boot system flash bootflash vs boot system bootflash

[Desmond Lee]

Hi , may I know on a ASR 1004 router or something similar, I do see people using this command to set the boot path to point to the IOS.

boot system flash bootflash:"name of IOS"

Is there a need for this word "flash"(highlighted) instead of  boot system bootflash:"name of IOS" because when I do a "dir" command,  the IOS is under the bootflash only. 'Flash' doesn't exist at all.

And this command = boot system bootflash:"name of IOS" works in my lab device too,  I am curious do we really have to add the word "flash" in this command ?

Thanks,

Desmond

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi,

If the IOS is located on the flash, the correct statement for the ASR series router is this:

example:

boot system flash bootflash/asr1002x-universalk9.16.03.05.SPA.bin

If you don't use flash, the router will ask you to point to another device ( a tftp or ftp server for examples) to download the image from. 

HTH

[Vi2]

Desmond,

You do not have to use flash in front of bootflash if the file actually resides in bootflash. So boot system bootflash:"name of IOS" is fine.  Another example of this can be located in the link below.  https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/ios-xml/ios/16_xe/Denali-16-3-migration-guide-for-access-and-edge-routers.html