How to reset Ubuntu 12.04 iptables to default without locking oneself out?

Could anyone kindly provide the commands to completely reset the iptables (firewall) for Ubuntu 12.04 to its default "factory" setting? From what I understand, doing this wrong would cause one to be locked out of the linux box?

Set the default policy on the iptables to ACCEPT:

iptables -P INPUT ACCEPT
iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT

Then flush the rules:

iptables -F INPUT
iptables -F OUTPUT
iptables -F FORWARD

Note, this will not affect alternate tables, NAT tables, PRE/POST routing tables, etc.

This thing seem to be ok.. http://insanelabs.com/linux/linux-reset-iptables-firewall-rules/

iptables -F
iptables -X
iptables -t nat -F
iptables -t nat -X
iptables -t mangle -F
iptables -t mangle -X
iptables -P INPUT ACCEPT
iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT
iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT

Wing's answer will be at your rescue when things go wrong with iptables. If you want to reset everything, including alternate tables, NAT, PRE/POST ROUTING, use this script:

#!/bin/sh
#
# rc.flush-iptables - Resets iptables to default values.
#
# Copyright (C) 2001 Oskar Andreasson <bluefluxATkoffeinDOTnet>
#
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program or from the site that you downloaded it
# from; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple
# Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
#
# Configurations
#
IPTABLES="/sbin/iptables"
#
# reset the default policies in the filter table.
#
$IPTABLES -P INPUT ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -P FORWARD ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
#
# reset the default policies in the nat table.
#
$IPTABLES -t nat -P PREROUTING ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -t nat -P POSTROUTING ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -t nat -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
#
# reset the default policies in the mangle table.
#
$IPTABLES -t mangle -P PREROUTING ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -t mangle -P POSTROUTING ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -t mangle -P INPUT ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -t mangle -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -t mangle -P FORWARD ACCEPT
#
# flush all the rules in the filter and nat tables.
#
$IPTABLES -F
$IPTABLES -t nat -F
$IPTABLES -t mangle -F
#
# erase all chains that's not default in filter and nat table.
#
$IPTABLES -X
$IPTABLES -t nat -X
$IPTABLES -t mangle -X

Source: Internet Connection Sharing - Ubuntu Help