What to do if Device Adoption Fails on my Omada Controller

This troubleshooting guide serves to provide various steps on what to do when encountering device adoption failure on an Omada Controller.

When adopting a pending Omada device or a device managed by others via the Omada Controller, the device is not successfully adopted if its status is shown as Adopt Failed.

Step 1: First, check the error messages on the Controller and troubleshoot based on the scenarios corresponding to them.

Step 2: If the error message is “Failed to adopt the device because the username or password is incorrect.”, continue through this step. If not, skip to Step 3.

This error message occurs when the username or password used to adopt the device does not match the device’s account information. In this case, follow the steps below:

1. Click Retry and enter the correct username and password to adopt the device.

a). If the device is in Standalone mode, you can try to use the login username and password for the Web GUI to adopt the device.

b). If the device is Managed by Others, navigate to Settings > Site > Device Account on the Controller that has adopted the device and verify the username and password.

2. If the device still cannot be adopted, reset the device to factory default settings:

a). If the device has a reset button, press and hold the button until the LED indicator begins to flash. The device will then be reset to its factory settings.

b). If the switch does not have a reset button, use a console cable to connect the device's console port to your PC and run a console tool (e.g., Tera Term, MobaXterm). Choose 38400 as speed and enter BootUtil to reset the device.

Step 3: If the error message is “Device adoption failed because the device does not respond to adopt commands.”, continue through this step. If not, skip to Step 4.

If the message switching between the Controller and the device is hindered in the adoption process, choose the corresponding troubleshooting method based on your Controller type.

Cloud-Based Controller:

1. Refer to the CBC Device Compatibility List in advance to determine the compatibility of your Omada devices before using the Cloud-Based Controller for management. This will help you avoid situations in which your devices cannot be adopted by the CBC due to incompatibility.

2. Ensure all switch ports between your devices and the gateway/DHCP Server have been configured with the correct VLAN tags.

3. Use other clients in the same network to check the Internet connection to make sure the device is connected to the Internet.

Hardware Controller/Software Controller：

1. Ensure the device is on the normal network, that the switch ports between the device and the gateway/DHCP server have been configured with the correct VLAN tags, and that no other problems, such as network loops, are present in the network.

2. Check the communication between the device and the Controller:

a). If the device and the Controller are in the same network or VLAN, use the built-in ping tool on the Hardware/Software Controller or perform ping command on the PC running the Software Controller to the device IP address to ensure the device is reachable.

b). If the device and the Controller are in different networks or VLANs, check your L3 network configurations and whether you have already enabled device adoption in a different network via Discovery Utility/Controller Inform URL/DHCP Option 138.

3. Check whether firewalls or antivirus software have blocked or disabled the following ports in the network. For Software Controller users, check the status of the port connected to the PC that runs the Controller.

Table 1 Ports for Device Discovery, Adoption, Management

Step 4: If the error message is “Failed to link to uplink AP.”, continue through this step. If not, skip to Step 5.

This error message occurs when the mesh APs take a long time to respond, or there is a communication timeout between the devices and the Controller. In this case, follow the steps below:

1. Make sure your APs are powered on and run normally.

2. Shorten the linear distance between the Root AP and the Mesh AP appropriately and remove obstacles to reduce their impact on wireless signals and wireless channel utilization.

3. Try to re-adopt the device by using another uplink AP.

Step 5: If the error message is “This device does not exist.”, continue through this step.

In rare cases, the browser cache that stores the device status information has expired, causing the device you are attempting to adopt to disappear from the device list. In this case, follow the steps below:

1. Refresh your browser.

2. If the device still does not exist in the device list, refer to Step 3 to troubleshoot the device and the Controller again until the device can be adopted.