Easier Factory Reset

What you have stated is also contrary to the steps listed on a 3rd support page.

https://support.sonos.com/en-gb/article/switch-sonos-between-a-wireless-and-wired-setup

For these products, you are able to add them to a wireless network by following these steps:

1. Temporarily wire one Sonos product via ethernet.
2. Disable WiFi on the wired product.
3. Factory reset a different (non-wired) product in the household.
4. Re-add the factory reset product.
5. Enable WiFi on the wired product
6. Reboot any missing Sonos products.
7. Remove ethernet cable from the product connected in Step 1.

I’m not looking to switch between a wireless and wired setup (or vice versa) in my example… wiring the one device is just a means of gaining access to changing the network settings on the (second) non-wired device. After that, the user can switch/exchange them and do the same WiFi network switchover with the (now) ‘other’ non-BLE device, whilst it’s uncabled. Hope that makes sense, without causing too much confusion here.

Just the one flaw in your example, the app doesn’t allow it.

I appreciate that things can and sometimes do change around here, without notice, but have you tested that it doesn’t work then? What is the App saying when you try this now then?

I am basing my comments on the support articles linked, previous Sonos comments on this community as well as user threads who are unable to update the WiFi network on older devices, even when wired using the Sonos app.

If you or others are saying the support pages are incorrect, then you should be calling that out.

I’ve not seen any page where things are not correct @Mr.T, that’s personally speaking, my post above is an extension of things and simply ways to achieve the same outcome of switching the network credentials, such as the method involving a WiFi hotspot mimicking the previous routers WiFi credentials (or the user can use SonosNet with a ‘second’ wired product) to switchover the non-BLE device to the new routers WiFi network - these things are not contradictory, they are just additional methods that can be used.

Of course, not everyone has a second (SonosNet capable) product to cable to their router …and Mobile WiFi hotspots, as the other example, are not officially supported by Sonos, so that’s perhaps why you might not find these things in any official Sonos documentation, but the methods I have outlined do work, or at least they did work for me the last time I tested this, which has been several times since the switchover to the latest Sonos App.

So once again, a seemingly obsessed poster has turned another thread away from what the OP was requesting and into a pi**ing match over silly minutia.  I suggest we ignore those types, and instead of engaging we lobby Gainsight for a proper ignore feature (along with all the other basic forum features they are missing in their pathetic software).

To the OP, yes on the very oft chance that you own a non-BLE capable Sonos unit and there are no other BLE-capable units on your system, a factory reset can be used to reset your WiFi credentials.  Which is something you were not requesting, haven’t presented the scenario for, and haven’t even listed a product that fits the criteria (never mind you own an Arc, which is BLE capable and makes the entire point moot). 

But there you go! 

​@Mr. T, Connecting a SonosNet-capable product directly to the router and waiting for all Sonos units to appear in the Sonos app can sometimes save the trouble of factory resetting non-BLE speakers.

So you disagree with the following statement when Sonos confirmed that would not work and the information on the support pages?

”Wiring the system to Ethernet permanently will negate the need to do this as SonosNet will be up, and wiring to Ethernet temporarily will help with BTLE products that support SonosNet, but will not help with getting non-BTLE products to connect to WiFi.”

Both cannot be correct.

That’s why I wrote “…  can sometimes save the trouble of factory resetting non-BLE speakers”. The proof is in the pudding. My system runs on SonosNet, and I have several non-BLE speakers.

But that is not the debate being discussed.

Your system runs on SonosNet, whereas the question was around the need for a factory reset on a non-BLE speaker to add a new network.

​@Mr. T, I know. As I said: The proof is in the pudding. The “pudding” is a bunch of Sonos customers running their Sonos in WiFi mode. One has to try it -- sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. The latter may simply be because people don’t wait for all Sonos units to appear in the Sonos app, which is the crucial part.

To the OP, you can ignore the silly minutia put forth by those with an agenda, and be safe in the knowledge that as the owner of a BLE-capable device, there is no reason for you to factory reset the devices on your system if you are not switching WiFi credentials (and sometimes not even when you are switching).  All other problems are properly addressed by a simple reboot, which is non-destructive and (not to mention) the advice given by Sonos 99% of the time.  

Just want to ‘sorry’ here to everyone, if the things I mentioned earlier have inadvertently taken this thread off track. It wasn’t my intention to do that. Anyhow I hope at least some of the things mentioned may one day perhaps prove to be a little helpful to others who may stumble on this thread in the future.

Anyhow sorry for any ‘drift’ here. 🙏

My own usual advice above all, is to not factory reset a Sonos product, except when selling/passing on a device, or on the direction of Sonos Support Staff. It’s mostly a ‘last resort’ option in the majority of cases and it has been known to sometimes create more problems, than it solves. As jgatie mentions, a simple reboot of a device (or a network refresh) can be an early path to resolving a good many issues with a Sonos System/Household.

Ken.