Summary of steps

Recent FortiGate models include a new BIOS version with a security enhancement that requires you to register your FortiGate with FortiCare and download the registration information to your FortiGate. If needed, you can temporarily postpone registration to access a seven-day setup period. When the seven-day setup period expires, you must register the FortiGate to FortiCare to have complete access to the GUI and CLI and upgrade its firmware.

These steps summarize how to get your FortiGate up and running by using the GUI. For information about the Command Line Interface (CLI), see Using the CLI.

1. Set up your FortiGate for initial management access with the GUI. See Setting up FortiGate for management access.

   For more information	Go to
   Physical appliances, such as FortiGate	Go to FortiGate/FortiOS Hardware Guides to view QuickStart Guides for all supported FortiGate models.
   Hypervisors, such as FortiGate-VM on ESXi, KVM, Hyper-V, and so on.	Go to FortiGate Public Cloud or FortiGate Private Cloud and follow the deployment section of the administration guide for your hypervisor, for example, Microsoft Hyper-V Administration Guide > Deployment.

   Depending on the topology and FortiGate model, internet access may not yet be configured for the FortiGate.

2. Log in to the GUI. See Logging in to FortiOS GUI.

   FortiOS detects whether FortiGate has internet access to prepare for device registration to FortiCare. If no internet access is detected on recent FortiGate models, a wizard is displayed to help. See Configuring internet access for recent FortiGate models.

3. Register the FortiGate to FortiCare:

   • For recent FortiGate models, see Registering recent FortiGate models.

   • For older FortiGate models, see Registering FortiGate models. If no internet access, FortiGate cannot be registered until later in the setup.

4. Complete the FortiGate Setup wizard. See Completing the FortiGate Setup wizard.

5. Complete the basic configuration steps for FortiOS. After this step, all FortiGate models should have internet access. See Configuring basic settings.

6. Register FortiGate with Fortinet by using your FortiCare/FortiCloud account with Fortinet Technical Support (https://support.fortinet.com). See Registering FortiGate.

7. Configure a policy for the FortiGate to give clients behind FortiGate access to the internet. See Configuring a firewall policy.

8. Back up the configuration. See Backing up the configuration.

9. If necessary, troubleshoot the installation. See Troubleshooting your installation.

After completing the Getting started section, next steps can include:

• Getting familiar with the FortiOS GUI and CLI:

  • See Using the GUI.

  • See Using the CLI.

• Configuring FortiOS features. The following table lists a few of the features available with FortiOS. Many additional features are available:

  For	Go to
  Security profiles	See antivirus, IPS, web filter, and application control.
  VPN	See IPsec VPN.
  Fortinet Security Fabric	See Fortinet Security Fabric.
  User & Authentication	See User & Authentication.
  Software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)	See SD-WAN.
  Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)	See Zero Trust Network Access.