Installing IOS on a Cisco AP from the
Bootloader
At some point, you may have the need to install a fresh IOS software image on a Cisco wireless
access point (AP). Reasons for this might include file corruption, moving from an
LWAPP/CAPWAP software image back to an autonomous IOS software image (or vice versa),
or human error resulting in a deleted image by accident. Luckily, it is possible to boot a Cisco
AP to the bootloader and perform maintenance on the AP, including connecting the AP to the
Ethernet network, formatting the flash memory, and downloading a software image from the
network.
In this article, I will step you through the process of breaking into the bootloader at AP startup
and installing an IOS software image from the network using the Trivial File Transfer Protocol
(TFTP). This is not a general installation or upgrade procedure and should only be followed if
the AP cannot boot into IOS.
First, to break the AP boot process and drop into the bootloader:
Connect to the console port with a Cisco rollover cable and your favorite serial
communication program. I prefer PuTTY.
Be sure to un-plug any cables connected to the AP Ethernet port; breaking the boot
process and dropping to the bootloader will not work if the AP network interface has
Ethernet link.
Hold the AP Mode button and power-up the AP with an AC power adapter (do not
power-up via Power over Ethernet (PoE) from a switch port or inline PoE injector). Do
not release the Mode button.
Continue to hold the Mode button while the AP begins its boot process.
The middle LED will turn amber, then red. When the LED is red, and the message
"button is pressed, wait for button to be released..." is displayed in the console output,
release the Mode button and immediately depress the Mode button once more.
This should drop you to the AP bootloader ap: prompt.
Next, bring the AP up on the Ethernet network:
Type the following at the bootloader ap: prompt to assign an IP address, netmask, and
default gateway to the AP, replacing each with values appropriate to your network:
set IP_ADDR 10.0.0.10
set NETMASK 255.255.255.0
set DEFAULT_ROUTER 10.0.0.1
Connect the AP Ethernet network interface to an active Ethernet network switch port.
Type the following at the bootloader ap: prompt to initialize the AP Ethernet interface:
ether_init
Upon successful Ethernet link negotiation, type the following at the bootloader ap:
prompt to initialize the AP TFTP client:
tftp_init
Now you will need to make room for the new software image on the AP flash memory. The
easiest way to do this is to simply format the flash memory. Chances are that if you are
following this procedure, the AP isn't booting into a working IOS anyway, so erasing the
contents of the AP flash memory probably won't make matters much worse. Needless to say,
you already have a backup of the AP IOS configuration, right?
Warning -- This next step will completely erase all contents of the flash memory, including any
AP IOS configuration and software image currently saved on the flash memory.
Type the following at the bootloader ap: prompt to erase all contents of the flash memory:
format flash:
Now you are ready to download and extract the new IOS software image to the AP flash
memory. Type the following at the bootloader ap: prompt:
tar -xtract tftp://10.0.0.100/bin/c1240-k9w7-tar.124-10b.JDA3.tar flash:
replacing 10.0.0.100 with the IP address of your TFTP server and c1240-k9w7-tar.124-
10b.JDA3.tar with the correct filename of the appropriate IOS software image for the model of
AP and intended operation (autonomous or LWAPP/CAPWAP) downloaded from cisco.com.
Once the image has finished downloading and extracting, type the following at the bootloader
ap: prompt to set the BOOT variable to the image just extracted:
set BOOT flash:/c1240-k9w7-tar.124-10b.JDA3/c1240-k9w7-tar.124-10b.JDA3
replacing /c1240-k9w7-tar.124-10b.JDA3/c1240-k9w7-tar.124-10b.JDA3 with the full path to
the IOS software image. To determine the correct path, you can use the dir command from the
ap: prompt:
dir flash:
Once finished, type the following at the bootloader ap: prompt to reboot the AP and boot the
new IOS software image:
boot
If the AP boots successfully, you will be dropped to the default IOS ap> prompt.
Congratulations; you've successfully re-imaged your Cisco AP from the bootloader!
