How to download a IOS image to FLASH from ROMMON

LOkrasa · February 2008

I needed to download an IOS to a flash card that did not have anything on it from ROMMON today and figured someone else may need this...

Here is the info: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/ps259/products_tech_note09186a008015bf9e.shtml

Although thats for a 2600 series, I tried on a 871W and it works just fine. I think ROMMON is ROMMON.

mikej412 · February 2008

And even though the doc shows the variables to set for tftpdnld in UPPER-CASE, people without a UNIX (or Linux) background usually decide that the UPPER-CASE is optional. Then they ask why it isn't working.

The variables names to set for tftpdnld are CASE SENSITIVE.

LOkrasa · February 2008

Cool.... I didn't know that. I just happened to do it with all caps anyway but thats good input. Thanks.

Empathy · February 2008

Wow, I sure wish this post had happened last week! I was lent a 2620 with no memory whatsoever, so I bought and installed some, and found myself in a similar situation - no IOS image in flash, and the router was booting into ROMMON. After some searching on the Cisco site, I found this page on using Xmodem.

I'm betting your method was faster.

dtlokee · February 2008

The best method for restoring the image is to load one usinf tftpdnld -R which will load the IOS image into ram and boot the router. After that you can load on into flash much more quickly than the way it does it from rommon. Another thing I will do on switches if the IOS gets lost (and xmodem is your only choice) is to use the smallest IOS image you can find and load that via xmodem. Then once you get the switch booted use a copy tftp flash(or whatever you prefer) to copy the proper IOS image onto the switch.

How to download a IOS image to FLASH from ROMMON

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