catalyst 3850 ios erased

[dch28dh]

i was gifted a cisco catalyst 3850 48p -L with a c3850-NM-2-10G network modulee in it.

from a friend that had it who had used it after the device was retired from the company he worked for, specifically to learn cisco. unfortunately for me, the ios is gone as far as i can tell, 

switch: show version
Unknown cmd: show

switch: version
CAT3K_CAA Boot Loader (CAT3K_CAA-HBOOT-M) Version 4.68, RELEASE SOFTWARE (P)
Compiled Fri Aug 25 16:01:01 PDT 2017 by rel

switch:

switch: flash_init
Initializing Flash...

flashfs[7]: 0 files, 1 directories
flashfs[7]: 0 orphaned files, 0 orphaned directories
flashfs[7]: Total bytes: 6784000
flashfs[7]: Bytes used: 1024
flashfs[7]: Bytes available: 6782976
flashfs[7]: flashfs fsck took 1 seconds....done Initializing Flash.

switch: dir flash:
Directory of flash:/

38721 drwx 4096 .
2 drwx 4096 ..

1619542016 bytes available (28352512 bytes used)

switch:

i am nearly positive after googling result for 2 days to try to fix this, that the ios has been wiped, is there any way to get a copy of the ios for this?

[Leo Laohoo]

Follow each step exactly as I have described it: 

1.  Go to the Cisco Download website.  Take note of the name of the file and the location of this file.  

IMPORTANT:  Pick IOS-XE version 3.6.10 because it is stable.  

2.  Read this:  Cisco IOS XE Software for Catalyst Switches MPLS Denial of Service Vulnerability

3.  Scroll down to the "Customers Without Service Contracts" section and read that properly:  

Customers Without Service Contracts

Customers who purchase directly from Cisco but do not hold a Cisco service contract and customers who make purchases through third-party vendors but are unsuccessful in obtaining fixed software through their point of sale should obtain upgrades by contacting the Cisco TAC.

Customers should have the product serial number available and be prepared to provide the URL of this advisory as evidence of entitlement to a free upgrade.

---

4.  Send an e-mail to Cisco TAC -- Do not call TAC.

5.  Provide all the information from Step #1.  

6.  Once the file is downloaded, use a USB thumb drive and install the firmware into the switch using the command "emergency-install usb0:filename.bin".