 3:33
3. .xml-file Extraction & Contacting Local Distributor / Hikvision Support: 4:46

Conclusion

Thank for reading an article / watching a video, hope we helped you, if we did – please rate us with a thumbs up. And you also can go to our Pipl Systems Store and get any Hikvision equipment along with a worldwide delivery for you, and specify you are subscribed to get a special offer.