Secure Firewall FMC Registration Fails After Restore

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Updated:February 13, 2026
Document ID:225485

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Contents

Issue

After restoring a Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) from an older backup that did not contain recently added FPR3110 Threat Defense (FTD) devices, attempts to re-register these FTDs to the FMC result in the error message:

Failed to issue certificate to device.

Previous troubleshooting steps, such as removing and re-adding the FMC manager on the FTD devices, did not resolve the issue. Guidance is required on how to clear or correct certificate-related files that can cause FMC registration failures. 

Environment

  • Technology: Cisco Secure Firewall Firepower - 7.0
  • Subtechnology: Firepower Management (FMC / cdFMC / FDM) - 7.0
  • FMC Software Version: 9.18.4
  • FPR3110 FTD Devices (newly added, not present in older FMC backup)
  • Recent change: FMC restored from backup, FTDs previously registered but not present in restored backup
  • Error: "Failed to issue certificate to device" when registering FTDs to FMC
  • Multiple prior attempts to remove and re-add FMC manager on FTDs

Internal Escalation

Engage internal escalation teams for validation and assistance when conducting manual intervention on device database files.

To resolve the FMC registration failure due to certificate assignment issues after a restore, adhere to these detailed steps. Each step is explained thoroughly, with pre-formatted command and output examples for clarity.

Cause

The underlying cause of the registration failure is an improper FMC restore from backup. As stated in Cisco documentation, an FMC backup must be restored to a fully re-imaged FMC device. Restoring an FMC backup to an already-configured FMC can cause database conflicts such as mismatched certificate assignment files ("serial" and "serial.old") and presence of revoked certificates corresponding to the failed registrations. This prevented the FMC from issuing new certificates to the devices until the files were manually corrected.

Related Content

Revision History

Revision Publish Date Comments
1.0
13-Feb-2026
Initial Release
TAC Authored

Contributed by Cisco Engineers

  • Echo Quiroz-Garcia
    Technical Consulting Engineer

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