C9300L-48T-4X Upgrade from 16.12.08 to 17.01.01 Fails

[zenithpassage]

I’m struggling to upgrade my C9300L-48T-4X from IOS-XE 16.12.08 to 17.01.01 using cat9k_iosxe.17.01.01.SPA.bin on a FAT32 USB in the front MGMT port. Here’s what I did:

• Ran the cleanup command to clear unused files from flash.

• Reloaded the switch.

• Copied cat9k_iosxe.17.01.01.SPA.bin from USB to flash—835MB transferred fine. Did it twice for good measure, same result both times.

• Ran the install command with add, activate, and commit options—fails every time with “not valid file or cannot be handled by install CLI.”

The USB shows the file, flash has 8.6GB free, and it’s a single switch, no stack. I’m on 16.12.08 now, confirmed by show version. This is the next version up, so it should be an easy hop. What’s going wrong? Is the .bin bad? Something with 16.12.08? ROMMON mismatch? Any help appreciated—stuck here.

[marce1000]

  - Check this out ;  look if the argument could be applicable for your case :
    https://community.cisco.com/t5/switching/failed-install-add-c9200l-48p-4g/m-p/5193721/highlight/true#M570125

  M.

[marce1000]

  - Also look at the Release Notes of the version you want to install ; look for ROMMON with find in the browser
    and investigate if you need a ROMMON upgrade or not.

 M.

[zenithpassage]

Thank you for replying. In my case, I tried a different USB stick. I went from a Kingston 32 GB to a Kingston 64 GB and I used rufus to format it as extra large FAT32. I was able to upgrade from 16.12.09 to 17.03.08 successfully without a ROMMON pkg and I'm going to try another cat9k.bin upgrade now. 

[vishalbhandari]

@zenithpassage Your upgrade is failing because the install CLI expects a package-based installation method, but you’re using a .bin file meant for bundle mode. The error suggests that the switch doesn’t recognize the file as a valid package.

[Leo Laohoo]

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@zenithpassage wrote:

not valid file or cannot be handled by install CLI.

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Error message means the filename is incorrect.