User's Manual
20-21
Cisco IOS Software Configuration Guide for Cisco Aironet Access Points
OL-11350-01
Chapter 20 Managing Firmware and Configurations
 Working with Software Images
• During upload operations, if you are overwriting an existing file (including an empty file, if you had 
to create one) on the server, ensure that the permissions on the file are set correctly. Permissions on 
the file should be world-write.
Downloading an Image File by Using TFTP
You can download a new image file and replace the current image or keep the current image. 
Caution For the download and upload algorithms to operate properly, do not rename image directories.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow Steps 1 through 3 to download a new image from a TFTP 
server and overwrite the existing image. 
Note To avoid an unsuccessful download, use the archive download-sw /safe command, which downloads 
the image first and does not delete the current running version until the download succeeds.
Command Purpose
Step 1
. Copy the image to the appropriate TFTP directory on the 
workstation. Make sure the TFTP server is properly configured; 
see the “Preparing to Download or Upload an Image File by Using 
TFTP” section on page 20-20
Step 2
Log into the access point through a Telnet session.
Step 3
archive download-sw /overwrite /reload 
tftp:[[//location]/directory]/image-name
Download the image file from the TFTP server to the access point, 
and overwrite the current image.
• The /overwrite option overwrites the software image in Flash 
with the downloaded image.
• The /reload option reloads the system after downloading the 
image unless the configuration has been changed and not 
saved.
• For //location, specify the IP address of the TFTP server.
• For /directory/image-name, specify the directory (optional) 
and the image to download. Directory and image names are 
case sensitive.
Step 4
archive download-sw /leave-old-sw /reload 
tftp:[[//location]/directory]/image-name
Download the image file from the TFTP server to the access point, 
and keep the current image.
• The /leave-old-sw option keeps the old software version after 
a download.
• The /reload option reloads the system after downloading the 
image unless the configuration has been changed and not 
saved.
• For //location, specify the IP address of the TFTP server.
• For /directory/image-name, specify the directory (optional) 
and the image to download. Directory and image names are 
case sensitive.










