Using the CLI to install and IOS in .tar format.
Recently I tried updating the IOS of a Catalyst 2960 using it’s web interface (Why I don’t know), but like everything Cisco GUI related (SDM) I had trouble getting it to actually work. The page would just sit their and cycle. So I found myself unable to update the IOS using the GUI. So I extracted the files within the .tar file to flash, told to the switch to boot using the newer IOS then issued the reload command.
Start off by putting the .tar file on your tftp server like any normal IOS upgrade, the key difference here is you want to use the following command:
archive tar /xtract tftp://192.168.1.5/c2960-lanbasek9-tar.122-58.SE1.tar flash:
The variables here are the IP Address of the TFTP server and the IOS image file name.
Next you will see the switch extract the files within the .tar file
Extract tar file in flash
The last thing you can see is the .bin IOS file. Now I issue the boot system command:
boot system flash:/c2960-lanbasek9-mz.122-58.SE1/c2960-lanbasek9-mz.122-58.SE1.bin
Note: The contents on the .tar file are extracted into a folder
This tells the switch to boot this particular IOS file. Then after you issue the reload command and the switch boots up you will see the switch loads with the new IOS version.
IOS Version loaded by switch
CCIE or Null! 
Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for
bill
July 11, 2011 at 4:08 PM
Cisco have special command with many options for that
#archive download-sw ?
/directory Specify a directory for images
/force-reload Unconditionally reload system after successful sw upgrade
/imageonly Load only the IOS image(s)
/leave-old-sw Leave old sw installed after successful sw upgrade
/no-set-boot Don’t set BOOT — leave existing boot config alone
/no-version-check skip version check that prevents incompatible image install
/overwrite OK to overwrite an existing image
/reload Reload system (if no unsaved config changes) after
successful sw upgrade
/safe Always load before deleting old version
flash: Image file
ftp: Image file
http: Image file
https: Image file
rcp: Image file
scp: Image file
tftp: Image file
peter
August 31, 2011 at 10:35 AM
Great post. Thanks a lot!!
Fred de Gast
May 19, 2014 at 1:35 AM