Accessing the BIOS

The BIOS menu is available only through direct connection to the FortiGate unit’s Console port. During boot-up, “Press any key” appears briefly. If you press any keyboard key at this time, boot-up is suspended and the BIOS menu appears. If you are too late, the boot-up process continues as usual.

Navigating the menu

The main BIOS menu looks like this:

[C]: Configure TFTP parameters

[R]: Review TFTP paramters

[T]: Initiate TFTP firmware transfer

[F]: Format boot device

[Q]: Quit menu and continue to boot

[I]: System Information

[B]: Boot with backup firmare and set as default

[Q]: Quit menu and continue to boot

[H]: Display this list of options

Enter C,R,T,F,I,B,Q,or H:

Typing the bracketed letter selects the option. Input is case-sensitive. Most options present a submenu. An option value in square brackets at the end of the “Enter” line is the default value which you can enter simply by pressing Return. For example,

Enter image download port number [WAN1]:

In most menus, typing H re-lists the menu options and typing Q returns to the previous menu.