How do you uncompress IOS files

billscott92787

Hey guys,


Just out of curiosity, how do you uncompress the files that are on Cisco routers. I wanted to use the image from my 2611xm and 2650xm in dynamips, but if I use the file the way it is, dynamips has to decompress it just like the router does when it is booting up. I read a few forums on the internet and they said you have to uncompress the file, but I can't uncompress it with winrar or anything like that. I found a file called Zipeg that was on another website that was recommended. Anyone have any recommendations for software to use?


I seen GS3 recommends ultimatezip. I'll have to check it out when I get home from work.

mikej412

Dynamips / Dynagen Tutorial

Cisco IOS images are compressed. These compressed images will work just fine with Dynamips*, however the boot process is slowed significantly by this decompression process (just like on real routers). It is recommended that you decompress the images beforehand, so the emulator doesn’t have to. You can do this with the “unzip” utility on Linux/Unix/Cygwin as follows:

unzip -p c7200-g6ik8s-mz.124-2.T1.bin > c7200-g6ik8s-mz.124-2.T1.image

You will receive a warning from unzip, which you can safely ignore. On Windows you can use WinRAR to uncompress images.

* Note that currently images for 2600 routers must be uncompressed to work with Dynamips.