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Performing Switch Setup Configuration
Information About Performing Switch Setup Configuration
Use the show flash: privileged EXEC command to display the flash memory card file settings. For information about how
to remove or replace the flash memory card on the switch, see the Hardware Installation Guide.
The boot loader also provides trap-door access into the system if the operating system has problems serious enough
that it cannot be used. The trap-door mechanism provides enough access to the system so that if it is necessary, you
can format the flash file system, reinstall the operating system software image by using the Xmodem Protocol, recover
from a lost or forgotten password, and finally restart the operating system.
Note: You can disable password recovery.
Before you can assign switch information, make sure you have connected a PC or terminal to the console port, and
configured the PC or terminal-emulation software baud rate and character format to match these of the switch console
port:
Baud rate default is 9600.
Data bits default is 8.
If the data bits option is set to 8, set the parity option to none.
Stop bits default is 1.
Parity settings default is none.
Default Switch Boot Settings
Switch Boot Optimization
The normal switch boot process involves a memory test, file system check (FSCK), and power-on self-test (POST).
The boot fast command in global configuration mode is enabled by default to permit switch boot optimization, which
disables these tests and minimizes the bootup time. However, after a system crash this feature is automatically disabled.
Note - With boot fast enabled, the expected boot time for the switch is from 2 to 3 minutes, depending on image and
configuration size.
Feature Default Setting
Operating system software image The switch attempts to automatically boot up the system using
information in the BOOT environment variable. If the variable is not set,
the switch attempts to load and execute the first executable image it can
by performing a recursive, depth-first search throughout the flash file
system.
The Cisco IOS image is stored in a directory that has the same name as
the image file (excluding the .bin extension).
In a depth-first search of a directory, each encountered subdirectory is
completely searched before continuing the search in the original
directory.
Configuration file Configured switches use the config.text file stored on the system board
in flash memory.
A new switch has no configuration file.