Cisco IOS XE Migration Guide for IIoT Switches

SD Flash to Flash

In this scenario:

The switch is running Cisco IOS XE 17.10.x or later and you want to downgrade to Cisco IOS XE 17.9.x or earlier.
Cisco IOS XE 17.10 or later is running from SD flash and Cisco IOS XE 17.9 or earlier images should run from flash.

Download the Cisco IOS XE 17.9 or earlier image and keep the image in flash.
Delete all other Cisco IOS XE images from SD flash.
Configure the following commands:
1. no boot system
2. no boot manual
3. boot system flash:image-name
4. boot enable-break
Reload the system.

After reloading, the switch performs a bootloader downgrade from 8.1.x to 7.1.x, then boots Cisco IOS XE 17.9 or earlier from flash.

In this scenario:

The switch is running Cisco IOS XE 17.10.x or later and you want to downgrade to Cisco IOS XE 17.9.x or earlier.
Cisco IOS XE 17.10 or later is running from flash and the Cisco IOS XE 17.9 or earlier images should run from flash.

Download the Cisco IOS XE 17.9 or earlier image and keep the image in flash.
Delete all other Cisco IOS XE images from flash.
Delete all Cisco IOS XE images from the SD card.
Configure the following commands:
1. no boot system
2. no boot manual
3. boot system flash:image-name
4. boot enable-break
Reload the system.

After reloading, the switch performs a bootloader downgrade from 8.1.x to 7.1.x, then boots Cisco IOS XE 17.9 or earlier from flash.

In this scenario:

The switch is running Cisco IOS XE 17.10.x or later and you want to downgrade to Cisco IOS XE 17.9.x or earlier.
Cisco IOS XE 17.10 or later is running from SD flash and Cisco IOS XE 17.9 or earlier images should run from SD flash.

Download the Cisco IOS XE 17.9 or earlier image and keep the image in SD flash.
Delete all other Cisco IOS XE images from SD flash.
If flash has the ENABLE_FLASH_PRIMARY ROM monitor environment variable set (by running the show romvar command), delete all Cisco IOS XE images from flash.
Configure the following commands:
1. no boot system
2. no boot manual
3. boot enable-break
Reload the system.

After reloading, the switch performs a bootloader downgrade from 8.1.x to 7.1.x, then boots Cisco IOS XE 17.9 or earlier from SD flash.

In this scenario:

The switch is running Cisco IOS XE 17.10.x or later and you want to downgrade to Cisco IOS XE 17.9.x or earlier.
Cisco IOS XE 17.10 or later is running from flash and Cisco IOS XE 17.9 or earlier images should run from SD flash.

Download the Cisco IOS XE 17.9 or earlier image and keep the image in SD flash.
Delete all other Cisco IOS XE images from SD flash.
If flash has the ENABLE_FLASH_PRIMARY ROM monitor environment variables set (by running show romvar), delete all Cisco IOS XE images from flash.
Configure the following commands:
1. no boot system
2. no boot manual
3. boot enable-break
Reload the system.

After reloading, the switch performs a bootloader downgrade from 8.1.x to 7.1.x, then boots Cisco IOS XE 17.9 or earlier from SD flash.