My Grandstream HT801 forgets my new password after a while. Why? SOLVED!

Finally got decent fibre to the property (FttP) broadband here on Hampshire’s new high-speed “CityFIbre” network as retailed by local provider ‘toob’. I immediately took the opportunity to dump the appallingly poor internet provided by a British outfit called Global4, that we’d put-up with for the last decade or so. Which also meant I could dump my ludicrously expensive British Telecom landline too. Instead I decided to move my telephone number over to a British-based VOIP (voice over internet protocol) company called Voipfone.Voipfone also sold me a ppreconfigured Grandstream HT801 VOIP adaptor, so I could use a standard BT handset.

Well the Grandstream HT801 VOIP adaptor arrived from Voipfone. So, I connected its Ethernet port to a spare LAN socket on my router, plugged in my old Panasonic DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication) telephone system into the RJ11 socket, and connected the 5 volt USB micro-B power supply. I waited a couple of minutes until all the three blue lights came on and bingo – a dial tone. The phone worked!

So I changed the admin password in my new Grandstream HT801 from the one entered by its supplier. I made a note of the new admin  password in my KeepassXC. I then congratulated myself with a wee slug of scotch and went on and did something else.

But when I tried to login again a few days later. my new admin password did not work. In fact, I was locked out of my own device for several hours. Until I realised what was going on, and I tried the original admin password provided by Voipfone. This let me straight in. I thought perhaps I had forgotten to ‘Apply‘ the changes I’d made. So I repeated the operation again, very slowly and carefully. Sure enough, after a few minutes, the device reverted back to the admin password provided by Voipfone. (Grrr…)

I tried several browsers

• Chromium 138.0.7204.157 (Official Build) built on Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) (64-bit)
• Firefox 140.0esr (64-bit)
• Firefox Developer 141.0b9 (64-bit)
• Konqueror 25.04.0
• Opera One (version: 120.0.5543.93)

All the above web browsers did exactly the same. I’d change my admin password. But within a few minutes, the admin password would revert back to the password provided by Voipfone! (WTF…)

Not Alone

Seems I am not alone. There is quite a long Reddit thread on the subject.

Grandstream HT801 won't store password
byu/enhompe inVOIP

 

The cause

Transpires that in my case, the problem is caused by Voipfone’s provisioning server. Ironically, even Voipfone didn’t seem to know it was doing this. In fact I had a fairly prolonged discussion with Voipfone’s techies, who I have to say were commendably patient and helpful. They suggested that I should ban Voipfone’s provisioning server “grandstream.provu.co.uk 80 443” using my router’s firewall. Well this certainly is a solution. However, in my opinion, this is not a particularly good solution. Problem is that other users may wish to access that site for some reason. Worse, if the firewall ban is undone, even temporarily, then after a short while, one’s admin password gets overwritten again. So I’m back to square one. (Expletives deleted…)

I needed a simple, reversible solution that would only affect the Grandstream device and nothing else on my LAN. 

TL;DR a simple and easily reversed solution

Fortunately, having given the matter a lot of thought, I found that there was a simpler solution for me, that I thought I’d share here, in case someone else was as perplexed by this as I was. The trick is simply remove the provisioning server from the Grandstream’s “Advanced Settings” page. Here’s how…

1. Log into your Grandstream HT801 or HT802 as admin.
2. Go to the “Advanced Settings” page.
3. Scroll down to the “Firmware Upgrade and Provisioning:” section
4. Make a note of the current provisioning server stated in the “Config Server Path:” box – in my case “grandstream.provu.co.uk”

   

5. Then delete the address in the “Config Server Path:” box – in my case “grandstream.provu.co.uk“
6. Scroll down to the bottom of the page
7. Click “Apply“.
8. Click “Update“.
9. Scroll to the top of the “Advanced Settings” page, and enter your preferred password – first making a note of the password that Voipfone (or whoever your provider is) gave you, and of course, make a note of your new password too! 😉
10. Scroll down to the bottom of the page
11. Click “Apply“.
12. Click “Update“.
13. Click “Reboot“.

    

14. Wait a few minutes, and you’re done.

To reverse this solution

1. Do the first three things listed in the instructions above.
2. Type (or paste) your VOIP provider’s provisioning server back into the empty “Config Server Path:” box.
3. Your password will almost certainly be reset to your VIOP provider’s password, as soon as the device connects to the provider’s provisioning server. So there is no point changing this.
4. Do the things stated from number 10 onwards, listed in the instructions above.

That’s it. If your Grandstream HT801 keeps forgetting your new admin password, and this solution fixes the problem for you, then please let me know. 🙂

Useful links

• Voipfone – one of Britain’s better VOIP providers, with good, knowledgeable tech support.
  https://voipfone.co.uk
• Grandstream HT801/802 user manual. Mine came only with a single page printed sheet, no actual manual.
  https://www.grandstream.com/hubfs/Product_Documentation/ht80x_user_guide.pdf